Summer has arrived, bringing with it backyard barbeques and lazy afternoons relaxing on a deck or patio.
If your outdoor living space isn’t all it could be, this is a great time to tackle DIY projects to improve your yard, from laying a paver walk or patio to cleaning and staining a concrete porch.
Building with Pavers
Stone pavers, such as those from Pavestone come in many shapes and sizes. Pavers are perfect for everything from laying walks and patios to building outdoor kitchens and fireplaces.
Paver walks and patios are laid over a bed of crushed stone topped with sand. Outdoor fireplaces and fire pits are available from Pavestone in easy to assemble kits.
To protect and enhance the finished look of your patio or walk, seal the pavers with Surebond or Techniseal sealers from Pavestone.
Cleaning and Staining Concrete
To improve the look of an existing concrete patio or porch, start by cleaning the surface with Quikrete Cleaner, Etcher & Degreaser, making sure to wear protective clothing, safety glasses, and rubber gloves.
After the concrete surface has been cleaned, rinsed, and allowed to dry; stain it with Quikrete Translucent Concrete Stain. Use a brush to apply stain to the edges and a roller for covering larger areas.
When the concrete stain is dry, seal and protect the surface with Quikrete High Gloss Sealer. Find out more at Quikrete.
Installing Tile and Stone
When installing tile or stone outdoors, such as to construct an outdoor kitchen, it’s important to use quality adhesives and grout, such as those made by Custom Building Products.
Custom Building Products has a full line of exterior products, from RedGard waterproofer—which create a continuous waterproofing barrier with outstanding adhesion and crack resistance—to bedding mortar for laying granite or travertine, to quality adhesives for laying tile.
Watch our video on Exterior Enhancements for Your Home to find out more.
My concrete patio is cracking and pulling apart. Do you have an inexpensive repair solution?
We are planning to redo out front walk to the house. We have bricks and I wanted to have them lifted and a new bed put down. I was told that even though you have a 3″ stone base and stone dust the bricks will still shift overtime from the ice. We have that now and I don’t want to keep paying to have our walk done again for the 3rd time. Is there some kind of base that would keep the bricks in place? Do you recommend pavers instead because they is a certain type of bed that can be put down which turns into a cement type of compound that keeps the pavers in place. I was also told it cannot be used on bricks because of the glue in the compound and it would stain the bricks. Please give me your opinion on the way to do this job.