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Stamped Concrete vs. Tile Patio (2008)

S

Suzy

TUG Member
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I need to replace my patio. I'm thinking of either stamped concrete or tile. I don't want the pavers, as that is what I have now, and grass, moss, etc. grow between it, and I always have to spray roundup a couple times a year to get rid of it.

I have to have a concrete patio to begin with, and I know there are only certain tiles that can be used outside. If anyone has a preference of one over the other, please let me know. I live in the midwest, if that makes a difference as to durability, maintenance, etc.

Thanks!

Suzy
 
I'd go with stamped concrete for low maintenance. With tile you have the chance of broken tiles and tiles coming loose, etc.

Stamped concrete can be very appealing.

BigTom
 
We have stamped concrete and it's attractive, but the crevices are a big dirt and dust catcher and DH has to reseal it every year. If we had it to do over again, we'd go for a decorative, but smooth surface.
 
We just had a plain concrete slab laid this year. While it's not the best looking patio, it's very utilitarian and low maintenance.
 
We went through this very dilemma in the last couple of years. We had a sound concrete patio that was, well, ugly. Square, gray, cold-looking. After researching pavers, like you, I didn't like weeds growing through them. Chairs are hard to scoot around. Tiles, OTOH, in an area the freezes and thaws will, in time crack, mastic will release and if glazed are very slippery when wet. Stamped concrete (my opinion only) needs sealed yearly, dirt accumulates in the depressions, and I think it will look dated in a few years.

We simply stained the existing concrete. We did a kind-of rust color, and it just looks warm and inviting. No one has said EWWW, CONCRETE! It will need a spray coat of sealer every 2-3 years to keep a shiny look, but if you don't want the 'wet' look, don't seal it. The color is deep and won't wear off.

We replaced a flagstone walk with exposed aggregate in stained concrete just last week. Too soon to tell the long term results, but the look is timeless.

Jim Ricks
 
When we lived in Washington state, we had a surface applied to our deck that was wonderful. It's called Sundek and it can be applied over concrete as well as over a wooden deck like we had. Just about any finish or design can be accomplished. We were so pleased with it and it was very durable under all kinds of weather conditions.

You could easily have the look of tile without the problems of individual tiles breaking or having grout lines collecting dirt, etc.

I removed the link I had posted about Sundek as a poster below said it contained trojan viruses. Google Sundek if you want to find it on the internet.
 
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We plan to pour a concrete pad for use as a small basketball court/patio. Do any of the finishes/sealers make it slippery?
 
Autoeng said:
The Sundeck site is full of Trojan viruses. Be careful if looking at their website. Make sure your virus checker and firewall are running.
Click to expand...
Yikes! I had no idea. I removed the Sundek link in my post above. Thanks for the warning.
Karen
 
Patri said:
We plan to pour a concrete pad for use as a small basketball court/patio. Do any of the finishes/sealers make it slippery?
Click to expand...

Our deck coated with Sundek was never slippery and it was often wet with all the rain we got. It also didn't get really hot to walk on barefoot in the sunshine.
 
I think the problem is that Karen said the product was Sundek, but you were looking at a website for Sundeck. That's the website that has the trojan, right? Maybe the link was just to the wrong website. If the product is indeed Sundek, then that sounds like where you had the problem...

Just guessing, of course, cause I wasn't there when it happened.

Fern
 
The product we had was indeed spelled SUNDEK and I'm sorry for the bad links I've posted. Hope no one got any bad stuff from them.

Karen
 
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we are redoing our yard as we speak and it is looking fabulous.. they are installing the grass right now. we had a large area for concrete and did not want it to look like a concrete jungle so what we did was pour a stamped concrete meandering walkway through the regular concrete. It is all flush so you dont trip on different levels, but it just gives it a neat look.. we are thrilled with how it turned out.
 
Fern Modena said:
I think the problem is that Karen said the product was Sundek, but you were looking at a website for Sundeck. That's the website that has the trojan, right? Maybe the link was just to the wrong website. If the product is indeed Sundek, then that sounds like where you had the problem...

Just guessing, of course, cause I wasn't there when it happened.

Fern
Click to expand...

No, I used her link to Sundek, I just spelled it wrong in my post. Just visited it from a search engine and got the same website and trojan warnings.
 
Autoeng said:
No, I used her link to Sundek, I just spelled it wrong in my post. Just visited it from a search engine and got the same website and trojan warnings.
Click to expand...
Sorry again.:eek: I'll remove the new link.
Karen
 
Some friends did the stamped, stained concrete around their pool. It is "slick as snot!" And I mean REALLY slippery if the least bit damp, and fairly slick even if not wet (not a problem for adults walking so much, but more for kids darting around). I won't even begin to list the number of stitches that stamped concrete has caused. The installer even came back and put down a "rough" coating on it. Something like sealer with sand in it. Didn't help.

SO ....... if it's going to be an area where slippery would be a problem, think twice about it.

P.S. We have an aggregate stone driveway (small stones mixed in with the concrete) and it also tends to be very slippery when wet, but not a problem when dry. Our plain concrete patio and pool surround have never had a problem being slippery, even when soaking wet.
 
Suggestion, if you do the stamp concrete please have your cement persons add the proper amount of colored dye to the mix. Also, please have it seal properly.
 
Whenever you are considering an improvement to your home, it can add a lot of unwanted stress and anxiety on top of whatever you already have going on in your busy life
So you are in the planning stages of your back patio, driveway or pool deck and are considering your hardscape options?
You are looking at concrete, more specifically stamped concrete and you are also looking at pavers.
The first thought that comes to mind is what is going to be the most cost-effective solution because I am on a budget.
Of course, you want the very best, at the very cheapest possible price.
Pavers and stamped concrete are generally very close in price.
There are many different styles of pavers which do vary in price, as well as many different installation methods of stamped concrete which will also increase or decrease the price.
When looking at standard installations without all the bells and whistles, pavers and stamped concrete are about dead even.
 
Note,
This is a revival of s thread from 2008.
I was surprised to see Fern's name - RIP Fern.


Richard
 
We have stamped concrete for both our patio and front stoop Just have to seal it every 3 years- very lightly. Spray or roll on.

We live in the Northeast. No experience with tile. My husband had installed pavers with sand in between but over time it was a pain with weeds growing through and ants, and the pavers shifted. So we dug it up and sold the pavers on Craigs List.

Depending on how big an area you are doing, you could end up with t "seam". We have one seam in our patio and I don't like the looks of it, but that's the way it is.

We had two colors mixed in and unfortunately the color came out different than I thought it would, but have had to live with it. Still overall much better than what we had before. But it was very expensive.
 
Passepartout said:
TUG thread resurrection is almost like a form of immortality. And that ain't necessarily a bad thing.
Click to expand...
Probably the closest to immortality that we'll ever get, lol.
 
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