Concrete?

[eldirector]

Starting to chip away at my deck rehab project. We have fixed/rebuilt this deck once already, about 12 years ago. Saved most of the structure last time, and just redid the floor and railing. As I start to dig into this project, it looks like not only is the railing trashed, but a number of the floor boards are as well, AND there are structural problems that will need addressed. Suppose I can't complain. We've gotten good use out of this thing with minimal maintenance since the last rebuild.

But, with lumber prices today, I cringe when thinking about costs. JUST the railing is almost as much as the whole project a decade ago. Starting to wonder...

What kind of costs are we looking at for a concrete patio? It is a large deck today: 16x30 or so. There is a smaller concrete patio under the decking today that would need to come out.

Anyone have concrete work done recently? What kind of costs / sq foot?

 

[Tryin']

My neighbor just had a brush-finish 12'x36'x5" poured for 9.xx per square foot.

 

[HoughMade]

Don't know anything about concrete, but lumber futures are currently tanking, so some kind of price reduction is likely coming in the next several weeks. Maybe not what they were, but some kind of reduction, but as the futures are still in free fall, we'll see. They are not yet close to last year's prices.

LBS

Get the latest Lumber price (LBS) as well as the latest futures prices and other commodity market news at Nasdaq.

www.nasdaq.com

 

[rooster]

the cost of your concrete is only a small part of what this job sounds like. Gotta demo out what’s already there and prep the site before forming. Can a concrete truck back right up to pour or does it have to be pumped?


pouring and finishing the concrete is the cheap and easy part.

 

[Leo]

We just went though that. Our current deck was new in 1992 and needs replaced. The custom color cement, with a stamped flagstone pattern AND the removal and disposal of the old deck came to $17 a square foot, almost exactly the same as replacing the wood deck, and the wood deck people could not promise when they could get the lumber OR lock in on the material cost.

Plain poured concrete had a quote around $10 a ft.

 

[jagee]

6-7 cubic yards of concrete. Approx $130/Cy. $900 in material alone. Guessing labor and everything about $10-12k.

I know a guy who can give you a more exact estimate if you're interested.

 

[IndyDave1776]

Starting to chip away at my deck rehab project. We have fixed/rebuilt this deck once already, about 12 years ago. Saved most of the structure last time, and just redid the floor and railing. As I start to dig into this project, it looks like not only is the railing trashed, but a number of the floor boards are as well, AND there are structural problems that will need addressed. Suppose I can't complain. We've gotten good use out of this thing with minimal maintenance since the last rebuild.

But, with lumber prices today, I cringe when thinking about costs. JUST the railing is almost as much as the whole project a decade ago. Starting to wonder...

What kind of costs are we looking at for a concrete patio? It is a large deck today: 16x30 or so. There is a smaller concrete patio under the decking today that would need to come out.

Anyone have concrete work done recently? What kind of costs / sq foot?

It goes like this:

1. Establish the size, length, width, and depth.

2. Calculate your cubic feet of concrete. Convert your thickness, presumably in inches, to fractional feet before doing the math. From there, straight L x W x H. Take your cubic feet and divide by 27 to get cubic yards. Call your local concrete supplier for pricing, delivered to your location. I recommend going with the hardest concrete they have available. It is more expensive but will last longer.

3. Determine how much mesh you will need. If you can't find proper mesh, you can get away with using cattle fencing panels. Don't forget either small concrete blocks or metal props to hold it at the correct height.

4. Figure out how you are going to get rid of the old deck comes next. If you are going to have to remove old concrete, rent an air compressor and a hammer, two if you have help. I am going to recommend a 60 pound hammer as a good balance of controllability and destructive power. Unless you are a bodybuilder or have enough experience not to need to ask questions, a 90-100 pound hammer will kick your ass. DO NOT rent an electric hammer. Those are slow AF and will take 3 lifetimes to get the job done.

5. Rent a plate compactor and compact thd hell out of the work area. Put down a thin layer of sand of flume. Compact the hell out of that. Build forms.

6. Have the concrete delivered. Order a little extra just in case. You should be able to rent tools like one or more floats and the joint forming tool. Do not neglect this step as it is deliberately creating a weak spot to crack rather than having cracks wherever the hell they happen and are much more difficult to seal.

 

[eldirector]

ha! Sounds like you guys are trying to convince me to just grab another cold one, and tell my wife and kiddo to just watch out for splinters! This home ownership stuff just never ends...

 

[drillsgt]

Starting to chip away at my deck rehab project. We have fixed/rebuilt this deck once already, about 12 years ago. Saved most of the structure last time, and just redid the floor and railing. As I start to dig into this project, it looks like not only is the railing trashed, but a number of the floor boards are as well, AND there are structural problems that will need addressed. Suppose I can't complain. We've gotten good use out of this thing with minimal maintenance since the last rebuild.

But, with lumber prices today, I cringe when thinking about costs. JUST the railing is almost as much as the whole project a decade ago. Starting to wonder...

What kind of costs are we looking at for a concrete patio? It is a large deck today: 16x30 or so. There is a smaller concrete patio under the decking today that would need to come out.

Anyone have concrete work done recently? What kind of costs / sq foot?

We just had a 14 X 25 patio done recently for 3100.00.

 

[gregkl]

Is your deck at ground level? If so, why have railing? You could rebuild the deck with composite lumber and greatly reduce future maintenance.

If my deck was at ground level, I'd have a concrete pad but I get it that some folks like the feel/look of wood.

I'm not into maintenance if I can avoid it.

 

[Leo]

I'm not into maintenance if I can avoid it.

That is a zen like statement. Life is complex enough, why add to the labor overheads?

 

[eldirector]

The deck is level with the back door threshold. So, about a foot above grade. Railing is a safety thing, at the least.

The house came with this huge deck. I have just been maintaining it. It needed a LOT of work a dozen years ago. Lumber prices were comparatively low, and I had time on my hands. We spend a LOT of time on it. However, a patio would serve the same purposes. Would actually be better for some things (lower maintenance, for example).

Doing some rough math based on this thread. If I have to replace the floor again, going with composite decking starts to make a lot of sense. Even concrete isn't THAT much more, assuming the lower end of the cost spectrum.

The big swing is MY labor. If I hired out the wooden deck repairs, labor would make it the same as concrete getting hired out. I'm comfortable with the the woodwork, just slow. Not comfortable at ALL with the concrete work myself.

Guess I should get some real concrete quotes. That may answer the whole thing, one way or another.

 

[PistolBob]

3 years ago we got a 16 x 24 x 4 inch brushed concrete patio for $2000.00....but that was three years ago. We ripped out the wood deck and never looked back. I wished I had done the concrete 20 years ago.