Concrete Patio Construction in Orange TX - a slab on packed ground that sheds rain

In nearby Beaumont, a poured concrete patio usually costs about $6 to $12 per square foot, and that's the going rate in the area, not our price. A stamped patio costs more per square foot than a plain one, and reinforced concrete costs more than concrete without it. I'll measure your patio and put our price in writing at the estimate.

Check with the city before you pour, because the city's building permit application lists concrete on its checklist. The Planning and Community Development Department takes those forms, including by email at permits@orangetexas.gov, and the form says all work in a special flood hazard area needs an elevation certificate, so plan for that step if your lot sits in one. Orange County notes that the national flood insurance program counts paving, filling and grading as development a community has to permit, so ask the city department which office handles your lot. We find out which office covers your address and handle the permit side when the job calls for one.

For a typical home patio, wire mesh is a good, less expensive choice than rebar, the steel bars that matter most under driveways carrying big trucks. Reinforcement doesn't stop cracks, it keeps them narrower and less severe, which can save you repair money later. Fibers mixed into the fresh concrete are best for the fine cracks that form as it first dries, though they don't stand in for steel under heavy loads, and plenty of slabs on a well-packed base with properly spaced joints need no reinforcement at all.

A little standing water, the small puddles finishers call birdbaths, is normal even on a slab sloped to drain, according to general guidance the American Concrete Institute repeats from an older guide. It comes from the small give in how any slab gets built and from normal changes in the surface over time. Water running toward your house or covering a big part of the slab is a different thing, and that points to the fall.

The best time is whatever part of the day or night has the mildest weather, with the concrete kept from drying out while it's placed and cured. Heat trouble mostly shows up in summer, and a sunny, windy day is harder on fresh concrete than a calm, humid one at the same temperature. Around Orange in summer that usually means an early start, and we pick the pour time when we schedule.

Most concrete cracks somewhere, so the goal is small cracks in the places we pick, which is what the control joints are for. Old patios usually crack badly because the dirt under them settled, and that's why I look hard at what's under yours before anything else.