01: Patio Project: the problem

The reason I started thinking about doing something with my two back patios is because of their appearance. The builder had poured two slabs for the two patios back in 1995. The main patio is 20'6" x 8' and the bedroom patio is 8' x 4'. I had a sweet, little flower bed between both patios.

Take a look at these photos and you can see my concern. My house painter noticed the problem. Her theory was that perhaps the subcontractor who poured the concrete had watered it down.

A neighbor saw it and believed the problem was because I was irrigating too close to the concrete slabs. Somehow the water was getting up under the slab -- whether from rain or from irrigation -- and chipping away at the top surface. Since it is the structural support for my covered patios, I knew I could not let this go on indefinitely.



The first thing I did is remove my flower bed and the irrigation system between the two patios to cease watering in that area.

In my next post I will explore different options I considered to solve this problem.