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When the weather warms up, we want to put either a brick paver patio or a wood deck on our house. (Not sure of the exact size, maybe 10'x20') I've heard that paver patios are more expensive, but are maintenance free and decks cost less up front but have maintenance costs down the road. What do you recommend? I'm in the Chicago suburbs.
I assume it is somewhat regional, but are brick paver patios generally way more expensive then decks, or just a little more expensive? I've never priced out either. I'm not looking to do anything too fancy, just a simple patio or deck.
I used to have a wooden deck. Absolutely beautiful! But I would never have one again. To keep them beautiful and splinter free you have to perform regular maintenance. It wasnt horrible but I prefer now to have as much maintenance free things as possible! It was already up so I dont know the cost difference, but I plan on doing Brick pavers on my new home in the next couple of months.
we tore off our old deck a few years ago and had a stamped-concrete patio installed. they tint the concrete and stamp in your choice of designs. it was not that much more than the plain concrete would have been and not all that different than the cost of a deck. plus, i agree emailvasally, i would not want to deal with the sealing, etc year after year to keep the wood looking good and dealing with the splintering!
I did a 15x10 patio myself with brick pavers last summer. I had gotten 2 estimates for close to $1500 each. I was on a very tight budget and decided to do it myself. Bought my pavers through craigslist from a contractor that overestimated a big job. Bought my sand and gravel from a local yard. Already had all the tools I needed other than the compactor but I rented that from Home Depot for a few hours with no problems.
Total cost for pavers/sand/gravel, truck rental for 2 days to pickup everything and bring it back to my house, and a case of beer shared between my bro-in-law and myself for helping load/unload the truck and clear the land came in a hair under $600. I spent about 30 hours over 5 weekends doing it myself and my only regret is that I didnt go larger.
Paver patio is cheap if you do it yourself - as the above poster mentioned. But it takes some skills and some time. Plus - it is hard work.
Quote for stamped/stained concrete around here = $12/sq ft. So - 20x20 (400sq feet) = $4800.
Decks, I haven't priced myself - but the builders here were saying I could get a 20x20 for about $4000 - so a little cheaper than the stamped/stained concrete.
Personally, I think patios look nicer than decks - unless you have a huge walkout back yard and plan to have a ridiculous multi-tier deck. But those cost 10's of thousands of dollars, so that's a whole different ball game.
good luck - and enjoy your summer - whatever you choose!
Thanks everyone, for the responses! The stamped concrete sounds like a good option, my only concern is I have heard they crack, and since I live in a climate with extreme temperatures (Chicago) I'm wondering if that would be a problem?
I have the same questions with doing that myself. I live in texas where there is a lot of drainage issues (water puddles for days) and of course the extreme heat. I decided to go with the concrete pavers for several reasons:
cost (not cheap but also not really expensive)
easy drainage (water goes through all the cracks and sand helps)
also through the years if one gets messed up in some way they are easily replaceable. I dont plan on doing the job myself only because I am worried I wont get the slope right, but if one breaks or moves I can replace it myself, cheap and easy. Which means many years down the road when I sell the house I will still have a beautiful patio without much upkeep.
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