Cementing Outdoor Courtyard - Options

Makeahome1

We are thinking of cementing out the back of our house and want it to be a type of courtyard that is quite a nice space to lead to play area, farm, garage area and parts of the garden.

We were considering cementing as we plan to pave front and side of house but as this is a big enough area, we were planning on cementing as it will have lot of use e.g. cycling, basketball, cars etc....

Are there some types of Cement you can get that have something added to make it look more attractive, some type of finish??

Also I have heard of imprinted concrete - Anyone any reviews on it.

Or what other options might be available to us? Thanks

Markcheese

Makeahome1 wrote: »

We are thinking of cementing out the back of our house and want it to be a type of courtyard that is quite a nice space to lead to play area, farm, garage area and parts of the garden.

We were considering cementing as we plan to pave front and side of house but as this is a big enough area, we were planning on cementing as it will have lot of use e.g. cycling, basketball, cars etc....

Are there some types of Cement you can get that have something added to make it look more attractive, some type of finish??

Also I have heard of imprinted concrete - Anyone any reviews on it.

Or what other options might be available to us? Thanks

Imprinted and colored concrete can look good - you'll have to put in expansion joints- and think about drainage-
I put down cobble lock paving but was thinking of slabs laid on pea gravel so the moisture could drain away quick -

rje66

A pic would be great. If you have any kind of period/contemporary style house imprinted concrete Will look bad.
For a courtyard I'd be thinking some planting, trellis/ climbers on walls, path for access, bit of hard standing for bikes etc, seating area if you get a bit of Sun, finished off with gravel and some large rocks and a few spot lights up lighting a few large specimen plants and a small water feature that can be viewed from a few over looking Windows.
But if you like concrete go for it!!!

looksee

How big is it? If you put down concrete you need to accommodate some drainage. Patterned concrete can look ok (no better than ok) or terrible.

Dec the trucker

I have printed concrete on my patio.its done 8 years and still looks great.only thing is you can't powerwash it and after a shower of rain its like walking on ice.properly done its a smashing job.

BobLeeSwagger

Dec the trucker wrote: »

only thing is you can't powerwash it

We've put down two seperate printed concrete areas last year and wondering why you say you cant powerwash it?

We had to powerwash it within an inch of it life to remove any loose powder/residue before applying the sealer and its no problem to powerwash it afterwards either.

Maybe its done differently with you though.

Safehands

BobLeeSwagger wrote: »

We've put down two seperate printed concrete areas last year and wondering why you say you cant powerwash it?

We had to powerwash it within an inch of it life to remove any loose powder/residue before applying the sealer and its no problem to powerwash it afterwards either.
Maybe its done differently with you though.

First of all, you should definitely be able to power wash pattern imprinted concrete. Actually if it done correctly, it should be a lot harder than ordinary concrete. I know farmers who have used it in their milking parlours and they are washed about four times a day. So if you can't power wash it there is something wrong.
You should look at simply pigmenting your slab. There are quite a number of colours to choose from, yellows, buffs, browns and charcoals. These can look quite rustic if done correctly and it would not be as costly as patterned concrete. Get an experienced person to lay it though, that is the main thing.