Backyard Patio Ideas for Beginners

A backyard patio is an adjacent house or space in the backyard which you can use for dining, gossiping, and lounging. A patio in the backyard adds great value to the house. A patio is a Spanish word it means “roofless inner courtyard”. People used to use patios to keep their animals inside and for outdoor living rooms. You can simply enjoy a party, birthday or anniversary occasions, barbeque, and cookout in the holidays. A backyard patio makes the house more alluring and backyard space more useful. We all want to decorate our house differently. You can use your backyard space and decorate it in your way.

You can also have a relaxing place outside of your house so that you do not have to spend your whole day inside. If you feel that your kitchen does not have enough space, you can arrange an outdoor one. That’s how you can enjoy nature while cooking.  If you live in a hilly area where it is cold, you can install a Jacuzzi on the patio. So that you can still enjoy the cold weather while sipping a beer and enjoying the hot tub.

Key Takeaways

• Laying a patio as a beginner can be hard but with proper planning and management, you can create an amazing backyard patio.
• Considering the patio types, you can easily decide which backyard patio design your house needs.
• From the patio pattern & size to the outside furniture, you need to plan the process carefully.

Types of Outdoor Patios

An outdoor patio is a place that has an open sky but can add an overhead roof or structure if needed. Before building any patio you need to make up your mind about what type of outdoor look you want.  You can have dining patios, lounge patios, fire pit patios, and concrete patios.

Dining patios

Dining patios are used for outside recreation and dining. You have a big property and a huge backyard, you can install a dining patio. As we all eat inside our house while watching YouTube or movies. We do not make many conversations while having dinner. It is a great way to appreciate nature and improve bonding.

Lounge patios

Outside lounge furniture should consist of a sofa, coffee table, and cushion cover. We can add zero-gravity chairs to bring comfort to the place. It should be a hangout place when guests come in.

Fire pit patios

For a fire pit patio, you can use natural gas or propane fire pit. You can use create a pathway leading to the patio to give more character to the setting. You can create a fire pit on your own or can use a concrete fire pit.

If you are going for customizing your fire pit, you need to stack the blocks on top of each other and cut it if necessary. For cutting the blocks you can use a circular saw with a concrete blade. After lining up the blocks you need to fill up the inside with a paver base and line the inside with clay fire bricks. Use a few inches of lava rocks to hold the clay bricks in place. Lastly, add logs to the fire pit.

7 Instructions for creating basic patios

When you are sure that you want to install a patio in your backyard. All you need is to plan the process, prepare the tools and start paving. Here are some instructions on basic patio design.

1. Patio Pattern & Size

Before starting the process of building a patio, you need to plan out the process. You need to have proper knowledge about your backyard space. You need to make sure that your design for pavers can fit in the backyard. So you need to graph out your plan or use an online planning tool.

You can use a jack-on-jack, running bond, or stack bond pattern which does not require cutting the slabs and is easier to apply. For the stack bond pattern, you need to line up the stone to create a straight line. More advanced patterns are herringbone or pinwheel requires more cutting. If you do not want the traditional pattern and try out a new, unique design you can try stamped pavers.

If you are feeling conflicted, you can get ideas for pavers online. You also need to keep in mind that your patio needs to be big enough for your outdoor furniture. You cannot stack furniture together. You need to keep enough space to walk around the patio.

2. Clean The Area

You need to clean out the roots and grass from future patio areas. You can use edging tools for the fastest way of removing grass. After digging out the soil, you need to excavate the sod and dirt from the work area.

3. Flatten And Level Out The Dirt Area

You can use stakes to measure out the square-shaped patio area. To measure the level, you can tie a string line with the stakes and add a line level with it. Get out the extra dirt to flatten the area. Use a tiller to loosen up the dirt and plate compacter to compact the work area flat.

4. Plant a Weed Barrier

A weed barrier is used to prevent weeds and keep the soil intact.  The weed barrier prevents the grass from getting enough sun rays to grow. After planting the weed barrier, you need to prepare the leveling sand for the work area.

5. Paver Base Panel

You need to rule out how much digging you need. There will be a weed barrier then 4 inches of gravel and leveling sand. All these require a lot of digging. As an alternative, you can use a paver base panel. It would cost a bit but reduce a lot of the shoveling process.  Using a paver panel will make the work easier as you need to sit down the paver panels and then place the stone on top of them.

6. Lighting cables

Various types of lighting can be used in your backyard. Spot lighting can light up trees, path lighting is for pathways so that you can still see the pathway and do not walk on the grass, and garden lighting is for garden beds, flowers, and garden areas, hardscape lighting can be used in decks, fences, and retaining walls. If you are planning to decorate the patio with lighting, you can hide the wires under the soil.

7. Outdoor Furniture

You can add as much furniture as you want. The way you will decorate the whole place is up to you. You can add a sofa, tables, flower vase, carpet, hammock, and Jacuzzi. If you are adding an outdoor kitchen, you can add necessary kitchen items such as a kitchen counter, sink, stoves, plates, and kitchen tissue rolls. You have to make the place comfortable and interesting so that guests feel attracted to it.

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Importance of Backyard Patio

If you are a homeowner and want to sell your house, you can sell it with great value if you have a backyard patio. We get to know about a person’s life by seeing their house. You can design a backyard patio even though you have little space in the backyard.

The backyard patio not only makes the house alluring but also a great space for entertainment. You can have movie nights with your friends in the backyard. You can sit with your friends near the fire pit and catch up while enjoying nature.

People who travel to different countries tend to book Airbnb with patios. Especially when you have a big family, the outside patio adds an exciting hangout place for the members. You can add shade so that an adequate amount of sun rays get in. If you have a chair set in the backyard, you can simply add umbrellas. These shades will protect your skin from UV radiation. You can also have the freedom to adjust the shade. If you want to enjoy the rain while eating your favorite pizza, you can add a DIY pergola which will hide you and your foods from the rainwater.

Tips for Designing Patios

You need to consider a lot when planning for an outside patio. The design you will follow, the furniture will look best with the design, and the paving you will be using. Here are some tips that will help you to design your dream patio.

• Visualize your design
• You need to find the perfect spot for a patio. Build a patio where sunlight hits perfectly and is close to the house so that you can get necessary things without any hassle.
• Make sure the furniture fits the space and has enough space for walking.
• Porcelain products are getting more popular but if you desire to have a chic look you can use concrete to decorate external and internal design.
• For DIY, you need to keep in mind groundwater regulations.
• Research before purchasing any materials. Concrete and stone have their one benefits. You need to figure out which material will suit your backyard patio design.
• You can also contact an expert for any type of advice.
• You can make your patio more interesting by adding fairy lights, and curtains, bringing greenery, candles, multifunctional furniture, folding tables, etc.

Resources for inspiration and information

There are various online tools to create a layout for your patio. It helps you to measure the arrangements for the design. You can erase the design and place a new block anywhere with these pre-planned patio designing tools.

To get ideas about patio design you can get help from social media such as Pinterest, and architectural digest. You can also get ideas from browsing the internet and YouTube. There are thousands of videos and articles about patio ideas, you can look them up. As a beginner, it may sound like a complicated process but you can set up a perfect patio with proper help.

You can read books to reduce your confusion but it will be time-consuming. You can look it up on the internet which will take new seconds of our valuable time. Local home improvement stores also provide necessary help regarding this matter.

FAQs

1. What is the easiest patio to build?

The easiest patio to build is pavers. Pavers do not require cutting and are easy to install.

2. Is it cheaper to lay concrete or pavers?

Concrete is more affordable than pavers. Concrete pavers are more durable and have greater value.

3. How long do pavers last?

Pavers last for 50 to 100 years. It also depends on the pavers type.

Final Thoughts

Building a backyard patio needs time, patience, and calculation. You need to calculate your space and measure your materials to create a beautiful and alluring backyard patio. You have to find materials that will be the best fit and plan the whole process as the backyard patio project is very expensive.

For a beginner, it can be difficult to find exact products or plan out the process. You can ask an expert for help if you feel unsure. Laying a patio requires careful maintenance and handling. You can follow our step-by-step instructions.

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