[silvabul]

I purchased my home 2 years ago and since have been thinking about what I can do with my patio. The patio is 16' x 3' and 18 inches high. The patio is cracked about 3/4 of the way up and all the way across the patio. Additionally, the patio appears to have sunk toward the house. I though of possibly building a deck over the patio. However, I do not know if this is the right decision. I also have though of either hiring someone or jackhammering the patio out myself? Can I even do that considering it appears the patio is attached to the house? Is it ok to just build a deck on top of the patio and be done with it? I am a pretty handy individual and have done a significant amount of DIY work. However, I have not tackled a project quite like this before and am not familiar with masonary/concrete work. Any ideas on building the deck on the patio, removing the patio, re-building the patio, reparing the patio (if possible) are greatly appreciated. Attached are some photos.

 

[CplDevilDog]

Use a level to confirm if it has settled toward the house. It should slope AWAY from the house at 1/4" per foot or better.

If it slopes into the house you should remove it. Building a deck over it will just allow water to rot out the framing over time.

Also looks like it was repaired once before.

 

[Daniel Holzman]

I can't tell from the photo, but it looks like you may have parging over block rather than a solid concrete patio. As previously noted, you need to check the entire patio with a level. If it is in fact sinking, this would indicate a poor foundation, and building a deck on top of it would be a bad idea.

 

[stadry]

looks as if someone's already repaired that cold joint above the steps,,, grab up a level & ck for sinking,,, if you don't have a level, pour some water on the deck & watch where it runs :yes: polymer-modified/cement/fine aggregate can restore the necessary slope w/o adding too much dead weight.

as you can plainly see, mortar is NOT the way to cover any joint that 'moves',,, the best repair's to seal it w/backer rod & jnt sealant,,, had that been done originally, you wouldn't have this problem now however builders can't see our houses from their house so what the hell :laughing: