We have stamped concrete for our front walk and driveway. It isn't slippery (ours is an overall pattern/texture), but it does have a few thin cracks after about 7 years. Overall, we like it.

We have stamped concrete for our front walk also. I do love the looks (multi color to mimic slate and wood). We gets lots of compliments It is very slippery when wet. Since our front walk is on a hill I would not put stamped concrete in this location again. I would use it on a flat area. When it snows I basically take one step and slide past the car grabbing on to the car door to stop. The kids slip all the time. I had a contractor tell me once that I need to put up a rail or I will get sued.

One of our neighbours has stamped concrete, these houses are under 5 years old in this street and his is peeling the top layer in some spots and has cracks.

If you were getting ants and weeds between your pavers, your werent using the correct fill. The kind to get is the one that hardens into almost cement hardness and does not allow weeds or ants. It is called polymeric sand.

We had it at the old house...it was cost effective and looked nice, if you didn't mind the cracks that went where they wanted as opposed to real stone where the cracks would be just in between.

We've had stamped concrete for our back patio for about 8 years. Ours has never been slippery when wet at all. It is only slippery when covered with ice, similar to our paved driveway. Like Jubilante, we have a few thin cracks as well, that developed with settlement over the years. But DH filled them with some kind of matching concrete mixture and they're not noticeable.

My neighbour's stamped concrete driveway did peel a bit, but it wasn't the actual concrete, but the residue of the sealant that was put on top. He seals his driveway before every winter, as the salt that is sprayed on the roads here, after snowfalls, would damage the surface of his driveway, otherwise. But because no one walks on our back patio in the winter, we don't throw salt on it, and have only re-sealed it (after the installers initial sealant) once. We'll probably do it again this year, and so far have no peeling on the surface.

Since you mentioned maintenance issues with pavers, I must mention that like Jeff Goldbum's character said in Jurassic Park, "Life finds a way." We marvel that some little weeds blow from somewhere, and are able to take root in the tiny amount of dirt that must be in the seams of the stamped concrete. Mind you they are very easy to pull out, and we don't get many of them. I do love the fact that unlike pavers or interlocking stonework, stamped concrete can never become 'unlevel.' Since the seams don't go all the way through, the patio is literally all one piece. Overall, we also love our stamped concrete!

This is interesting as we will be redoing a patio this year. I was wondering how stamped concrete would be slippery, when regular concrete isn't? I guess all our concrete areas have a brushed surface. I have seen some stamped concrete I really like. An acquaintance had it done a few months ago - with brick edging and short columns for lights at the corners of her patio. It looks great. We are having the guy who did hers look at ours. I would also like to see if I can find someone who does stone and see how that might look. Hubby had considered just putting a deck in right over the concrete, but I think (hope) we've tossed that idea.

tina, I wonder if it's possible that in some cases, perhaps if the sealant was put on too thick, it might leave a residue that becomes slippery when wet. The only time our stamped concrete patio was sealed was after installation in the autumn, 8 years ago. We didn't really walk on it much, until the following Spring, when it was warm enough to sit outside. So perhaps it might have been slippery after the first few rains, until the sealant aged a bit, but we would never have known it.

I don't know what would make Ikalzamora's stamped concrete walkway so slippery, but that is unfortunate! Ours is kind of a natural stone matte look, but I do walk by houses that have stamped concrete driveways, that look pretty glossy. I'd assume they use an extra coat of sealant to protect against possible oil drips from cars, etc., which possibly makes them slippery.

"I do love the fact that unlike pavers or interlocking stonework, stamped concrete can never become 'unlevel.' "

That is part of the beauty of pavers, is that you can fix them should they become unlevel. We get frost where we live and it will lift up concrete, pavers etc. That is why concrete will crack and it looks terrible when patched. Whereas pavers, you lift them out, level the crushed stone beneath and replace, looks good as new!

My neigbor has stamped concrete front and garage driveways. They Were very nice looking initially but over time the colorant has faded something pitiful and since they had an elaborate stone pattern, hairline cracks in concrete are really noticeable b/c they visually disrupt pattern.

We installed a concrete driveway & patio last year. We were considering a wood deck & the cost of the concrete was almost 50% less. Our "pattern" is exposed aggregate and we love it. Not slippery at all. we just power washed it & it looks great after the winter. This link is from our contractor's website:

http://realhelpconcrete.com/exposed-aggregate-gallery.htm

Our home that we bought 6 months ago has stamped concrete, although textured some of the textures are very slippery when wet. Discovered how slippery it was the first time I was watering plants. Other than needing to take care when it walking on it wet we love the stamped concrete. I think it was added 7 years ago and it still looks great.

yrs ago when building a pool we considered stamped concrete- visited several people's homes with stamped concrete and found it to be very slippery (esp with bare feet!) and some of the home owners complained about it being very slippery.

we went with an exposed aggregate and loved it and it held up very well with essentially no cracking for the 10 yrs we lived with it. i would use that or pavers/brick/stone for my patio...

I had heard about stamped concrete being slippery which is what prompted my question. Thx everyone for your comments.

Busybee, I've never heard of the exposed aggregate. Is that something a concrete person does?

yes, jerseygirl- a concrete person! you will probably be able to choose the aggregate and the size of the aggregate if you want a more 'decorative' aggregate! :)

Our stamped concrete patio looks a lot like this one, in that it is far from flat. https://www.google.ca/search?q=house+with+stamped+concrete+patio&espv=2&biw=1517&bih=756&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi96c7pkdDMAhUD34MKHQF5AbEQ_AUIBigB&dpr=0.9#imgrc=ZcdO3mbI5vGqIM%3A

On the other hand, my neighbour's stamped concrete looks more like this one, and they do complain it's quite slippery when wet.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=house+with+stamped+concrete+patio&espv=2&biw=1517&bih=756&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi96c7pkdDMAhUD34MKHQF5AbEQ_AUIBigB&dpr=0.9#imgrc=ZJVcMeZfAp3dZM%3A

If one does want the look of stamped concrete, maybe a less flat design works better to prevent the problem of it becoming slippery. No one wants to go flying on concrete, that's for sure!

Mine isn't slippery compared to regular concrete. I'm guessing it depends on the sealer?

Justerrilyn-your stamped concrete is beautiful! The concrete contractor I spoke to is a small business and is very hands-on. He applies a sealer a clear coat himself by hand as you described. Thx for the pictures. It's appreciated.

Busybee- can you post a picture?

My patio will be flat and will need 2steps at the patio doors.

If you apply a sealer the moisture will wick through the concrete and sit on top between the concrete and sealer, causing the sealer to turn color and even chip away.

I recommend adding a color to the concrete at the factory, and go with a traditional pour.

Tim. I meant a goat similar to Justerrilyn's. I also thought about a traditional pour with color. Still exploring my options

I can't give you any advice on stamped concrete, but I do like it. We have a very large paver patio. I'm not sure what it was that was spread and filled in between all the pavers, but we've had it installed for 4 years and have never had a weed grow between pavers.

We are also going to look at scored and stained concrete for our patio re-do.

Our stamped concrete is also a bit slicker than regular concrete. But we would still do it again.

Our paver patio doesn't have anything like gravel that's loose in between the pavers. There IS a very thick layer of fine gravel called "Minus" underneath the patio. It looks like an evenly smooth patio comprised of individual pavers with dark gray in between each paver. There's no teetering of furniture because nothing is unlevel. We gave it a good cleaning and then applied a sealer they recommended to us, but it's not shiny.