It's a very confusing presentation. Pictures should be here, not linked, so that when you ask a question about what's in a picture, we know what you're talking about. The only thing I can answer about is to leave some landscape space between the patio and the house so that you can make the house look better and so that the steps don't seem to penetrate into the patio and occupy too much patio space. If you want to pursue some of you're other questions, I'd suggest that you draw a simple sketch plan so that we know what you intend to do. If you're going to ask questions having to do with levels and elevations, the pertinent features of the house should show in photos, not be covered up by weeds.

What pertinent features of the house would be helpful? Sorry for the confusing post--I haven't posted on here before (I didn't know I could post in-line). I'll take those pictures after clearing the weeds and add a sketch of my plans.

Based on what you said about the steps penetrating the patio, it sounds like I should revise the footprint and just build up to the edge of the sidewalk. If I just follow the contour of the sidewalk, I guess most of the issues I asked about would be an issue.

What is the main predicament .... you just don't want to remove the sidewalk, but want a patio?

Mostly, yes. It'd be a bunch of work to rip out the cement, so if there is a way to not do so, I'd like to go that route. If not, then I will. But when I was playing around with how it would look, I thought it would look funny with the sidewalk along the patio.

It will look funny. It will impose a set of constraints -- shape, grade, material -- on your patio that will probably be like a noose around its neck. It's a small walk. Possible to remove with a sledge hammer. I would advise to remove it.

Rip the concrete out. Here's why:

- it's already dropped in one corner. You can't correct that by adding more sand under the pavers, because anything more than ~1" of bedding sand won't hold up long term.

- you're in MA, with freeze and thaw. Pavers are designed to be a flexible system. What you're proposing will have part on a slab and part on gravel, leading to some funky differential settling

- if you keep the steps, raising the patio height 2-5/8 to 3" creates a really shallow last step, which is an awful idea.

- you asked "How can I transition from patio to sidewalk without a short, easy to miss and trip on, level change?" Answer: you can't, unless you rip out the concrete so they hit flush.

It's honestly not a lot of concrete. Just yank it and start fresh.

Done (well, not yet. I have to draw up detailed plans and get materials). Thanks for the feedback!

I agree - rip out all the concrete first and make a clean, properly graded and prepared start for any paving. It is not all that hard to do - just requires some serious elbow grease or the rental of a jack hammer. I am no longer a youngster but my older brother and I managed to remove a 60' long concrete driveway by ourselves with just a sledge hammer and pry bar. If I can do it, anyone can!!

Does the patio have to be on-grade, hard-surfaced? Why don't you just re-build the tiny porch/stoop you have there, constructing a patio 8 by 14, 16, or even 20 feet? You could build right over the old sidewalk, covering it up. And then have 2 or 3 steps transitioning down to the yard.

We are planning to eventually build out a deck around the other side of the house, but that won't happen for a while (there is a fire escape in the way. It's an old house, and that's a whole other story...). The lot is only ~50-55' wide at that point (pretty densely packed mostly single-family houses), so I think having too large (especially too wide) of a deck would be weird. The half patio/half deck gives a compromise of more useable space without having the deck as the whole outdoor space and running the width of the yard.

Rereading your comment, though, are you suggesting to replace the stoop entirely and build the patio up to the stoop stairs? The two-stage plan would give us house-level decking and ground-level patio.

Actually, I was suggesting no "ground-level patio" at all, because of the issue with the old concrete sidewalk. And the uneven ground issue you described. My idea was to either build onto the existing tiny porch, if feasible, and if it's not feasible, to destroy the existing tiny porch and build a whole new deck/porch in its place. Whatever size you think would be appropriate.

I suggested this in order for you to avoid the work of destroying the existing sidewalk.

@littlebug I definitely see your point, but I'm a firm believer that when it's such a small square footage you should never let some ugly concrete with a "meh" layout dictate what you do moving forward. And from a strictly budget scenario, here in VA average paver patio patio price (installed, turnkey) is $15-25 per sq ft, wood decks start at $35 per sq ft. An ambitious homeowner with a rented jackhammer ($80) and a rolloff dumpster in the street ($450) could knock out the demo in a weekend.

Or, a couple of trips in a pickup could haul it to a concrete dumping ground for much less than a dumpster. The jackhammer rental would be a good value vs. sledge hammer.

This advice has been very useful. My plan is to definitely rip the concrete out. I'm debating on placement of the patio and thinking it should be placed a little away from the house (with grass in between). Is there a reason to not do this and place it essentially starting where the concrete is currently?

how many homeowners can tell you a) what their max payload is and b) what that looks like without driving on a scale? If you have a work truck, sure, but a dumpster is way cheaper in the long run than a broken leaf spring or axle on your daily driver. Plus - you don't have to unload it!

Rev, everyone knows you can put twice the weight on your truck than it's rated for. :-) Every truck I've ever owned has had its mule moments ... without breaking anything! Not too many people want to cough up almost $500 to cart away the sidewalk that they don't even want to remove anyway.

Yard, I used to be that way. Then I realized how expensive parts are when you actually have a NICE truck. I'll load the crap out of a dump trailer I'm pulling behind my GMC, but not the bed of the truck.

Besides, payload is only part of the equation. Even if the springs and axle can take the load, can your stock brakes stop it? One of the scariest moments of my life was pulling an overloaded trailer behind a 1970 GMC C20 in La Jolla, CA right after a rainstorm. Light turned red, I hit the brakes, and the laws of physics said "hahahahahaNOPE" and I sailed through the intersection with no control like I was in a steel toboggan. I highly recommend against it!

There's your problem, Rev ... having a nice truck. :-)