Hello everyone. I am going to get a colored and stamped concrete patio poured. I am having trouble finding a color that I like. I have had a few contractors show me colors, but most of their samples look too dark or the release color makes the concrete look dirty to me. I would like a light, clean look and was wondering if anyone had suggestions? I am tending towards tan/cream tones rather than gray tones. One guy suggested San Diego Buff color with a buff tan release. I have seen pictures online of this color, but not with the release. Has anyone seen this color combination and can chime in, or do you have any other suggestions for a light color with a clean looking release (Davis or Brickform colors is what I have to choose from so far)? Any advice is appreciated!

Yardvark, thank you so much for evaluating my proposed plan. I appreciate your comments and will try to address your questions as I understand them. I too had a problem with the sharp angled lines of the walkway. I think it was drawn that way to avoid the water/sewer access points that are imbedded in the flower bed. I had planned to change the sharp angles to curves, but I have to admit that I was having a hard time making a decent curve as our front yard is not too deep and the walkway would connect to the patio over a shorter distance than desired. The front flowerbed was already executed a few years ago and is actually not as narrow as it appears on the plan. The yellow highlighted path was existing to the property (our home was built in the 1950s), and as you note, it is somewhat narrow (probably about 2’ wide). However, it has been very convenient to walk around the property. Do you propose that we make that path wider? Other elements on the plan we did not plan to execute include the black squares on the driveway’s edge that represented large flower filled urns on black rock (and a small awning at the beginning of the front porch from the patio). The narrow flower bed that runs along the front porch would be eliminated. My main concern is that I feared that without distinguishing the walkway/patio/front porch in some manner differently than the driveway, it would look like a massive driveway. But since the front of my house is only bedroom windows, I needed to find a way to make a more welcoming presence and an obvious path to the front door instead of weaving between cars in the driveway. In your proposed revision, do you think the 90 degree angles of the patio/seating wall would be appropriate because the house has the same lines? I think it would look good. What material would you propose for the walkway/patio/front porch that would run alongside the driveway? My hope was that I could do some kind of stamped concrete there that would be complimentary to the driveway but subtly different that would distinguish it as the walkway. I am really taking your observations to heart and so appreciate that you took the time to give me your professional opinion. Your comments and suggestions are really making me rethink this. Thank you very very much! Kathy

First, you double posted this question. Please delete the other one. I do not know if there is a way to fix this problem. I do know that the contractor who did the work should not have scheduled a pour when rain was forecast. They also should have better figured how much concrete was needed so the second truck was there for the other half of the pour. Uneven surface and a bad texturing suggest a lack of experience. You did not get the fix you were promised. You may have to contact a lawyer to give your complaint some teeth. I'm sure you do not want to pay more money to get the job done right, but sometimes there is no choice. This answe should bump your question to the top of list again, so perhaps someone with more concrete experience can explain what can be done to fix this.

Rain the day after is not usually an issue (not great to pour DURING rain though as it can effect the mix). It actually prevents the concrete from drying out too fast. I have seen people watering their concrete the day or two after it was poured in the summer to avoid it drying too fast. I had a driveway poured three weeks ago and believe me I was so nervous about the weather when it was poured as we had just had a few hot days, but day it was poured was a bit more moderate and we got some rain next day (and I was very happy). Don't hold me to this as I am not a concrete pro, but I am familiar with concrete driveways and such. This looks like efflorescence. Concrete takes time to cure. As it cures, salts come to the surface (the salts would be whatever was in the water, sand, or gravel that is in the mix) and show as white spots like this. If this is indeed it, it does not affect strength or anything, it is aesthetics only. I have some of these showing up too. If it has been a couple months since it was poured, you can remove them with a concrete efflorescence cleaner. As for sealing...if you "must" depends on your climate and how your municipality deals with winter. Where I am we are told to seal every fall with a penetrating concrete sealer as the salt/sand mix used by the City for the roads is brutal on concrete. We are actually required to in order to maintain our warranty. Really, I would do it anyway as it does lengthen the life of it :)