Topics

Having a great time with friends on this simple patio If you love outdoor living, a new patio will give you a great outdoor space to enjoy for many years to come.

Designing and building a simple patio is a very creatively satisfying project which just about anyone can accomplish, and you’ll save a considerable amount of money on the overall cost of the patio.

If you need a few ideas to get you started, you’ll find some very useful patio plans and building guides on this site. Or if you’re feeling really adventurous, you can design your own patio plan from scratch, using patio design software which you can purchase and download very easily.

Brick patio basics.

Designing and building a brick patio is one of the simplest home improvement projects there is, so it’s a great project for a DIY beginner. Building the patio will require doing some excavation work, and quite a lot of lifting, so some physical strength is required. With a couple of willing helpers, you can quite easily plan and build your patio in a weekend or two.

Planning a brick patio is a simple matter of designing an overall shape for the patio, which may be a basic geometric shape or something a little more complicated depending on the space you have, then deciding on a brick pattern. There are a number of popular brick patio patterns which are very easy to put together, including elegant herringbone and basket weave designs.

You can also choose an attractive border pattern for the edge of the patio. You then use this plan to calculate the number of bricks you’ll need for the patio. Whatever you do, don’t skimp on your patio bricks. If you come up short when you’re building the patio, you may have trouble getting more patio bricks from the same batch, so the color won’t be quite the same.

On the other hand, if you have a few bricks left over when you finish the patio, you’ll have some spares to use as replacements in case a patio brick is broken or damaged later.

For more information on designing your patio, please read this article on patio pavers, tiles and bricks.