Denver Decorative Concrete & Custom MasonryStamped concrete not flush with lawn?
Hi, I would just like to get someones opionion. My husband and I had our tiny ten x ten concrets slab removed and had a larger fifteen x thirteen stamped concrete slab placed down. THey finished it today and when I went to look at it the slab is raised about four inches about the lawn. The old slab was flush with the lawn. Its also not nice on the sides as they’re not stamped but just plain concrete. It looks horrible and is a safety hazard. People will trip and then sue us! I am just wondering if this is normal? They never told us it would be raised. I assumed it would be flush as it was before. We spent a lot of $$ on this and I am sick about it. What do you think? Thank your in advance for your answers.
You can solve this problem by renting a sod cutter, lift out about a yard of lawn on each side that is affected. Fill in with black dirt, pack it down and level it about an inch or so below the stamped concrete.This will work, I guarantee it. Remember to water the replacement sod every day so that it can re establish it self. Also, when replacing the sod, keep the green side up.
There is probably very little you can say or do to the contractor but you”ll know not to engage his services again. To ease the situation with the brand new slab being above the level of your yard I would add soil around the edge in a gradual slope so it would act as a ramp instead of a step onto the slab. You can taper it enough to allow your lawnmower to cut 1 swath along the slope. I’m sorry there isn’t much you can do about the shoddy concrete work.
Typically slabs such as this are raised slightly above the level of the soil. This is to prevent flooding during times of rain and to make it less likely to damage a lawn mower while mowing your grass. If you prefer it be flush that should have been made clear to the company you hired to perform the work. If you have not paid them for the work you can tell them you are disappointed with the finished product and try to get them to do something about it. They will probably balk at replacement unless your contract stated specifically the elevation it was to be finished at. Another, probably better, option would be to bring in some top soil and fill around the slab with the soil tapering away from the top. This would help even out the soil-to-slab without the expense of replacing the concrete. They would also need to place some sod around the filled in areas to prevent the soil from washing away.
As for the edges not being stamped; that area was covered by forms during placement and finishing. It would be impossible to stamp the sides without removing the forms and removing the forms would cause the concrete to crack. They could’ve ripped the stamps into strips and nailed them to the forms but the finish would be less than spectacular.
Good luck and enjoy!
That’s terrible that they did not explain to you what was going to happen. It’s poor communication on their part for sure. and absolutely NO way is it your responsibility to know, or request to them that you wanted it flush. that’s crap. How are you supposed to know if they do not tell you?
anyway…not much you can do about it now.
2 options.
1. you can put a very little buffer strip with edging and decorative rock , maybe a few plants to soften up the transition to the lawn. This is pretty common and looks good.
2. You can topdress it with some loam. Grass usually grows through a couple of inches of soil without too much of a problem. More than this can be a problem. depending on the height you have to make up, it could take you a season or 2 to reach your final height.
I would opt for the buffer. This is an opportunity to turn a problem into something really nice. have a couple of stepping stones in the rock placed where you want to control people leaving the patio to the lawn.
good luck to you.