Concrete patios and alfresco areas in Sale, Victoria

Outdoor living in Sale

Long Gippsland summer evenings make an outdoor area one of the best additions to a Sale home. Concrete gives a solid, low-maintenance floor for a table, barbecue, outdoor kitchen or fire pit, whether open to the sky or under a pergola or roof.

Levels and falls against the house

The most important detail is water. A patio must fall away from the house and sit below the floor level and weep holes, so rain and hosing do not run back against the walls. We take levels at the visit and plan drains where the yard is flat.

Finishes for covered and open areas

Under a roof, smooth or honed concrete looks sharp and is easy to clean. In the open, exposed aggregate or broom finishes are grippier when wet. Lighter colours stay cooler in summer sun. We can also pour pads for outdoor kitchens and footings for posts.

Working with roofs and pergolas

If a pergola or verandah is planned, we pour footings or allow for post brackets so the roof builder can follow on.

Joining up the yard

Patios often connect to paths, a clothesline area, steps and side access. We can pour the lot at once so finishes and levels match.

Sale soils, Gippsland weather and Wellington Shire rules

Sale grew on the flats where the Thomson, Latrobe and Avon systems meet the Gippsland Lakes. Close to the rivers, the wetlands and Lake Guthridge, the ground is commonly heavy alluvial clay that holds water through winter and shrinks into deep cracks in a dry summer. On the higher ground and toward Wurruk and Longford there are sandy loams that drain well but loosen when they are disturbed, and along Ninety Mile Beach at Seaspray and the lake shore at Loch Sport the ground turns to fine coastal sand. Summers here regularly push past the high thirties, frosts are common on still winter mornings, and an easterly or a hot northerly can dry a fresh slab quickly. That combination is why we dig a test hole on every job and build the base, mix and curing around what we find.

Inside your own boundary, a driveway, path or patio normally needs no permit. Anything that crosses the nature strip, footpath or kerb needs a permit for works within the road reserve from Wellington Shire Council, which looks after Sale, Maffra, Stratford, Heyfield, Rosedale, Yarram and the lakes and coast townships. Access onto the Princes Highway, the South Gippsland Highway or other arterial roads also involves the state roads authority. Land subject to inundation overlays, house slabs and larger sheds can bring in a building surveyor and an engineer. Your quote states exactly what applies.

Reading a Sale Concreting quote

Every quote we send is itemised line by line. It lists the measured square metres, breaking out and carting away any existing concrete, pavers, asphalt or gravel, the excavation depth, the type and thickness of crushed rock and how it will be compacted, slab depth, the reinforcement and its cover, the finish or stone blend, where the saw cuts go, pits, grates and stormwater work, edging and steps, the sealer, and the Wellington Shire road-reserve permit if a crossover is involved. Extras such as a line pump, a long barrow run, traffic management on the Princes Highway or York Street, or boards to protect a neighbour's lawn appear as their own items so nothing is hidden.

You will not find square-metre rates anywhere on this site. In and around Sale, the same footprint can sit on firm sandy loam in the higher streets, on wet grey river-flat clay near the Thomson and Flooding Creek, or on uncontrolled fill behind an older house, and each needs a different base. A published figure would mislead most people, so we come out, look and price what your site really needs.