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What we build
• Exposed aggregate patios, in Longburn pebble, Mangatangi and others.
• Reinforced slabs built to carry tile, porcelain or pavers.
• Broom, brushed and plain finishes where the surface stays bare.
• Paved patios laid on a mortar base over compacted GAP20.
• Existing slabs assessed, edged, resurfaced and retiled.
• Falls, channel drains and slot drains set into the pour.
• Saw-cut control joints, placed where they will not read as cracks.
A slab that will carry tile
A slab that will carry tile is a different build from one that stays bare, and which one you get is decided long before the concrete truck arrives.
At Meadowbank the slab is 25 MPa, 665 mesh reinforced with D12 borders, broom finished, and it carries Italian Travertine porcelain at 1200 x 600. Large-format tile is unforgiving. Any movement in the slab below telegraphs straight through to the grout line above.
How exposed aggregate is done
Exposed aggregate is the finish most people picture, and the method is worth understanding before you choose it.
At Torbay the patio is 40 square metres of 20 mm Longburn pebble, 4 kg of black oxide per cubic metre, on 665 mesh with D12 borders, saw-cut at 3 m, no sealer. Retarder on, then washed back the next day. On that job the slurry stayed on site and went into a bin afterwards, rather than out by sucker truck.
Where the water goes
Water is what decides whether a patio ages well, and sometimes it cannot simply be fallen away.
At Meadowbank the patio could not be fallen away from the pool. The answer was a hidden drain channel run along the coping tiles, under the tiling, with a 12 mm gap catching the water. Invisible in the finished job, and the reason a patio that cannot slope away from the pool still stays dry.
Consents and compliance
Most patio work needs no consent at all. What changes that is drainage, retaining and proximity to a pool.
If a slab alters where stormwater goes, or sits against a wall holding ground back, or changes a level inside a pool barrier zone, the questions start. Where a job needs an engineer or a specialist we appoint and brief them and hold the programme together; they certify their own work, and consented drainage is signed off by the specialist who lays it.
Where we work
Auckland-wide. Recent patio, slab and paving work in Meadowbank, Torbay, Point Chevalier and Morningside, with wider landscape work across Herne Bay.
Common questions
Can you lay tile over an existing slab?
Sometimes. It depends on whether the slab is sound, what the falls are doing and whether the levels still work at the door thresholds. We open it up and look before pricing.
Exposed aggregate or plain?
Exposed hides marks and grips underfoot. Plain and broom finishes suit a patio that will carry furniture or tile. The base is identical either way.
Do I need a sealer?
Not always. At Torbay we left the exposed aggregate unsealed, deliberately. A sealer changes the look and commits you to resealing it every few years.
How long does a patio take?
Most run one to two weeks, including the prep and the excavation that comes before the pour.