Ideas for concrete yard slab

You could do a mosaic of different colored small river rocks in patterns, set in cement. It could be any pattern. Swirls. Or like a kilim rug which would be a cool effect.

Don't cover your drain or interfere with the grade that directs the runoff into the drain, though!

Posted by: guest at February 4, 2008 12:57 PM

Jackhammer. with such tiny brownstone backyards why does anyone sacrifice planting space to cement? even if you don't have a green thumb, you can let many beautiful no-mow groundcovers grow.

Posted by: guest at February 4, 2008 1:07 PM

It goes only 10 feet back from the house, 1:07. The OP said that. Graded cement right at the back of a Brooklyn attached house is necessary otherwise you'd get tons of muddy runoff. And you'd get sued by your neighbors for not grading your runoff away from their yards, too. We ourselves have a "green" yard without cement anywhere but the immediate back of the house.

Posted by: guest at February 4, 2008 1:14 PM

Yeah, I read the 10' part. Nothing in my post indicated that I thought the whole yard was covered in cement. I have seen many, many brownstone backyards that do not have 10' of cement. I never saw mud in any of them. Nor do I believe they were being sued by neighbors. Are you claiming there is some regulation requiring 10' of cement in the back of every rowhouse in Brooklyn? Please post a link to evidence of such. I've learned many things from this website and allow for that possibility. But you'll have to excuse me if I assume you, 1:14, are just an idiot looking to pick a fight with someone on a blog.

Posted by: guest at February 4, 2008 1:23 PM

from nyc.gov
"If my neighbors don't take care of the standing water in their yards, should I report them to the Health Department?"

"We ask City residents and business owners to take primary responsibility for eliminating standing water on their property. However, DOHMH takes reports to track significant problem areas. Reports can be made to the City's Information Line at 311 or through our web site at nyc.gov/health/wnv."

That's just the issue of standing water. Runoff going into a neighbor's house of course results in a lawsuit if you don't correct it. They should just put up with water coming from your badly graded yard? Right.

But of course the renter at 1:23 knows all about houses and NYC house ownership from "seeing" them.

We got an inch of muddy water in the basement TWICE last year because of all the runoff in the grassy yard coming at the house because the cement at the back was not graded properly. We had it graded so it now directs runoff from the back of the house AND any from the grassy part of the yard that isn't absorbed into the ground, towards the drain to the drywell. Which is what's supposed to happen. If you have only grass right at the back of a Broookyn attached house, there is NO WAY to control the grade. In as little as a year the grade could change due to rain and erosion. In suburban houses, they can be built up on an incline or hill. So they can have grass right up against the house. But Brooklyn is on clay. The houses have been there a 100 years. The houses have sunk into this clay. They are are not located on an incline above their yards at all.

Posted by: guest at February 4, 2008 2:00 PM

We have about 20 feet of cement that comes out from the back of the house. About half is covered by a second floor deck. I used lattice work to close off this area to make a storage space. Then we used pavers to cover the rest of the cement. We got them free off of Brownstoner but it was truly backbreaking labor to install ourselves. (Good source of pavers is Glenwood Mason - we had to do some fill in). Another suggestion is to build a wood deck a few inches above the cement that is there now and add built in planters, benches etc. I heard once from a long time resident of our 'hood that the reason a lot of the backyards have so much cement is mosquitos. More green = more mosquitos. It can make a backyard nearly inhabitable in the summer.

Posted by: guest at February 4, 2008 2:37 PM

Standing water in yards is BAD for breeding mosquitos. We have part of our yard green and we don't have standing water, though. I think the real culprit are lumpy roofs on nearby houses, where they get pooling that doesn't dry up within a few hours. Also some of our neighbors have overgrown crap yards and I'm sure they get pooling of water deep in the overgrown grass. Not to say they should take out the green. Hate that. But just maintain it please! And use a safe, bio-pesticide for mosquitos on the lawn.

Posted by: guest at February 4, 2008 2:46 PM

I find this web site helpful.http://www.concretenetwork.com/ Iam thinking of acid staining my slab. Please post if you have.

Posted by: guest at February 4, 2008 9:15 PM

Then why do they make non-chemical mosquito pesticide and market it for lawns and gardens, 6:27?

Obviously some pepole do have problems with water pooling in some gardens and yards. Also nobody said don't have any green in a yard. They just said maintain it and not leave it an overgrown jungle. And look out for standing water.

Posted by: guest at February 4, 2008 9:40 PM