Hello. I'm new here and thought I would request the opinions from you all.

I do not know whether to go with a deck, slab or pavers. Wood requires maintenance, a slab would be nice, pavers might shift in time.

I've attached some photos of the back yard and the area in which I would like to have the back patio.

I like the idea of a wood deck. I could cover the current slab with wood as well. The thing is I would want the deck ground level with the portion covering the current concrete slab. This would require I did 6 or more inches deep for the 2x6 frame (more for the concrete piers). It would look great however what would happen under the deck? Do I need some sort of drainage? Would I need to cover it with rocks? Would rodents eventually get under there? What about the outside of the framed deck? Would it be OK if it touches the dirt/grass on the outside perimeter of it?

Thanks, and I look forward to seeing what y'all have to say. I'm located in Southern Mississippi, if that matters.


The back door is roughly 3 1/2 inches from the current concrete slab.

 

Welcome to the forums.

Too low for a deck - the wood needs space underneath to breathe.

Concrete is nice, especially with the treatments like stamping and staining available but it's expensive.

Pavers would be my choice but there's a lot of work involved.

 

I agree! any wood [even pressure treated] that sets at or below grade will rot in no time While a concrete slab costs more initially, it's virtually maintenance free and will outlast any wood deck.

 

One big issue with your house is it was built to low and there's no way to regrade for water to run off.
I'd consider permeable pavers.
Google it.

 

Concrete would be my first choice, possibly with an exposed aggregate finish. Assuming your patio area is about 12' x 18' (guesstimating from the scribbled area in the first photo), having it done by someone could cost close to $3000. You could pour it yourself for less than $500 in material costs, including forming lumber and base gravel.

 

I definitely agree with the previous posters that a wood deck is definitely not a good choice for your location. If you can get sufficient grading to get water to run away from your home a poured slab is probably is a great way to go especially if you are hiring somebody to do it. If you're going to do it yourself pavers is probably the best choice because they take less skill and you can do them a little bit at a time. The disadvantage to pavers if you're hiring somebody is that they would end up being considerably more expensive because of the labor involved.

 

if you do the labor, pavers is the way to go, but they need a base, sand with clay in it, is used a lot where i live, (cold here) and paver sand once all is level, lot of work but they won't rot or go anywhere if you have a border to keep them in place.

 

looks like some sort of a ramp from the back door's slab surface down to ground level - izzat so ?

EVERYTHING needs some maintenance - EVERYTHING ! even the brick & mortar on your home.

true, wood would need more attn therefore not a good selection,,, pavers properly install'd over there on a compacted gabc base + sand interlayer would be a good choice,,, but i like bridge's suggestion best - concrete,,, just be certain there's expansion jnt between patio conc & house slab & you have a good jnt pattern based on 4" thick conc might even have enough elevation to give it a 1/2" drop from the house to the yard for drainage even considering we get frogstrangler storms often down here good luck !