You will always be fighting premature rot. Often it boils down to some people just don't like patios, some people don't like decks. If you have a strong preference, then any negative tradeoffs are acceptable for your choice. If no preference, patios are certainly more appropriate for grade-level construction.

Thank you. We are leaning towards a patio but then still a lot of choices. Concrete, stamped concrete, pavers etc etc.

Choice is good. Match the value level of your house e.g. concrete < stamped < pavers < bluestone

Anyone hear of pavers being put on a concrete slab in the northeast?

Pavers can be put on top of a concrete slab. You have to be aware of the raised height interfering with your door threshold or rising above the siding though. It is recommended to drill holes into the slab to allow drainage. Then you lay your bedding course of sand, or in the Northeast I hear 1/8" chipped stone is popular, on top of the slab.

The height will not be an issue. Contractor said it will be a 4” concrete slab and sloped for drainage. Also will do footings etc. seems like it should help with weeds etc.

I do not know why anyone would pour a new concrete slab then top it with pavers. Double the cost for no reason. The gravel base is sufficient and no weeds will grow from below. If you have an existing crappy old slab, then it would make sense to lay pavers. Or if the slab is a roof over an underground garage or something.

I love patios❣️We had one installed several years ago. Minimal maintenance too

It is a good point about cost. Thousands more but it is lasts longer, no sinking, no weeds etc then may be worth it. All very confusing as some are either on one side of the fence or the other.

"All very confusing as some are either on one side of the fence or the other."

Never heard about any deliberation or differing preferences on pouring a slab as the base instead of gravel. I'll ask the big manufacturers during the next lunch-n-learns, but doubt they've come across it either in residential. If you have the money to waste in pouring footings and a slab under your pavers, then you should be looking at bluestone or brushed travertine, not pavers. Weeds do not grow through 4"-8" gravel base, seeds collect in the joints from above. You can use polymeric sand to mitigate that. They don't sink unless they were installed wrong.

@kculbers that was very nice workmanship. You can see the cut herringbone triangles are uniform in size. And not a weed to be seen!

Yes 3onthetree: we never had weeds❣️Our excellent landscaper : Art Pierson Landscaping in Sussex County NJ, did major packing to the beds of pavers first. They are real artists too❣️

Kculbers I am assuming just a gravel base for yours and no concrete?

3onthetree I am wondering if an warranty issues if we did do the slab.

Hu: that is correct: no concrete for the base.

Thank you. It still looks great.

Use ground contact lumber being so close to the ground if you decide to go with Trex and you will not have issues down the road. They used regular lumber is why it deteriorated.

GN Builders. It was pressure treated. Maybe just a bad batch. Who knows. We have decided to do the patio. Hoping it will work out better for us. Thank you.

No opinion on deck or patio but I recently had to tear down a carport/deck that was built with regular pine or maybe douglas fir. On top of a low slope roof with bad drainage. Just issues everywhere. After 15 years, dry rot and termites destroyed 70% of it. anyway...I rebuilt with PT the dark brown ground wood.

I found out that there are MANY considerations in terms of lumber braces and nails/screws when you build with that. You need to use products that do not corrode because of the chemicals in the PT. My project does not even have a lot of that, cause the guys that did it I guess did not know...not much I can do now. Just hope its an exaggerated problem. But be aware of that and research it. Even the guy who just did my roof was using the wrong kind of nails. When I mentioned it to him, he said he was not aware of that. Bottom line...these guys often will just use the cheapest stuff they can find, unless you tell them up front what you want..and what you know. For example...you need special hot dipped galvanized, or stainless steel. Regular anti-corrosion treatments are not recommended.

Thank you. Good to know. So much to consider with anything I guess.