The shape of a patio can vary according to individual taste and imagination: square, diamond-shaped, rectangular, circular, or other (fig. 7). It can be used to highlight shrubs, hedges, or other existing landscape elements. There is a rule that suggests that the patio should be larger than the largest room in the house. A patio slab should be at least 100 mm thick and there should be contraction joints every 3 m in both directions.


Figure 6 shows some general features of driveways. For a single car, you should usually plan a width of 2.4 to 3 m; for two cars, it is usually 4.5 to 5.4 m. You should increase the width of the driveway in curves, because the rear wheels have less of a turning radius than the front wheels. If the driveway for a two car garage is short, usually the entire driveway will be made double width; if the driveway is long, it can be single width, making it wider as it gets closer to the garage. Driveways should also have a 20 mm/metre slope for drainage.

A driveway should be 100 mm thick. If oil or other trucks will be driving on the driveway, it would be better to make it 125 mm thick. Transversal contraction joints should have a maximum spacing of 3 m. In the case of a driveway 3.6 m or more wide, longitudinal control joints will also be needed. Longitudinal joints can be reinforced with reinforcing bars to prevent them from opening. We recommend using 900mm long #10M bars spaced at approximately 1 m.

If there is a considerable difference in level over a short distance between the floor of the garage or the parking area and street level, the slope of the driveway becomes critical. It should not exceed 14%. If this slope has to be curved, it must be done as gradually as possible to avoid having the bottom of cars or the bumper scrape the sidewalk or the highest point of the driveway. During the planning stage, you may contemplate enlarging the concrete surface, to increase the parking space, to make a turn-around area, or simply to use as a playing area.


When a sidewalk leading to a house entrance finishes in stairs, the stairs are generally a little bit wider that the sidewalk itself. For reasons of comfort and security, a landing should be planned every five or six steps; a landing should be at least 1 m in length. For a staircase attached to the house, recognized requirements are generally as follows: The sum of the dimensions of the tread and the riser should be equal to approximately 470 mm, the riser should not exceed 190 mm, the tread should be at least 280 mm, the dimension of the nosing should be added to that of the tread (fig.8).

When a staircase is further away from the house, people have a tendency to take bigger steps and the rules set out above should be modified as follows: The sum of the dimensions of the tread and the riser should be equal to approximately 660 mm, the riser should not exceed 150 mm, the tread should be at least 300 mm, the dimension of the nosing should be added to that of the tread.

If the stairs are simply used to negotiate a slope in the yard, there is no need for a special foundation. However, if the staircase leads to the door of the house, or if it is connected to a porch with a foundation, it should then rest on a concrete foundation sufficiently deep to escape freezing.

The stairway in figure 9 has lateral walls. The steps are cut into a slope and the lateral walls hold back the earth. Another solution consists of making the lateral walls at the same level as the ground so that the bottom of the riser is at the same level as the ground. This will make it easier to mow the lawn and remove snow from the stairs.

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