<h5>Most homeowners in Carmel start with a small concrete slab that does not let them enjoy their property. This one was replaced with a patio designed around where the family actually wanted to sit.</h5><p>Instead of building an extra room addition or a sunroom to enjoy the outdoors, our clients appreciate that brick patios give the same feel and are a lot more affordable. Our patio designs maximise the usable space to create something more functional for the way a family lives outside, and we incorporate fire pits, outdoor kitchens and grilling areas that other general contractors would not typically think about.</p><h6>The fire pit and the wall around it</h6><p>Most of our clients prefer a round fire pit, but there are square and rectangular ones as well. There are two different types: gas burning, which is connected to a gas line that runs underground and is hooked up to the house, and wood burning, which uses wood to ignite and continue burning. Platinum Patio follows all guidelines to make sure every fire area is the proper distance from the house and other structures.</p><p>Retaining walls are a great way to provide extra privacy or to sit around a fire and enjoy time with the family. Many homeowners finish their paver patios with a beautiful and functional seating wall, which is used for privacy, to block off neighbours, and to seclude the outdoor living space.</p><h6>The base underneath it</h6><p>Platinum Patio digs about 8 to 10 inches down into the ground, over twice as deep as other landscape design companies. We then fill the space with crushed limestone, which is ideal for durability and allows water to safely filter through and away from the house. On top of the limestone we install landscaping fabric to make sure weeds or other unwanted plant material never come through to the paver patio. On top of the fabric comes more crushed limestone, followed by leveling sand and then finally Belgard concrete pavers.</p><p>The patio is secured in place by Perma-Edge technology rather than the normal plastic edging you usually see surrounding a patio. Traditional edging tends to come up and out of the patio over time, and homeowners often trip on it. Perma-Edge is more of a cement that lines the patio with a solid layer to hold its shape.</p>

A Carmel backyard built around the fire pit

<h5>Indiana goes through a freeze and thaw period several times a year. That is the single thing a patio in Zionsville has to survive, and it is what decides which paver goes down.</h5><p>When the ground expands and retracts, a stamped concrete patio cracks because the square footage of the concrete is so large. It does not allow the slab to breathe, expand and contract, so it tends to crack and fail early. Pavers move with the ground instead of fighting it.</p><h6>Why the paver line matters</h6><p>Belgard offer a few different lines at different price points. Their Legacy line is the least expensive but is not ideal for building a brick paver patio, mainly because of the size of the paver itself. In Indiana weather these pavers tend to shift and become unlevel over time, and the same happens with the Heritage line. Those pavers can be used along the border, but are not ideal for the patio itself.</p><p>A better option is Belgard's Metropolitan line. These pavers come in a larger format, meaning the patio stones are bigger. That helps with durability as well as style: they are far less likely to become unlevel, they have more stylish designs, and they last a lot longer than a traditional paver patio.</p><h6>The strongest pattern</h6><p>With proper workmanship, the strongest paver pattern is the herringbone pattern using three different sizes of pavers. A great example is Belgard's Dimensions line from the Metropolitan collection. With a properly built base, pavers laid in the herringbone pattern have been proven to hold up the longest, withstand the most weight, and look the nicest out of any other paver.</p><h6>The warranty behind it</h6><p>Belgard offers a lifetime transferable warranty when a patio is built following the guidelines of ICPI, the NCMA, or the Belgard Installation Guideline Manual. A handyman or general landscaping company may not build the patio correctly, which often voids that warranty. Platinum Patio has years of experience assuring Belgard that our patios are not only built to code but built well enough that every client receives the lifetime material warranty.</p>

A Belgard patio that will outlast the freeze and thaw

<h5>Staining wood decks simply does not hold up against our Midwest winters, so families find themselves re-staining every other year and spending more time and money than they wanted to.</h5><p>A deck can be so much more than a place to store your grill or patio furniture. We believe your deck can be a work of art and an extension of your home. As your local Indianapolis deck builder, Platinum Decking will help you and your family enjoy the beauty of outdoor living by simply walking out the back door.</p><h6>Why composite</h6><p>Resistant to the elements, rotting, insect infestation and any other natural cause of deterioration, composite boards are proven to last a minimum of 25 to 30 years, and typically much longer with our quality workmanship. The main reason composite decking reigns supreme is its durability: it maintains not only its structure over time but also its like-new coloration.</p><p>Unlike wood decks that require annual or bi-annual staining and periodic repair, a low-maintenance composite deck needs only a simple power wash to maintain its beauty. Traditional wood decks begin to fade and stain in the first few years, and they are susceptible to insect and wildlife damage that can lead to structural damage and safety hazards. Composite decks will never rot or splinter.</p><h6>The Trex product lines</h6><p>Trex offers four different product lines for deck building: Transcend, Select, Enhance Naturals and Enhance Basics. Trex Transcend is the top-rated composite decking material on the market today. Not only is it the most scratch-resistant, but the deep wood grain and its luxury colours blow every other composite decking brand out of the water. It is offered in ten colours and is stain-resistant, fade-resistant, scratch-resistant and mould-resistant.</p><h6>How the build runs</h6><p>Our crews are made up of two to three highly skilled deck builders. A week before your deck-building project begins we reach out and coordinate any final logistics. The normal building process runs demolition, diamond footing placement, deck framing, decking, deck lights, deck stairs and then deck railings.</p><p>After the completion of your project we do a final walk-around to ensure you are satisfied, and register the Trex 25-year warranty. As a Trex Pro Platinum builder, Trex extends a 10-year labour warranty for every Trex deck we build.</p>

A composite deck at Geist that only needs a wash

<h5>In addition to building patios, Platinum also specialises in Trex and TimberTech decking. When both go in together, the deck and the patio are designed as one space instead of two.</h5><p>As a Trex Pro Platinum and TimberTech Platinum deck builder, no one is better equipped to take on a project that needs both. It also means one crew, one schedule and one point of contact, rather than a deck contractor and a patio contractor working around each other.</p><h6>Getting the levels right</h6><p>Our design and sales team maximise your dollar with design by giving you as much usable space as possible. Although many clients believe a square patio is the most cost-effective, a considered design creates a unique layout that maximises the usable space of the yard. We advise on the cost differences between options: a new deck is about twice as expensive per square foot as a patio from a deck contractor in this area, which is why covering the bulk of the ground in pavers and reserving the deck for the level nearest the house is often the better spend.</p><h6>Drainage</h6><p>Permeable pavers allow water to seep through and lead it on a downward slope away from the house, using the crushed limestone base underneath. This is our most popular way to build a patio in the Indianapolis area, and it allows better aeration and filtration than non-permeable pavers. Whether we build a permeable patio or a non-permeable one, water will always slope away from the house.</p><p>Permeable patios and walkways also carry a zoning benefit in many Indiana towns. This type of patio does not count as a solid structure when building, so it does not take up buildable space on the Plat of Survey, which makes it ideal for a larger project covering a lot of square footage.</p>

A deck and a patio built as one outdoor room

<h5>A patio rarely stands on its own. The route to it matters just as much, which is why the walkway and the stairs were built out of the same stone on the same visit.</h5><p>Our builders are able to create beautiful walkways out of the same stones as our paver patios. Platinum Patio always digs deeper and fills that space with higher quality materials, making for a walkway that will last as long as the patio it leads to.</p><h6>The edge is the part that fails first</h6><p>The type of edging a patio installer uses is very important to the build. Traditional edging usually includes a thin black plastic edge that wraps around the patio. This method does not look good, and the plastic tends to come up and out of the patio over time. Homeowners often trip on this type of edging, and we do not recommend it.</p><p>Instead, Platinum Patio uses a product called Perma-Edge. This is more of a cement that lines the patio with a solid layer to hold its shape, with nothing for lawn care services to trip on or ruin. Snow removal, mowing, mulch and sod installation and general maintenance can all be carried out right around the perimeter of the patio and walkways.</p><h6>Choosing the stone</h6><p>Clients have the choice between natural stone and traditional stone pavers. Traditional pavers tend to have greater durability at a lower price point, with a thick top coating that holds the colour of the paver very well. Natural stone provides even more vibrant colour, and the stones are usually shaped more organically. They are slightly less durable, meaning they scratch a little more easily, and they tend to be more expensive.</p><h6>How the site is left</h6><p>Each day the site is left tidy and without debris. Where planting has to be moved to make room for the build, we transplant it rather than leaving it for the homeowner to deal with.</p>

Backyards nobody was using

A Carmel backyard built around the fire pit

A Belgard patio that will outlast the freeze and thaw

A composite deck at Geist that only needs a wash

A deck and a patio built as one outdoor room

A patio, a walkway and resurfaced stairs in Westfield

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