Lanai question
 

What surface did you put down on your lanai and why?
Any advice appreciated.

Our cement lanai was cracked in several places. It was ugly. We were having our living and dining room tiled and asked the tiler to search out some reddish-brown Spanish tile for the lanai. He put it down (8" square tiles) with black grout. It looks fantastic. It's the best thing we've done to the house so far.

That sounds nice. Would you share your installer?

We did chatahoochie river rock 8 yrs ago and still LOVE it today. Porus so therefore rain immediately disappears which is a plus. Very easy to keep clean... drag in the hose & spray away. Have had it professionally power washed & re- sealed once in 8 yrs. Never been sorry that we chose this and get many compliments on it. Mid State Stone 245-1990

For what it is worth, we had tile installed on our lanai in a former house and it was very nice to look at------however, when it got wet from rain or heavy air in the humid mornings it was very very slick. Our new home we had the lanai floor done with a stain----same as you would do a driveway. It matches our house and is not slick like tile and looks great. Tile works best in an enclosed Florida room or enclosed lanai with windows where it does not get wet IMHO.

Pavers.... The lanai out into the birdcage. Love it!

This has never been a problem for us. Our lanai is under roof but not enclosed. It faces east. Very little of it gets wet when it rains (one small part of the southeast corner, but there's a drain), and we have gutters. Also, the tiles are a rough texture.

Ceramic tile- comfortable on bare feet, easy to clean, a nice finished look available in many styles/colors. Only drawback is that its slippery when wet- but how often have you seen rain here?

I agree doing that now.

Pavers placed over the cement floor can be glued down with masonry caulking, very easy to do.

But dark colors do get hot under foot and my generate heat in the area.

Later on I'll probably do the driveway too

they cost about $2 a sq ft, but get the thin ones 1 1/4" U don't need the think ones at all including driveways

River rock not slippery when wet...everyone loves it comes in colors to match

Chatahoochie river rock is the way to go. Non-slippery unlike tile, hide dirt, easy to clean, comfortable on bare feet, very little maintenance, and priceed very reasonable. We love ours.

Had T&D lay down pavers in the lanai and throughout the bird cage and spa area. My past experience with tile is that they will eventually pop up or break and are sometimes slippery.

I saw your home it is fantastic, your design inspired us to do pavers.

Thanks Jimbo. We love the way it looks as well. T&D did a great job on our lanai, outdoor kitchen, bird cage and spa. Now we are searching for some nice outdoor furniture to complete the package.

Could someone post a picture of their lani with Chatahoochie river rock? We are trying to decide what to put on ours and would like to see what it looks like. Sounds beautiful. :icon_wink:

:agree:

pm
 

I've sent you a pm

Could you post a picture? We are trying to decide between river rock and pavers. Do you find pavers generate heat as someone else has said or get slippery when wet? Thanks! :)

Pavers are definitely no slippery, the light colors are cool to the foot.

Another advantage is they can be removed to add or repair anything below.

The river rock is only pebbles mixed in epoxy, if it cracks and can you have an issue, I haven't seen it first hand but think it may have a slip issue.

It is also more expensive than pavers

We have an outdoor rug - screened lanai only, but with gutters, facing south and east. Doesn't get terribly wet when it rains. Not slippery, feels good on feet. Keep meaning to stain underneath (only shows much concrete in the corners, but never seem to get around to it. The rug makes it feel like another living room. Have had it down about 3 years, doesn't look worn or faded at all - but get one with a darkish background - previous one had a light beige background and did show stains that didn't come out.

We are gone in the summer, though, and roll it up and put it in the garage, along with most of the furniture. Previous rug we left down as we rented out our villa then, and still didn't look worn or faded, just had a stain I couldn't get out.

This is how a lanai with pavers looks: OOOPS

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Looks great! Thanks for posting the pictures!

WOW! Your lanai looks gorgeous!
Makes my decision very hard - the pavers look great.
Thanks!

Just for the record, yes River Rock is ONLY pebbles mixed in epoxy. Our floor was done in 2004....it has not cracked and NEVER has there been an issue with it being slippery. Just my opinion but I highly doubt it is more expensive than pavers.

Just to help, the only time we had an issue with cracking was when the concrete underneath cracked, which will always happen. Our surface is guaranteed so our installer came out and just added more material to fill the crack. It is now virtually invisable. You would not be able to do this with pavers, especially if the crack widens. And as wet as our river rock gets, it is never slippery. The surface is still textured but not enough to be unpleasant to stand on with bare feet. Plus, if you use pavers, they are think. Make sure that it does not interfere with opening any doors if the lanai is on the same level as your main floor.

If anything the opposite is true, they are or would be easier to simply reset. They are not always thick, they vary in thickness, the ones I'm going to likely use are 1" thick.

Thanks patfla06. One of my current neighbors has river rock and I am constantly finding the pebbles on the side walk where their back yard drains. I believe over time the pebles come loose because of what I see. Not sure what the cause is.

I had the Chatachooche River Rock years ago on my pool deck when it was in style. They since went with cool deck for pools and now maybe something newer.
The river rock came in 2 or 3 different sizes, going as small as course sand to much larger pieces embeded in epoxy. I liked it but needed sealing every couple years. The best thing I liked was it didn't puddle since the water soaked thru and ran off.