A patio (/ˈpætioʊ/,[1] from Spanish: patio [ˈpatjo]; "courtyard", "forecourt", "yard", "little garden") is an outdoor space generally used for dining or recreation that adjoins a structure and is typically paved.[2] In Australia the term is expanded to include roofed structures such as a veranda, which provides protection from sun and rain.[3]
Construction
Patios are most commonly paved with concrete or stone slabs (also known as paving flags). They can also be created using bricks, block paving, tiles, cobbles,[4] or gravel. Other kinds of patio materials these days include alumawood, aluminum, acrylic, and glass.
Patio options include concrete, stamped concrete, and aggregate concrete. Stamped concrete costs more, is known to be slippery, requires being resealed, and dyes typically fade in time.[citation needed] Aggregate concrete uses stones exposed giving its own style.
Other common patio features include additional of reinforcement for hot tubs and additional steps from the home.
Restaurant patio
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20220321162105im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Downtown_State_College_PA_03.jpg/220px-Downtown_State_College_PA_03.jpg)
Patio is also a general term used for outdoor seating at restaurants, especially in Canadian English. While common in Europe even before 1900, eating outdoors at restaurants in North America was exotic until the 1940s. The Hotel St. Moritz in New York in the 1950s advertised itself as having the first true continental cafe with outdoor seating. The Toronto Star welcomed that city's first patio in the 1960s. In the United States, having a warmer and sunnier climate than Northern Europe, outdoor dining grew rapidly in the 1960s and today is a popular dining experience in the warmer parts of the mainland.[5]
See also
Notes
- ^ "Patio in the Oxford Dictionary".
- ^ Court, Jess (2021-05-17). "How to make the best of your outdoor space". Aqua Warehouse. Retrieved 2022-02-28.
- ^ Department of Planning. "State Planning Policy 3.1 - Residential Design Codes". Retrieved 9 October 2017.
- ^ Fwa 2005, p. 10-.
- ^ Chris Bateman. "How Toronto learned to love the patio." Spacing. APRIL 29, 2015
References
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. .
- British Precast Concrete Federation (1973). Paving Flags (to B.S. 368: 1971). British Precast Concrete Federation.
- Mildenhall, Henry Seymour (1983). Laying Precast Concrete Paving Flags. Cement and Concrete Association. ISBN 978-0-7210-1288-9.
- Fwa, T.F. (28 September 2005). The Handbook of Highway Engineering. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4200-3950-4.