ROOFTOP PATIO IDEAS

It is hard to find good information online about rooftop patio ideas. You can search a long time and come up with very little that is useful. The best thing to do might be to go to Google and search for all the pictures you can find and you can do that by following this link. You can also search for related terms like rooftop decks and rooftop gardens and looking at the variety of pictures will probably give you a few good ideas.

Before go out and add any structures to a rooftop, make sure you check with your homeowners association and/or with the city to make sure you are allowed to do it. You might need to get a city permit if you add on and it is always better to check first before you spend the money.

If you are thinking about building a rooftop patio or deck on a space that has no railings and wasn't intended for that type of use, you will need to do a lot of extra planning to make sure you construct an area that is safe. In this type of situation, it would be smart to hire a professional contractor that can come out and make sure nothing is overlooked.

The furniture you choose should be outdoor furniture that can be bolted down or attached in some way so that it can't blow over. Umbrellas and light furniture are not recommended because something like that could also blow off the building and cause damage or injure someone below. Patio furniture that is used on a rooftop should also obviously be strong enough to withstand the elements such as rain, snow, and the sun. Furniture that comes with covers would be best for this type of outdoor environment.

PATIO VEGETABLE GARDEN IDEAS

Are you someone that likes to grow your own vegetables? With the price of food going up these days, having your own vegetable garden is a hobby that ends up saving money. It is really fun to watch your vegetables grow knowing that you will get to eat them and save a trip to the store.

For many folks though, living in apartments or other places that don't have a yard means that growing vegetables has to be done out of pots. Anyone who has a deck or patio area that faces the sun can do this and may have all they need to start their own mini vegetable garden.

Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable people grow out of pots on their balconies, patios, and decks. If you have good sunlight, tomatoes can be grown. With a limited amount of space, it is important to use every inch wisely when you decide what plants and vegetables you want to include.

Take a look at the video below which has a handful of great tips for anyone with a patio vegetable garden:

REMOVE PATIO MOSS WITH LIME

Patios that are made out of any kind of stone (including concrete) can suffer from the growth of moss. The colder months of the year are when most of the moss grows and people always hear that moist conditions and a lack of sunshine are mainly responsible.

While it is true that moss grows best in the shady areas of your yard or garden that never completely dry out, that is not the only reason you might be having trouble. You see, moss grows best in areas that have a high acidity and you need to lower that in order to make it harder for moss to grow. To do that, you need lime which is limestone that is pulverized and it can be spread with an ordinary fertilizer spreader.

Big bags of lime can be purchased at many of the national home improvement stores but you may have to look a while to find them. The more expensive moss killers will be displayed in the front of the store this time of year and you will have to go deep in the stores to find the lime. The good news is that the bags of lime will be much less expensive than any of the moss killers.

If you spread lime all over your garden, yard, and patio you will be creating an environment that is much harder for moss to grow in. Do that once or twice a year every year and the moss on your patio should stay under control.

WHY BIRD FEEDERS DON'T GO WELL WITH PATIOS

If you are searching for patio ideas this year you might have thought about adding a bird feeder. Birds are friendly and they make pleasant chirping that most people enjoy listening too. They also are fun to watch, especially if you can get some very pretty and colorful ones to stop by with the right seeds.

HOWEVER, you might want to think twice before you go out and buy some expensive bird feeder that will look great hanging near your patio. I tried this and it was a BIG MISTAKE!

You see, birds constantly poop everywhere and they are messy too. They will kick and peck at the seeds causing them to fall all over the ground (your patio) and they poop as they eat. What I ended up with was a nice bird feeder hanging over my patio but the ground was a MESS!

Another thing to consider is that your patio is where you want to gather with your friend and have summer barbecues. You don't want bird excrement all over the ground when you are cooking and serving food. The birds just ended up creating too much of a mess that I had to constantly pick up and clean.

If you walk through you neighborhood looking for houses with bird feeders, the chances are that you will find them hanging away from the house out in the yard somewhere. Usually they are in an area over grass where the birds can create as much of a mess as they want and not bother the people living in the house. One thing is for sure, you won't find many bird feeders on patios because the two just don't mix!

INSPECT YOUR PATIO FOR ICE AND SNOW DAMAGE

Having just come through one of the biggest snow storms ever, most of the country is digging out and hoping for warmer weather. This has been a very cold winter across much of the United States and with snow and ice comes the possibility for damage to any kind of patio surface.

With snow comes freezing ice and that can do a lot of damage to concrete and any other kind of stone that your patio is made out of. All you have to do is go out driving your car to see and feel the new pot holes that expanding ice have created to realize just how powerful it is.

If you live in one the part of the country that has had a very harsh winter, there might be some damage to your patio that you need to investigate. Your patio might be made of flagstone, slate, brick, tile, or just regular concrete but it doesn't matter: when the temperature gets warmer and spring approaches you will want to get out and take a look. Hopefully your patio will have escaped any damage but it makes sense to survey the situation if it hasn't.

Ice that expands can do all sorts of things including raising some parts of the patio and creating new hazards. It can break off parts of concrete and stone and depending on the damage, you may need to get it repaired before you use the patio. You want your guests and yourself to be safe and you will want to make sure there is nothing protruding from the ground that could cause people to trip.

So, before you get all excited about the new year and all the backyard patio ideas you have, check everything for safety first. The sooner you catch things that need to be repaired, the easier it is to fix them anyway.

PATIO IDEAS AT YOUR LOCAL HOME SHOW 2011

Just a quick note here to remind you that home shows are great places to get all sorts of good backyard patio ideas. There are usually big home shows in many of the major cities in America and even lots of the smaller cities have a show as well.

Most home and garden shows in 2011 will take place in January, February, or March and those are all right around the corner. You can go here to find a list of some of the bigger home shows slated for 2011 around the country.

Home and garden shows are always a great place to find new products, talk to local businesses, and to get lots of ideas for your patio and home. If you are thinking of hiring someone to redesign your patio and/or build a new one for you, the home show in your city is a good place to go to find businesses and contractors.

Some home shows are free and others cost a small fee. In some cases you can get discounted tickets by buying them early online so make sure you see if the home show in your city has a website and whether they offer an online discount for tickets.