Cracked concrete in back yard… concrete or epoxy or…?

[d000hg]

Our yard is something of the order 12x6m. It’s clearly been laid in multiple stages over the decades and been cut for access.
Individual slabs have small cracks and between sections the joins have become quite wide cracks.

We just had it properly cleaned and that seems a great time to address this, as it gets worse every winter.

I’m wondering if a better option than concrete is to use a special epoxy product? I do have some thoughts of painting it because it could be a nice space in summer.

Thoughts, tips, product suggestions all welcome

 

[footprints]

I would not bother you will be flogging a dead horse, as the ground moves the cracks will just reappear. We had the same previous owner laid shingle bloody dangerous like walking on marbles!
We bit the bullet and dug it up laying brick sets!

 

[JohnD]

When you break it up, look for any signs of leaks. These can undermine the ground causing paving to sink.

 

[Why Not Indeed]

Get rid. Looks so bleak. Like a "reverse oasis" in that woodland.

 

[d000hg]

Get rid. Looks so bleak. Like a "reverse oasis" in that woodland.

And do what exactly?

 

[ree]

d000hg,
You said you would welcome suggestions well my suggestion is what about cracking it out and grassing the whole area?
Thats no way a criticism of you - I know you got the concrete with the house but more grass means, of course, more rainwater absorbed as groundwater.
Anyway, just a thought.

 

[Koolpc]

Dig it up and gravel the area.

 

[d000hg]

d000hg,
You said you would welcome suggestions well my suggestion is what about cracking it out and grassing the whole area?
Thats no way a criticism of you - I know you got the concrete with the house but more grass means, of course, more rainwater absorbed as groundwater.
Anyway, just a thought.

It’s the main entrance to the back of the house, garage, etc so this isn’t really viable. Under the trees as it is, maintaining grass is hard work and we get about 6” of leaves dumped in the autumn - I have two lawns already and this needs to be a low maintenance zone.
In a perfect world probably pave and have the retaining wall painted as a nice outdoor area with potted plants, etc but it’s a BIG area

 

[footprints]

No easy solution sadly unless, fake grass and I doubt that would drain!

 

[d000hg]

Drainage IS an issue. It’s maybe not obvious but that wall has about a 10 foot drop the other side to the drive.
There is also a cellar on one corner of the house. So it seems to me the concrete is doing an additional job of keeping all that retained earth relatively dry.

So I think regardless what the finish looks like, there needs to be concrete or at least a substantial DPM. For maintenance, it needs really to be sweepable so the options seem like concrete or paving (well or tarmac but no thanks)?

If it were a clean, nice concrete pour I wouldn’t mind that. I think part of the issue is it’s very thin - a couple of inches in some places and no reinforcement.

It also needs to slope slightly for drainage, it mostly does except one area which holds water and gets very slippery even if we keep cleaning it.

 

[d000hg]

Anyway it seems like the consensus is patching isn’t a good option? Would it gain me anything at all?

Getting this ripped up and replaced, that’s a pretty big job, right? At least it needs heavier equipment - best to just get some pros in if I want it to look good?

 

[footprints]

The advantage with brick sets is any movement is taken up whereas any solid surface will crack.
You could try laying paving slabs on top but unless it is fairly level the slabs will soon end up running out of line. I had one patch which I laid on a bed of wet cement over the old concrete but that was only about 2 m wide I doubt you would get away with it on a large area.

 

[d000hg]

It’s level enough that you don’t notice by eye or when walking on it.. as I say a slight gradient but flat apart from the section that stays wet, you only notice that when it’s wet.
I think you’d struggle to get it more flat if you ripped it up and put down a base before paving, basically.

I hadn’t considered that laying on top could be an option, I’d want to get someone to take a look in person. Could go for a different paving pattern to hide slight changes in line, and I guess like bricks if it shifts you aren’t stuffed, can re grout (not sure that’s the right term). Would need to reset drain covers, etc.

A while back, someone suggested a resin solution like on driveways but for some reason I’ve always been dubious.