How to Smooth Rough Concrete Patio (7 Steps)

Concrete patios are a great place to enjoy the outdoors in the sun, but if you feel those annoying bumps and lumps under your feet, then you may be wondering if there’s anything you can do to smooth out your patio. Here’s how to smooth rough concrete patio.

Gather materials
Prepare the area
Sand the concrete
Fill any cracks with resin
Apply sealer
Clean with the mop and dry
Rinse and repeat

Smoothing out your patio can be a pretty difficult process, and it can be quite involved. The rest of this article will walk you through how to smooth out a rough concrete patio.

Gathering Materials

The first step to resurfacing your patio is to grab everything you need. This includes epoxy resin duct tape, a grinder, mop, drop sheets, concrete sealer, and protective gear. Be sure to protect your eyes, ears, and hands while you work.

Concrete dust is very harmful to humans, so you should always put on a face mask (preferably a respirator) while working. You’ll always probably want to bring along a shop vac to clean up.

Prepare the Area

Remove everything you can from the concrete patio. If you have something fixed in place that can’t be moved, cover it with the plastic drop sheets to avoid damage—you’re going to kick up a lot of dust while grinding.

Mopping the floor before you get going is a good idea as well to remove any dust and debris that has accumulated on the floor.

Let the floor dry and section off the floor into quadrants to address individually. Make sure you’re working on a relatively warm day so that the sealer and resin can cure properly. If you’re able to connect the shop vac hose directly onto the grinder, you can also save yourself a lot of mess.

Fill Cracks

If you’ve got any cracks or divots in your patio, you’ll want to fill them to ensure that you have the evenest surface on your patio. Take the epoxy resin and apply a smooth coat to fill the cracks. Let the epoxy cure completely before you start sanding.

Get Sanding

This is where the elbow grease comes in. When you’re using the grinder, you’ll want to go over the floor several times, switching to finer sandpaper now and again. 30 or 60-grit sandpaper is your best bet for getting started.

Attach it to your grinder and start in one corner. Carefully go over any bumps to remove them, ensuring that you have full control of the grinder the entire time. Every time you make a pass over the floor, be sure to cover half of that pass in the next one.

The level of effort you put into grinding will be reflected in how smooth the patio looks. Keep making passes until you return to where you started, and complete two passes in the opposite orientation.

For example, if you were making passes with the grinder vertically, you’ll want to do several horizontal passes as well to ensure that you get the smoothest finish.

Apply Concrete Sealer

Next, you need to apply a layer of concrete sealer to the area you’ve just sanded. Make sure to follow any instructions on the label and allow the sealer enough time to dry.

Grind, and Grind Again

Switch to finer sandpaper (80 or 120 grit) and repeat the previous steps. Make similar passes with the grinder and pay close attention to any bumps that can be smoothed out. Once you’ve completed several more passes, you can clean the floor with a mop and give it time to dry.

Continually switch to finer grit sandpaper until you hit the 1500 grit mark. After each pass, clean and mop the floor to remove dust. Once you’ve reached the perfect smoothness for the concrete patio, you can mop and clean up one last time.

Contact the Professionals

If you don’t have the resources on hand or don’t want to deal with the grueling hands-and-knees work of grinding, it might be worth having a professional come down and smooth your patio for you. You can rest assured that you’ll get good service if you go with a local reputable company to address any issues with your patio.

Final Thoughts

A bumpy concrete patio is frustrating maintenance to have to fix, but thankfully, the solution is just a little elbow grease and a lot of diligence.

Be sure to remove everything that can be removed beforehand to avoid the accumulation of concrete dust in the area and clean the area thoroughly to remove dust and debris.

Not only can you smooth your concrete, but you also can fix up any cracks while you’re at it. The grinding process is laborious, but it’s certainly something you can do at home if you have the tools on hand for the job.

FAQs

How to Surface a Rough Concrete Patio?

To resurface a rough concrete patio, use a pressure washer and hose down your patio to remove any dirt or debris.

Fill any cracks using a resurfacer and water mixture and smooth it out with a trowel. Let dry for about five hours. Cover your surface with a fresh layer of resurfacer, being sure to protect any joints in your patio with foam weatherstripping.

Work in sections and spread the resurfacer to a 1/8 to 1/4 thickness. Each section will require about six hours to dry. Once it’s all done, seal off your smooth patio with a penetrating sealer.

How Can I Fix a Rough Broom Finish on Concrete?

To fix a rough broom finish on concrete, you can grind or polish the surface to get rid of any frustrating wavy lines. You can also use concrete sealer with some grit additive to smooth out the surface without it being to slippery. A concrete overlay will also offer a smoother look to get rid of a rough broom finish.