20 Patio Flooring Ideas To Inspire Your Outdoor Design

Patio flooring renovation is a great idea to transform the outdoors, creating a functional and low maintenance seating area that significantly improves home value. For the patio, the material, area climate, budget, and amount of maintenance you can willingly handle matter. Regardless of other features like fire pits, furniture, plants, and even curtains, a stable flooring needs to be selected at any cost.

Outdoor patio flooring can blend style and practicality based on the chosen material’s design and durability. Manifold low to high cost choices for patio floors are there to look for, ranging from natural stone to wooden decking, and pea gravel to concrete pavers. Let’s dig more into tiles, grass, and brick options that are suitable for every patio design, layout, and dimensions.

Make Your Outdoors Worthwhile with 20 Patio Flooring Options

Are you finding: what is the best flooring for an outdoor patio? From stylish to durable, numerous options are listed for the patio decking, tiles, brick, pavers, and other floorings. Choose what suits your style, budget, and space preferences.

01out of 20Natural Stone

natural stone flooring for patio

To give your outdoors a rustic and natural touch with stone tiles. These stones can be granite, slate, limestone, travertine, marble, quartzite, sandstone, and flagstone. Each type has its own look, texture, look, and even shape. It can be used for various other applications, offering a smooth transition between the lawn and a wooden deck. Due to excellent versatility, timeless beauty, and high durability, it’s a great, eco friendly, and low maintenance choice even for high traffic.

02out of 20Polished Concrete

polished concrete flooring for patio

To get your hands on the industrial edge choice, go for concrete patio flooring. The types vary in terms of gloss levels, which can be satin, matte, semi gloss, and high gloss. Choose any of these glossy finishes to give your outdoors a sleek and modern look. However, it requires anti slip treatment and proper sealing to ensure safety and even resist stains. Aside from that, the internal grounding of the concrete can be custom selected to give the final finish from cream, salt and pepper, and full aggregate finish through grind and seal or the mechanically polished concrete method.

03out of 20Natural Wood Decking

natural wood decking for patio

Keeping it natural can bring the timeless and vintage vibe; hence, your other pick can be wood tile patio flooring. For a bright and light appearance, keep it natural. However, it can be stained or painted in a dark tone for a modern touch. Primarily categorized into hardwoods (like teak, cumaru, mahogany, walnut, and garapa) and softwoods (like red cedar, red wood, and pressure treated wood), it allows you to choose from a lot of aesthetic and durable options.

04out of 20Pea Gravel

pea gravel flooring for patio

If you are searching for inexpensive patio floor ideas, pea gravel is one of the budget friendly picks. These cheap patio flooring ideas for small patios are found in different color tones, ranging from grey to white, sand, tan, black, and reddish brown tones. With that much diversity in color and design, it can complement a lot of exterior styles. The different variations for pea gravel are river rock, crushed granite, crushed marble, and other recycled materials, with a diversity of multi colors, specific hues, and even sizes.

To create a perfect indoor outdoor extension with your home, you can match patio floors with kitchen flooring for cohesion, visual appeal, and value improvement.

05out of 20Artificial Grass

Artificial Grass for patio

Artificial grass is the cost effective and durable alternative to natural grass, allowing you to create floors of different types by mixing materials. It can be combined with pea gravel or a concrete paver to create a particular zone. Either this grass can be simply installed on the stable existing surface or paired with light grey gravel to form a neutral base for comfortable and modern seating. It gives a refreshing touch that looks appealing to the eyes and brings calm and serenity to an entire area.

06out of 20Patterned Tile Flooring

patterned tile flooring for patio

Bring movement and color to your exteriors by installing patterned tiles. For outdoor use, choose the most durable option available, like porcelain or ceramic, that can endure heavy use. Decide on the best and most appealing patio flooring designs, patterns, and bold colors to create the focal point. The patterned design can help define zones and even hide imperfections. From simple linear to vintage, mosaic, geometric, and striped patterns can be chosen to enhance the visuals. If you find the installation process complex, hire professionals for this job.

07out of 20Stenciled Tiles

stenciled tile flooring for patio

Stenciled tiles are a DIY decorative technique that can be used to design floors with the existing surfaces. These surfaces can be wood planks, concrete slab, or old tiles. Cutting them into a custom look and painting it with a durable paint coat creates the possibility to mimic any expensive patio floor designs. However, make sure to clean, prep, and prime the existing surface to secure the stencil tiles firmly in their place. These personalized, patterned, or painted surfaces can look like real tile without the cost of buying original tiles.

08out of 20Herringbone Brick

Herringbone Brick for patio

If you are fond of adding classic touches in your home, this is your chance to embrace herringbone bricks as your patio floors design. These bricks with an interlocking pattern are highly favored for their stability, durability, and aesthetic touch. In this classic layout, rectangular bricks are laid in a distinctive interlocking zigzag pattern, creating a visually unique texture. With timeless style and enhanced stability, it is perfect for both indoor and outdoor use. Framed, diagonal, double, and 45 or 90-Degree are some of the layout ideas for Herringbone tiles.

09out of 20Plastic PVC Flooring

plastic PVC flooring for patio

The addition of interlocking PVC plastic tiles is another cost saving and long lasting idea for outdoors. It is the best choice for DIYers because it simply needs tiles snapped into place. It is considered the durable, affordable, and waterproof choice, even offering a versatile and realistic appearance of wood and stone. Amazingly, you can get them in tiles, planks, and sheets form to be easily installed on a properly prepared subfloor. Moreover, it can be easily cleaned using mild soap and water.

10out of 20Teak Flooring

teak flooring for patio

Teak can be the premium choice because of its natural wood aesthetic and natural oil content that resists moisture, rot, and pests, making it perfect for outdoor high traffic areas. It gives your space a earth toned and warm feel. It is a good choice even when wet, ideal for poolside and deck areas like a patio. To give an upscale look, other woods canbe  Ipe (Brazilian walnut) and redwood. Teak gracefully ages to silver grey, and you can apply oil and sealant to protect against the weathering process, retaining the new look of wood.

11out of 20Reclaimed Brick

reclaimed brick flooring for patio

Are you low on a budget for the flooring transformation? Go for this useful hack of installing salvaged bricks retrieved from old buildings for repurposing into a new rustic style. You can cut these tiles into any thin or shaped style to create a different look. It offers the unique style and long lasting beauty, ensuring the best surface with historic patina and imperfections. This outdoor flooring for patio can create contrast with any white wall, highlighting the area and maintaining a lived in look.

12out of 20Bamboo Flooring

Bamboo Flooring for patio

As eco friendly outdoor patio floor ideas, get your hands on the low budget bamboo, which is a renewable option. To renovate your exterior, it is most cost effective, low maintenance, and sustainable patio floor covering. However, it needs to be properly sealed in order to protect against water damage. Strand-woven and thermo treated bamboo is considered perfect for handling UV rays, humidity, and rainy weather. Also, for a clean look, use hidden fasteners like planks with tongue and groove sides for installation.

13out of 20Large Format Tiles

Large Format Tiles for patio

If you are looking for small patio ideas, make even a compact area look expansive by having large format floor tiles for outdoor patio. Large format tiles are one of the popular trends, creating a modern look with their simple and minimal aesthetic design. Porcelain pavers will work best as the most luxurious and durable choice. Choosing porcelain material makes it the most stable surface to walk over. Moreover, you can bring a lively touch by keeping space for the large plant pots to make up for the lack of lawn, creating a truly refreshing and entertaining space.

To create a private space outdoors, you can check patio privacy ideas that allow you to hold gatherings and have a relaxed area where you can dine, sit, and share lively moments.

14out of 20Terracotta Tiles

terracotta tile flooring for patio

Add Mediterranean or Spanish charm to your home with terracotta tiles. These tiles in natural earthy tones can pair beautifully with patio furniture and plants. When sealed against moisture and fading, these outdoor floor tiles for patio prove to be the most durable and low maintenance choice. Moreover, this eco friendly surface stays cool underfoot compared to other flooring options. 

15out of 20Rocks and Concrete

rocks and concrete flooring for patio

A custom floor can also be created in the exterior, even without the help of professionals, by turning some of your lawn area into a patio. Create the base with small rocks, with top patio floor concrete pavers. You can personalize the pavers’ design by stenciling them. Combining rocks and concrete blends a modern and rustic look, creating textured surfaces. Also, this setup will greatly help in improving the overall aesthetic of a space and managing drainage.

16out of 20Rubber Tiles

rubber tiles for patio

If you are looking for a practical upgrade, the idea of rubber flooring is undoubtedly worthwhile. Rubber material is excellent for outdoors, providing safe, cushioned, durable, protected, and low maintanance surfaces designed using heavy duty recycled materials. It can withstand weather conditions and offers excellent resistance against slip and tripping accidents. You can get them with interlocking tiles, rolls, and mats, suitable materials for outdoor and other industrial settings as well.

17out of 20Painted Concrete

painted concrete flooring for patio

Another quick transformation that can turn dull slabs into an attractive one is painted concrete. It can be a decorative, durable, and highly protective coating that can be applied to patio flooring concrete surfaces for a refreshed outdoor look. Patio floor paint is a budget friendly and DIY job that requires some creativity in choosing the colors and patterns. From geometrics to simple stripes, any style can be chosen. However, be sure to choose the right and durable coatings like acrylic, epoxy, and polyurethane, offering stability against heavy foot traffic.

18out of 20Rock Border Concrete

rock border concrete flooring for patio

Rock border concrete is the high effective idea that combines both structural and aesthetic benefits. This landscaping approach can be followed for outdoor patio flooring over concrete, ideal for patios, walkways, and driveways. A rock border can add interest to simple concrete and complement perfectly with mid century modern home perfectly. This rock border can also help other options, like red bricks, to stand out.

For an exclusive design and enhanced functionality, consider having some outdoor features like showers. Our guide for outdoor shower ideas can help you create a beach vibe at home. And for smart outdoor upgrades, choose the best shower heads.

19out of 20Composite Decking

composite decking for patio

Low maintenance composite decking is another great choice for your outdoor living and lifestyle. that is manufactured using recycled materials. It is more durable than natural wood, which won’t warp, fade, or rot when exposed to exterior elements. It is an excellent, versatile, practical, and eco friendly alternative to wood flooring that needs upkeep like staining and sealing to make it a perfect and entertaining space for busy families. 

The National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) guides you from choosing to caring for your wood floors. Consier their guidelines to get the best flooring for patio!

20out of 20Porcelain Tiles

porcelain tile flooring for patio

Porcelain is a popular flooring type considered good due to its exceptional durability and rich appearance. This strong flooring provides resistance against weather conditions like heat, sun, snow, and frost and helps prevent mold, cracks, and fading. Aside from that, it is available in different finishes like matte, glazed, and polished. Porcelain tiles’ aesthetics vary as it mimics appearance of wood, stone, and concrete, hence, perfect as outdoor patio floor tiles.

To Finalize

To elevate the outdoor space, selecting the right patio floor is crucial, considering your space, local climate, budget, and maintenance needs. From simple tiles to cheap pea gravel and concrete to porcelain, plenty of options are available for every style and size of patio. For each floor, there’s diversity in style, material, layout, texture, and even shape and size. To give your outdoors an extraordinary makeover, you can choose any of the above styles, bringing a transitional effect, functionality, and style to a space. Moreover, it can become an attractive selling point for the home buyers.

FAQs | Frequently Asked Questions

What Is The Best Patio Flooring For Outdoor Use?

Concrete pavers, natural stone, composite decking, and porcelain tiles are considered best due to low maintenance, customizable options, low budget, high end style, and durability.

What Type Of Patio Flooring Lasts The Longest?

Brick pavers, natural stone, and porcelain tiles last the longest. They are designed to be highly durable, resistant to weather, can endure heavy traffic, and last long when properly installed and maintained.

What Is The Cheapest Patio Flooring Option?

The crushed stone and pea gravel are the cheapest options available because they are manufactured using inexpensive materials. It is easy to install and offers natural drainage.

Can Patio Flooring Be Installed Over Concrete?

Yes! Deck tiles and pavers can be installed over the existing concrete, which is the cost effective and popular choice to upgrade a patio. However, ensure proper surface prep, cleaning, repairing, and proper drainage.

What Flooring Works Best For Concrete Patios?

Natural stones, porcelain tiles, stained concrete, composite decking, and pavers are the best choice for durability, climatic conditions, and style, ensuring cost effective transformations in the outdoors.

Is Patio Floor Paint Good For Outdoor Use?

Yes! Patio and porch paints are excellent for outdoor use as they are formulated with acrylic latex to resist fading, scuffs, mildew, and weather, ensuring a durable finish.

Which Patio Floor Paint Lasts The Longest?

Polyaspartic is the top choice when it comes to the long lasting floor choice with more than 15 years of lifespan. Moreover, they offer excellent UV resistant and superior performance against high impact and high traffic areas.

Is Epoxy Patio Flooring Worth It?

Yes! Due to aesthetic appeal, low maintenance, and high durability, epoxy flooring is definitely worth it. It transforms the concrete into a stylish, tough, and easy to clean surface that resists stains and water.

What Are The Best Patio Flooring Ideas For Small Spaces?

Budget friendly pavers, wood look porcelain, interlocking tiles, and DIY painted concrete are the stylish, low maintenance, and appealing choices that maximize style, space, and functionality.

What Is The Best Patio Flooring For Rainy Climates?

The textured porcelain tiles, natural stones, and composite decking are excellent water and slip resistant flooring for rainy climates. These options top the list due to low porosity and high durability.

Are Interlocking Patio Tiles Durable?

Yes! Interlocking patio tile flooring is generally durable, offering high end resistance against stains, moisture, scratches, and weather. Moreover, they last more than 25 years based on wood, rubber, plastic, and WPC.