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A concrete floor is just an indoor finished surface on a concrete slab, which a local concrete flooring company will polish or coat for aesthetics and stain resistance. A concrete slab is more often an unfinished slab of concrete that serves as a foundation for a structure, like a shed or home. However, they can also be finished for outdoor use, as in the case of a decorative concrete patio or walkway.

In most cases, you’ll want your patio to be 4 inches thick, although you should add reinforcement and increase the thickness up to around 8 inches if you want it to support heavier loads and resist cracking more readily. Although thicker slabs will cost more, you’ll start seeing diminishing returns at around 6 inches.

There are a variety of hooks available you can use to hang your Christmas lights on concrete without drilling unsightly holes. Attaching hooks on gutters or using construction adhesive in a caulk gun are two options that work very well for getting hooks to stay up all season.

Dry pour concrete cures in the same amount of time as wet pour concrete, so you’re looking at four to six hours for it to harden, 24 to 48 hours before you can remove forms and expose the slab to foot traffic, a week before it can stand up to vehicle traffic, and about a month for it to be fully cured.