Patios and steps in Ashley
Two houses in five here are bungalows, and on a bungalow the back door often sits barely a brick above the garden, which is where most patio problems begin.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
On a bungalow the level is everything. Paving needs to finish at least two courses below the damp proof course and still meet a door that is almost at ground level, and solving that properly is the difference between a dry wall and a damp one.
Three things get people ringing. A damp mark appearing inside on the wall behind the patio. A doorway you now step down from because the paving has been raised twice over the years. And an old terrace being replaced as part of doing the garden properly.
All of them are answered with a tape and a level rather than a brochure. We find the damp course, measure how far the paving is below it, look at what the slabs are bedded on and check where water goes at the door. Then it goes into one written itemised quote with the dig, the muck away, the sub base, the edgings, the paving and the jointing on their own lines. The visit and the quote are free.
The work
Getting the level right at a low doorway
Working out where the surface has to sit. The first measurement is the damp course, the second is the threshold, and the finished paving has to satisfy both. Everything else on the job follows from those two numbers, which is why we take them before talking about materials at all.
Digging out. Old paving, concrete aprons and paths laid round the outside of these bungalows all come out, along with any made ground, until there is a firm formation at the right depth. The spoil goes by skip or grab lorry, priced by the load, and on a shallow dig it is often more material than people expect because the level is coming down as well.
The threshold drain. Where a door will not allow two courses of clearance, a channel drain runs along the wall at the threshold, catching what falls at the frame and taking it away. It is the standard answer on a low doorway and it is a great deal cheaper than treating a damp wall later.
Base and bedding. Compacted hardcore, MOT type 1, in layers, then a full wet mortar bed with a slurry primer on the back of each slab. Not five dabs, and not a screeded sand bed. Voids under slabs collect water, and beside a low wall that is the last place you want it collecting.
Materials. Porcelain is calibrated, takes up no water and carries a published slip rating, which matters at a doorway you use in the dark. Sandstone, limestone, granite and travertine are warmer and uncalibrated, so each slab is bedded individually to the line.
Falls and steps. The surface falls away from the building across its whole width. Where the garden drops, steps run at a consistent rise with nosings bedded solid, and a single shallow step out of a bungalow door is often better than trying to bring the whole terrace up to it.
Edges, retaining and drainage. A haunched kerb or a retaining course with a coping around the outer edge, a channel drain at the low end into a gully or a soakaway so runoff stays on your land, a permeable border where the ground will take it, and joints brushed in with a two part compound rather than sand or a bagged grout.
Repairs. Sunk, rocking and lifted slabs, a cracked step, algae along a shaded wall, efflorescence and iron staining on newer stone.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
Same team from first visit to last, one person to ring, and no sub-contracting your work out to somebody you have never met. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: excavation and muck away, the sub base, the falls and where water goes, edgings and steps, the slabs themselves, and jointing on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.
Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.
Paving a garden at ground level is normally permitted development, so most of this needs no planning application and no building control notice. Raised platforms are the exception, along with a boundary or retaining wall above the usual heights, where the height rules apply. New Forest District Council is the planning authority for this part of the parish rather than the National Park, and the wider permissions guidance is worth a look if a wall or a drain is in the plan.
Cost
What decides the price of a patio
No rate per square metre, because the slabs are the part you choose and the smallest part of the price.
Getting to it. A bungalow with a gate straight off the drive, a chalet bungalow with a path down one side and a house with double gates are three different jobs before a pallet is ordered. Everything comes in and goes out through the garden, often through a side gate or the house. A patio you can barrow to directly is a different job from one where every slab is carried. The work at height rules still apply to the dig and the machinery.
What is coming out before anything goes down. An old concrete slab, a raised bed, tree roots or made ground all have to be dug out and taken away, and that is priced by the load rather than by the metre. The dig is where a patio quote is won or lost.
Falls, levels and the damp course. A patio has to fall away from the house and finish at least two courses below the damp proof course, and getting that right often means steps, a retaining edge or a drainage channel. Laying a new patio up against a wall at the wrong level is the single most expensive mistake on this kind of job.
Comparing quotes? Ask how deep the dig goes and what sub base is specified, whether the slabs are laid on a full wet bed or on dabs, what the falls are and where the water goes, whether edgings and steps are included, and what the jointing compound is. Two quotes for the same job are usually two different jobs.
If it has become a hazard
A patio that has lifted, sunk or turned slippery
Ring rather than use the form. A slab that has lifted at one corner or a step that has dropped is a trip, and a north facing patio in winter can be genuinely dangerous. We can usually lift and re-lay the worst of it quickly, then look properly at whether the base under the rest has gone. We are eleven miles away along the coast road, so a call from here is normally looked at within a day or two. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
Why bungalow doorways cause so much damp
Around two in five homes here are bungalows, most of them built in the late 1950s and 1960s. They were designed with the floor low and the back door close to the ground, which was fine when there was a narrow concrete path outside and grass beyond it. It stops being fine the moment somebody lays a patio.
What happens is gradual and always the same. A terrace goes in at the same height as the old path. A few years later somebody relays it, and paving over paving adds an inch or two. Do that twice and the surface is level with the damp proof course or above it, water in the paving has a direct bridge into the wall, and a damp patch appears on the inside face. People then treat the wall, which does nothing, because the cause is outside and it is a level.
The fix is not complicated but it does mean digging. The paving comes down to at least two courses below the damp course, falling away from the building. Where that leaves a step at the door which is too big, a threshold channel along the wall takes the water at the frame and a single shallow step gets you out comfortably. If somebody quotes to lay a new patio straight over your existing one, ask them where the damp course is going to be relative to it.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Ashley, Bashley, Fernhill and across into New Milton and Barton, broadly BH25, under New Forest District Council. You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, which you can look up in a minute. Thomas Hannen's business, and he is the one who comes out to price the job, not a salesman. A verified customer's 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit and the written quote are both free.
Questions
Ashley questions we get asked
Can new paving be laid straight over an old patio?
Rarely a good idea. It raises the level by the thickness of the slab and the bed, and on a bungalow that is usually the difference between clearing the damp course and bridging it. The old paving is better coming out.
My back door is almost at ground level. How does that work?
The paving comes down rather than up, and a threshold drain runs along the wall to catch what falls at the frame. Where the step out is then a little deep, a single shallow step solves it without raising the terrace.
Is two courses below the damp course really enough on a bungalow?
It is the minimum, and on a low bungalow wall we would rather have a little more where the door allows it. What matters as much is the fall: a surface that ponds against the wall bridges the gap whatever the measurement says.
Is my patio the reason the wall inside is damp?
It is one of the first things worth checking. If the paving sits at or above the damp course, or if water ponds against the wall after rain, the outside is very likely feeding the inside and no internal treatment will settle it.
Do bungalow gardens make the job easier or harder?
Easier for access, usually, since there is often a gate straight off the drive. Harder for levels, because the thresholds are low and there is less room to play with between the door and the damp course.
Nearby, and next door
Patios near Ashley
Patios nearby
Our other trades in Ashley
Everything we do in New Milton Patios, all areas Every area we cover
Free quote
Check the damp course before the slabs are ordered
Thomas measures the damp course and the threshold, works out where the paving has to sit and prices it in writing. The visit and the quote are free.