Patios in Barton on Sea
A seat on the clifftop is a lovely idea in June and a wind tunnel in October, which is why where the paving goes matters as much as what it is made of.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
On this stretch the useful question is not how big the patio should be, but where in the garden anybody will actually want to sit. Get the sheltered corner right first, then choose a surface that copes with salt and stays safe underfoot when it is wet.
The three calls we get most are a terrace that has sunk at one end, a slab that rocks by the back door, and a bungalow garden being reworked because the old paving is too exposed to use for half the year.
All three want the same start. We lift a slab, look at the bed under it, take a level off the damp proof course and walk the garden to find where the wind drops. Then the work goes into one written itemised quote: the dig, the muck away, the sub base, the edgings, the paving and the jointing on separate lines, so it can be compared line for line with anybody else's. The site visit and the quote are free.
The work
Sheltered seating, hard surfaces and salt
Clearing the ground. Turf, an old concrete apron, a rockery or a section of tired paving all have to be excavated out to a firm formation before anything is built. The spoil leaves by skip or grab lorry and is priced by the load rather than by the square metre. It is the least interesting line on a quote and the one that moves the total most.
Base and bedding. Compacted hardcore, MOT type 1, laid and whacked in layers, then slabs on a full wet mortar bed with a primer slurry on the back of each one. Never on dabs. Dabs leave voids, voids hold water, and on a coast where nothing ever quite dries out that is exactly how a slab starts to rock.
Porcelain, and why it suits here. It absorbs almost nothing, so salt spray and constant damp have little to work on, and outdoor ranges publish a slip rating instead of leaving you to find out in November. Calibrated thickness keeps the joints even. It is cut wet with a diamond blade and it must be primed, because nothing sticks to the back of it otherwise.
Natural stone. Sandstone, limestone, granite and travertine all lay beautifully and all stay wetter for longer in this air. Sandstone is the forgiving one, granite the hardest wearing, limestone and travertine the two that mark. If a terrace is open to the south west we will say honestly which of them will need scrubbing.
Falls and the damp proof course. Water goes away from the house, and the paving finishes at least two courses below the DPC. Bungalow thresholds sit low, so where a door will not allow it we drop the level and run a threshold channel along the wall rather than build up to the frame.
Shelter, steps and edges. A low retaining wall with a coping, a raised bed as a windbreak, a step or two down into the lee of the house, and a haunched edge or kerb holding the whole thing in. Fixings and gratings go in stainless or polymer, because galvanised metal near the sea gives up early.
Drainage and joints. A channel drain at the low side into a gully or soakaway so runoff stays on your ground, a permeable border where the soil will take it, and joints brushed and worked with a two part compound rather than sand or a bagged grout.
Repairs. Lifted and sunk slabs, a cracked step, green algae on the shaded half, efflorescence and iron staining on newer stone. Sometimes an afternoon, sometimes a sign the base has gone.
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, with no planning application and no building control notice needed. Raised platforms and decking are the exception, and so is a boundary or retaining wall above the usual heights, where the height rules come in. New Forest District Council is the planning authority for this side of the parish, and the other consents you might need are worth a glance before a wall is designed.
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 clifftop bungalow with a drive to a side gate, a detached house with double gates, and a first floor flat with a shared garden path 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. It is about nine and a half miles along the coast from us, so we can usually be out to look within a day or two. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
On the clifftop, the wind decides where you sit
Barton on Sea sits high and open, a little over a kilometre from the water, and the prevailing weather comes in off the south west with nothing in front of it. That changes what a patio is for. A big square of paving in the middle of an exposed lawn gets used on a handful of still evenings a year, and everybody ends up back by the kitchen door.
So we lay these out around shelter rather than around the view. The usable spot is usually tucked against the house or behind a garage, out of the funnel between two properties, with a low wall, a raised bed or a run of planting doing the work of a windbreak. A sail or a pergola then wants proper fixings and, on a wall, something set into the brickwork rather than plugged into a joint. Keep the seating area lower than the surrounding ground where you can, because a raised deck on a clifftop plot catches everything.
The other local point is salt. It keeps surfaces damp between showers, so an open terrace here greens over faster than the same stone inland, and it eats cheap metal. Porcelain with a decent slip rating, stainless fixings and a shaded corner you can actually reach with a brush will save you a lot of Saturdays.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Barton, the clifftop roads, Becton and across into New Milton and Milford, 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
Barton on Sea questions we get asked
Where is the best place to put a patio on an exposed plot?
Usually not where the view is. The spot people use is the sheltered one, close to the house or behind a garage, out of the gap between two buildings. We walk the garden with you on the survey and point out where the wind actually drops.
Does sea air really shorten the life of a patio?
It shortens the life of the metal in it, and it keeps the surface damp so algae takes hold sooner. The stone or porcelain itself is fine. We specify stainless or polymer for gratings, restraints and fixings for that reason.
Which surface is safest underfoot in wet weather?
An outdoor porcelain with a published slip rating, or a riven textured sandstone. Polished or honed finishes look superb in a brochure and are a poor idea on a shaded coastal terrace. It is worth asking for the rating in writing.
Can you build a low wall to break the wind at the same time?
Yes, and it is usually the right money. A retaining or screen wall with a coping, tied into the paving and drained behind, turns an unusable corner into the part of the garden people sit in. Heights are the thing to check before it is designed.
Our bungalow doorway is almost at ground level. What then?
Then the paving comes down, not up. The finished surface has to sit at least two courses below the damp proof course, so we drop the level and run a threshold drain along the wall to take the water at the door.
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Find the sheltered corner before you buy the slabs
Thomas walks the garden, works out where the patio will actually get used, and prices the whole job in writing. The visit and the quote are free.