Patios in Boldre, dug down to something firm

Finding the bottom of the made ground. A trial hole is the only honest way. Site spoil looks like garden soil until you put a foot on it in the wet. We excavate until the formation stops moving, which on made ground can be deeper than a standard build up allows for.

The dig and the muck away. Turf, topsoil, buried rubble, old concrete, pipe offcuts and roots all come out. There is more spoil from a Boldre garden than people expect, and it leaves in a grab lorry or a skip rather than being spread over the rest of the garden.

The sub base. MOT type 1 in compacted layers with a geotextile between the subgrade and the stone. On made ground that membrane is not optional: without it the soft material below works up into the stone, the sub base loses its grading and the surface follows it down.

Full bed, never dabs. Every slab on a full wet mortar bed with a slurry primer on the back of porcelain. Not five dabs, not a sand screed. Where the ground below has any give in it, a dabbed slab finds it first and cracks across the middle.

Porcelain paving. Calibrated to one thickness, so the bed stays even and the joints line up. Almost no absorption and slip rated finishes available, which suits a shaded corner under the trees where stone would go green.

Sandstone, limestone and granite. Riven sandstone gives warmth against brick and takes a sealer. Limestone and travertine are flatter and more even in tone. Granite is dense and makes the best step tread. None is calibrated, so each piece is bedded to its own thickness.

Falls, levels and the damp course. A fall away from the house across the whole surface, and a finished level at least two courses below the damp proof course. Where the back door threshold is low we drop the patio and put in a shallow step rather than build the level up.

Drainage. An ACO channel across a low threshold into a gully with a positive outfall, or a permeable build up over a stone reservoir where the ground will take water. Runoff off a new surface stays on your own ground.

Edges, steps and retaining. A haunched edging or kerb holds the outer course, a retaining edge with a coping holds a border or a bank, and step treads go on a full bed with an overhang so water drips clear of the riser.

Jointing and repairs. A resin grout brushed into damp joints, or pointing in mortar on riven stone. We also lift and relay sunk bays and rocking flags, cut out cracked ones, repoint washed out joints and deal with staining, efflorescence and a slippery green surface.

The slabs are the part you choose, and rarely the biggest part of the price, so a rate per square metre tells you little.

Getting in. A detached house with a wide gate lets a small digger through. A mid terrace with no side access means every bag of spoil and every slab goes through the house or over a wall. Wherever there is no side access, the carrying alone can add days.

What comes out. An old concrete base, a raised bed, roots from a nearby oak, or made ground left from when a Boldre house was built all have to be dug out and taken away. That is priced by the load.

The ground below. On clay that shrinks and swells, a thin base moves. A deeper compacted sub-base and a proper fall away from the house keep the patio flat.

Levels. A patio should finish at least two brick courses below the damp proof course and fall away from the house. On a sloping plot that can mean steps, a low retaining edge or a drainage channel.

The stone. Sandstone, porcelain and concrete slabs are cut and laid differently. Porcelain needs a primer on the back. Every slab should sit on a full wet bed of mortar, not on dabs.

When you compare quotes, ask how deep the dig is, what sub-base goes down, whether it is a full bed, where the water goes, and what jointing compound will be used.

Where a Boldre house or extension is newer than its neighbours, that can shape the ground work more than the architecture does. When a house is built, the subsoil out of the foundations and the drainage runs has to go somewhere, and it often goes back over the plot at the end under a thin layer of topsoil.

Grass in a Boldre garden does not care. It roots in the top few inches and looks healthy. A patio does care, because that material was never compacted in layers, it holds water and it consolidates for years afterwards. Lay a base straight onto it and the terrace settles unevenly, usually worst where a service trench used to run.

So the dig is the honest part of the quote. We go through the made ground to something firm, put a membrane down so the two layers cannot mix, and build the sub base in compacted lifts. More spoil leaves than on a shallow job, and that is why the patio is still level five winters later.

We come to Boldre from Boscombe, a drive of about thirteen miles, and build patios all over the parish: Pilley, Bull Hill, Norleywood, the lanes down towards the river, and Sway. A raised terrace or a new boundary wall is a matter for the New Forest National Park Authority.

The company behind the work is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales with the number 15471719. Its owner, Thomas Hannen, walks the garden with you and does the pricing himself. Checkatrade carries a verified customer’s score of 10 out of 10. The site visit is free, and the quote comes in writing, itemised, at no charge. A front garden over made ground has the same problem, which is why a driveway in Boldre gets the same trial dig. Before you book a visit in Boldre, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Boldre need no application at all. What decides whether a change to the outside of your house does is who the council is, whether a conservation area or a listing applies, and whether the place sits in a protected landscape.