Patios in Breamore, working under the eaves

Clearing the ground comes first. The old surface at a Breamore house, its bedding and any old concrete are broken out and excavated to a firm formation. Along the drip line there is usually a channel of washed out, saturated ground that has to come out with the rest. Spoil, roots and rubble go by the load.

The drip line strip. Under the eaves we do not pave tight to the wall. A margin of open graded gravel over a geotextile, or a slot drain running the length of the elevation, takes the drip, soaks up the splash and lets the base of the wall breathe. On a cob or soft brick wall that strip is the single most valuable part of the job.

The sub base. MOT Type 1 in thin lifts, whacked to full compaction, carried past the edge of the paving, with a separator underneath on soft ground. The valley ground in Breamore is soft in places, and an under compacted base under a terrace people use daily starts to settle within a couple of years.

Full mortar bed. Every slab on a full wet bed with a slurry primer painted on the back. Dabs leave voids, voids fill with water and the frost lifts corners. Near a thatched Breamore elevation there is more water about than anywhere else in the garden, so the bedding has to be right.

What we lay. Porcelain is calibrated, takes up no water, does not stain and copes with a constant drip better than anything. Riven sandstone looks right against an old Breamore cottage and is porous, so it will darken under the eaves. Limestone marks. Granite is hard wearing and unforgiving to cut. Travertine we would not put under thatch at all.

Levels against an old wall. Paving falls away from the house and finishes at least two courses below the DPC, and on a Breamore cottage of this age there may be no damp course to find, in which case the level comes off the floor inside. Approved Document C is the reference for why that matters on a solid wall.

Where the water goes. The drip line has to reach somewhere. That is normally a channel and a gully to an outfall, or a soakaway sited well clear of the footings where the ground will take the runoff. A permeable build up over open graded stone is the other route and it keeps everything on your own land.

Edges, steps and jointing. A haunched edging or kerb at the lawn, a retaining edge with coping where a level is held, and steps with equal risers. Joints get a brush in resin compound worked wet and tooled off, or hand pointing on old stonework. The repairs are the usual list: lifted or rocking slabs, a sunk corner, cracked stone, algae along the shaded side, efflorescence on new sandstone and staining down the drip line.

The house sets the level. The patio must finish below the damp proof course and fall away from the walls. Many older houses have no damp proof course at all, and their walls rely on drying out at the base. A Breamore patio laid tight against a solid wall and above the floor level inside traps water there. That can mean digging lower, stepping down, or leaving a gravel strip along the wall so it can breathe.

Rain off the roof. Where a roof has no gutter, water falls along the eaves line. A patio under that line needs a drainage channel or a gravel strip to take it, or it splashes back onto the wall.

What comes out first. Old concrete, a raised bed, roots or buried rubble all have to come out first, and muck away is priced by the load.

The material. Natural stone, reclaimed flags or brick paviours can suit an older house. Porcelain is thin and needs a full wet bed and a primer. Reclaimed material varies in thickness and takes longer to lay.

Getting it in. A patio where every slab must be carried through a narrow gate costs more in labour than one a digger can reach.

Ask any other quote about the dig depth and the sub-base, how the patio meets the wall, and where the water off the roof will go.

You deal with the owner, Thomas Hannen, who comes into the garden to take the levels and then writes the patio price. From his Boscombe base it is 16.1 miles to Breamore, and he covers Woodgreen, Hale and the Avon villages of SP6.

All of them fall under New Forest District Council. The firm you would be dealing with is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales under company number 15471719, public for anyone to check. Checkatrade lists a verified customer's 10 out of 10. The visit to measure is free, and you pay nothing for a quote broken down line by line. The drip line off a thatch lands on the front path too, and a driveway in Breamore near the wall needs the same margin. Before you book a visit in Breamore, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Breamore 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.