Patios in Brockenhurst, built around the trees

Working out what the roots are doing. A trial hole in a Brockenhurst garden shows where the big structural roots run and how close to the surface they sit. That decides whether the terrace moves a couple of metres, whether we bridge over a root, or whether the base is built above it rather than through it.

The dig. Turf, topsoil, old concrete, leaf mould and soft made ground get excavated out to a firm formation. Near a protected tree the last of it is dug by hand, and cutting a major root is never decided with machinery already in the hole. Spoil goes out in a grab lorry or a skip.

The sub base. MOT type 1 in compacted layers with a geotextile below it. Under trees the membrane earns its keep twice over: it keeps the subgrade out of the stone, and it makes a much less inviting layer for fine roots to grow into.

Full bed, never dabs. A full wet mortar bed under every slab, with a slurry primer on the back of porcelain. Where a root does lift a corner, a fully bedded flag can be cut out and replaced cleanly, while a dabbed one takes its neighbours with it.

Porcelain, and why it suits a shaded garden. Calibrated to one thickness, almost no absorption and made in slip rated finishes. Under Brockenhurst trees it stays cleaner for far longer than stone, and it does not stain from leaf fall, sap or berries the way a porous sandstone will.

Sandstone, limestone and granite. Riven sandstone suits the older brick houses in Brockenhurst and takes a sealer. Limestone and travertine are flatter but mark more easily under trees. Granite is dense and makes the best step tread. None is calibrated, so each piece is bedded to its own thickness.

Falls, levels and drainage. A fall away from the house, a finished level at least two courses below the damp proof course, and somewhere for the runoff to go: an ACO channel to a gully, or a permeable build up over a stone reservoir where the ground will take it.

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

Jointing. A resin grout brushed into damp joints resists the moss that opens a sand joint up. On riven stone we point in mortar. Where a surface has already gone green a soft wash lifts it, and a slip rated finish keeps it off longer.

Repairs. Lifting and relaying flags raised by roots or sunk over a soft spot, cutting out cracked slabs, repointing washed out joints and dealing with staining and efflorescence on stone that has sat damp.

A Brockenhurst patio has no rate per square metre. The slabs are the part you choose, and usually the smallest part of the price.

Getting to it. A detached Brockenhurst house with a drive to the back gate, a cottage with only an alley, and a property with a paddock a lorry can reach each set their own pace for the dig. Where every slab is carried through, the hours go up.

What comes out. An old concrete slab, a raised bed, tree roots or made ground all have to be dug out and taken away, and that is paid for by the load.

Shade and wet. A patio under trees stays damp and grows algae. A textured stone, a good fall and a joint that does not hold water make it safer. Next to a Brockenhurst house it must finish below the damp proof course and fall away from the wall, which can mean a step or a drainage channel.

Near trees. Close to a trunk the base may need building up rather than digging down, to spare the roots, which changes the levels. The work at height rules apply to any raised terrace.

Ask any quote how deep the dig is, what sub base goes in, whether the slabs go on a full bed or dabs, and what the jointing is.

Plenty of the housing here is detached and a good part of the village predates 1900, which usually means a decent garden with mature trees already in it. That is why people move here, and it decides how a patio has to be built.

A structural root thickens as the tree grows, and anything sitting directly on it goes with it. Cutting the root is often the worst answer: it can destabilise the tree, and inside a conservation area it is not your decision alone. Better to move the terrace, build the base deep enough to bridge the root, or accept a flag or two will need lifting one day and build so that is easy.

Shade is the second half. A north facing or tree covered terrace never dries properly, and algae only needs damp. That is what makes a patio slippery, not the material. So under trees in Brockenhurst we specify a slip rated finish, joint with a resin grout rather than sand, and keep the falls positive so water leaves rather than sits.

For patios we cover Brockenhurst, Sway, Boldre and the lanes across the forest, broadly SO42, 12.7 miles from our base on Wolverton Road in Boscombe. Planning for all of it sits with the National Park. You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Before you book a visit in Brockenhurst, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Thomas Hannen runs the business and comes to walk the garden and price the patio himself. You can see a verified customer's 10 out of 10 for us on Checkatrade. We make no charge for the visit or for the itemised quote in writing. Roots reach under the front as readily as the back, and a driveway in Brockenhurst near a big tree is built with the same care.

Most repairs in Brockenhurst 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.