Patios in Hamworthy

The original paving comes up. Plenty of gardens in Hamworthy still have the paving laid when the houses went up in the late sixties and seventies, with pre-cast concrete slabs laid on a few dabs of mortar or straight onto sand.

Fifty years on, the dabs under Hamworthy patios have let go, the sand has washed out and the slabs rock. We lift them, break out any old concrete underneath and dig down to a firm formation. Roots, old footings and made ground come out too, and the muck away is priced by the load.

The base. MOT Type 1 sub base, laid and compacted in layers, is what stops a patio sinking. Over soft ground we put a geotextile membrane under it. Then every slab goes on a full wet mortar bed, never on dabs, because a slab supported at five points cracks and rocks, which is exactly what you are replacing.

Porcelain. Dense, hard wearing and nearly non-porous, so it does not stain and it sheds algae better than most stone. It needs a slurry primer on the back of each slab for the bed to grip, and a textured finish rather than a smooth one so it is not slippery in the wet. Calibrated slabs are all one thickness and lay faster and flatter.

Sandstone, limestone and granite. Sandstone has the warmth and the variation, but it is porous, so it marks and greens faster in a shaded corner. Limestone is calmer in colour. Granite is the hardest of the three and keeps its grip wet. We show you samples wet as well as dry, because that is how they look for half the year.

Level access for bungalows. Hamworthy has a good number of bungalows, and the most useful patio on one is often the plainest: step-free from the back door, laid to a gentle fall, with a channel drain across the threshold so the paving can meet the door without sending water under it.

Falls, steps and edges. The paving falls away from the house and finishes two courses below the damp proof course, the level Approved Document C works to. Where a garden slopes, that means steps with a bullnose or coping edge, or a low retaining wall, and edgings haunched in concrete so the border does not creep onto the paving.

Jointing and repairs. Joints are brushed in with a jointing compound and finished off, because open joints fill with weed in a season. On their own we lift and re-bed rocking slabs, replace cracked ones, re-point washed out joints and clean off efflorescence and algae.

No rate per square metre, because the slabs are the part you choose and the smallest part of the price.

Getting to it. A semi with a side gate, a mid-terrace where everything comes through the house, and a ground floor flat whose garden is shared with the block are very different to barrow into. 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. Any step down from a back door, or a raised edge left open overnight, is covered by the work at height rules, and the plan for the dig allows for it.

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 for a Hamworthy patio? 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.

We build patios across Hamworthy in BH15, from Lower Hamworthy by the port through Central Hamworthy, Lake and Rockley to Cobbs Quay and Turlin Moor, about 7.7 miles from our base in Boscombe. BCP Council is the planning and building control authority.

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. Before you book a visit in Hamworthy, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Hamworthy 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.