Patios in Hyde, drained before they are paved

Testing the ground comes first. A trial pit filled with water in a Hyde garden tells you more than any survey on paper. If it stands, a soakaway will not work and the drainage has to go somewhere else. That single test decides most of what follows.

The dig and the muck away. Turf, topsoil, roots, old concrete and made ground get excavated out to a firm formation. On wet Hyde ground we dig in dry weather where we can, because a saturated subgrade will not compact. Spoil goes out to a grab lorry or a skip.

The sub base. MOT type 1 in compacted layers, deeper where the ground is soft, with a geotextile between subgrade and stone so the two do not pump together in the wet. Hardcore is fine on a small dry area but not on ground like this.

Permeable build ups. Where the ground will take water, an open graded stone reservoir under the paving with open joints above it holds runoff and lets it away slowly. It is a real option in Hyde and it is quoted as a build up, not as a jointing choice.

Drainage that goes somewhere. Where a soakaway will not work the answer is a positive outfall: an ACO channel across the low side or the threshold, falls carrying runoff into it, and a gully into a drain that leads away. The water has to stay on your own land.

Falls and the damp course. A steady fall away from the house across the whole surface, and a finished level at least two courses below the damp proof course. On a low threshold that means a recessed channel across the doorway rather than building the paving up.

Porcelain, sandstone, limestone and granite. Calibrated porcelain absorbs almost nothing, comes slip rated and stays clean in a shaded damp garden. Riven sandstone and limestone suit older Hyde cottages better, and granite is dense and hard wearing for steps. Riven stone is not calibrated, so each piece is bedded to its own thickness.

Full bed, never dabs. A full wet mortar bed under every slab with a slurry primer on the back of porcelain. Dabbed slabs are hollow underneath, and on wet ground the void fills with water and the flag lifts in a frost.

Edges, steps and retaining. Haunched edging or a kerb to hold the outer course, a retaining edge with a coping where the ground is held back, and step treads on a full bed with an overhang so water drips clear.

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

You choose the slabs, and they are usually the smallest part of what you pay. Access. A garden a barrow can get into through a gate, a yard a lorry can reach, and a house tucked behind a paddock are priced for access one by one. Every slab carried by hand adds labour. Where there are steps or a raised edge, the HSE's work at height rules apply.

Clearing the ground. Old concrete, raised beds, roots and buried rubble all have to come out and be carted away, and that is charged by the load. Roots from a protected tree change how the dig is done.

Levels. The finished patio must slope away from the house and sit two courses beneath the damp proof course. With a high surface water risk and ground that drains slowly, a channel drain along the house wall is often needed, along with steps or a retaining edge.

Stone type. Natural stone varies in thickness and is slower to lay than porcelain or concrete, and each takes its own bed and joint.

Ask other firms how deep they dig and which sub base they use, whether slabs sit on a full wet bed or on dabs, where the falls send the water, and which jointing compound goes in.

The flood maps put Hyde outside the river flood zones, but they rate the surface water risk here as high, and Huckles Brook runs a little over half a kilometre away. You can check what applies to an address in a couple of minutes. What that classification means on the ground is simple: after heavy rain the water has nowhere quick to go.

A patio makes that worse if nobody thinks about it. Turn a stretch of lawn into a sealed surface and the rain that used to soak in has to run somewhere. On saturated ground a soakaway at the bottom of the garden fills and stays full, and then the water backs up under the paving and comes through the joints.

So in Hyde we test before we design. If the trial pit drains, a permeable build up over a stone reservoir is usually the answer, holding water under the patio and letting it away slowly. If it does not, the surface gets a positive outfall: channels, falls and a gully into a drain that leads somewhere real. Either way it goes on the quote as its own item.

Hyde is a 12.7 mile trip from our base in Boscombe. We lay patios in the village, Frogham, Godshill and the lanes up onto the escarpment, broadly SP6. Planning decisions there rest with the Park Authority.

You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. The garden is walked and the patio priced by Thomas Hannen, who owns the company. A customer verified by Checkatrade gave us 10 out of 10. The visit and the written, itemised quote cost nothing. Water that will not soak away at the back will not at the front either, so a driveway in Hyde needs a proper outfall too. Before you book a visit in Hyde, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Hyde 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.