Patios in Lymington, courtyards and small terraces

Setting out comes first. In a small Lymington space the layout does most of the work. Slab size, the direction the courses run and where the cuts fall change how big a courtyard feels. We set it out on the ground first, because a large format slab in a small yard is mostly offcuts.

Where the water goes. An enclosed courtyard has no open low side, so the drainage has to be built in. Usually an ACO channel along one edge into a gully, sometimes a permeable build up over a stone reservoir. Runoff has to stay on your land and out of next door's, which is not optional on a plot this size.

The dig, and getting it out. Old concrete, a coal store base, brick rubble and roots get excavated back to a firm formation. Spoil goes by barrow through the house on boards, or to a skip on the road with a permit, planned before the first morning.

The sub base. MOT type 1 barrowed in and compacted in layers, or hardcore blinded off where the area is small and the loading is only foot traffic. A geotextile goes under it where the ground is soft.

Full bed, never dabs. Every slab on a full wet mortar bed with a slurry primer on the back of porcelain. In a courtyard you walk on every square metre of the surface, so a hollow slab gets found within weeks rather than years.

Porcelain. Calibrated to one thickness, almost no absorption, slip rated finishes, and it holds its colour in a shaded Lymington yard where stone goes green. In a small enclosed space that is worth a lot, because there is no sun to dry the surface out.

Sandstone, limestone and granite. Riven sandstone and limestone suit the older houses in Lymington, and travertine gives a paler surface where light is short. Granite setts make a good threshold band or border. None is calibrated, so each piece is bedded to its own thickness.

Edges, steps and retaining. A haunched edging or kerb where paving meets a border, a retaining edge with a coping where ground is held back against a boundary wall, and steps with an overhang so water drips clear of the riser.

Jointing and repairs. A resin grout brushed into damp joints on calibrated paving, or hand pointing in mortar where the work meets old brickwork. We also lift and relay sunk and rocking flags, replace cracked ones, repoint washed out joints and deal with staining, efflorescence and a slippery green surface.

We do not quote by the square metre, and the slabs you choose are usually the cheaper half of the job.

How it gets there. In a Lymington town terrace every bag and slab comes through the hall, which is slower than a semi with a side path or a house with a gate onto a rear lane. The work at height rules still govern lifting and machinery on the dig.

Clearing the ground. Old concrete, raised beds, stumps and roots, builders' rubble and made ground all come out and go away, priced per load. On Lymington's clay the dig often has to go deeper to reach something firm.

Levels at the wall. The finished surface must sit two courses under the damp proof course and slope away from the house. On a sloping garden that brings in steps, a retaining edge or a drainage channel, each of them a cost. Getting the level wrong against the house is the most expensive mistake on a patio.

Ask anyone else how deep the dig is, which sub base they use, whether the slabs are on a full wet bed or on dabs, which way the falls run, and what jointing compound goes in.

Almost half the housing in Lymington is terraced or semi detached, and a great many of those gardens are small, walled and enclosed on three or four sides. That single fact changes a patio more than anything else about the town.

In an open garden, water that gets away from the house has somewhere to go. In a courtyard it does not. The walls stop it, the house is one of them, and the only route out is whatever drainage is built into the surface. Get the falls wrong and every heavy shower puts water against the wall of the room you are sitting in.

So in Lymington we design the drainage before the paving: a linear channel along the lowest edge into a gully, falls running to it from every direction, and a threshold level that keeps the surface well below the damp course. Where the enclosure is tight, a permeable build up holds water under the paving until it can get away. That is where the money should go.

Lymington is 12.5 miles from where we are based in Boscombe. We cover the town and the quay, Pennington and Woodside, and the lanes out towards the river, and the council for all of it is New Forest District Council.

The company behind the work is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. It is owned by Thomas Hannen, and he visits your garden, takes the levels and prices the patio himself. On Checkatrade, a verified customer marked our work 10 out of 10. The garden visit is free, and so is the itemised written quote. Many town houses have little room at the front, and driveways in Lymington run into the same walls and thresholds as a courtyard. Before you book a visit in Lymington, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Lymington 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.