Patios in Lymington, courtyards and small terraces

Setting out first. In a small 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 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 the town, 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.

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

Getting to it. A town terrace reached only through the hall, a semi with a narrow side path and a house with a gate off a rear lane are three different jobs on the same area of paving. 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. The work at height rules still apply to the dig and the machinery.

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? 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. Two quotes for the same job are usually two different jobs.

Almost half the housing in the town 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 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.

We cover the town, the quay, Pennington, Woodside and the lanes out towards the river, broadly SO41, under New Forest District Council. 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.