Patios in Moordown

A patio in Moordown is usually the back garden of an inter-war house or a bungalow: an old slab terrace that has sunk or rocks underfoot, or a lawn being turned into somewhere to sit. We dig out, build a compacted sub-base, lay the slabs on a full mortar bed with a fall away from the house and joint them properly. For the front of the house, see driveways in Moordown.

In Moordown the concrete slabs someone laid in the 1970s have often tipped, and one rocks every time you step on it. On other plots the patio floods against the back door after heavy rain because it falls towards the house, or you have moved into a bungalow and want one level surface from the back door to the garden, without a step to trip on.

Thomas comes out, takes levels off the damp proof course and the door threshold, lifts a slab to see what it was laid on, and writes an itemised quote. The site visit and the quote are free.

The work

Back gardens, old slabs and level thresholds

Porcelain patio slabs laid to a fall with a gravel border alongside (one of our own jobs, shown for patios in Moordown) — **Laid to a fall**Water goes away from the house, not along the wall. Photo from one of our own jobs.

Taking up the old patio comes first. Most old patios in Moordown were laid on a few dabs of mortar or straight onto sand, which is why they rock. They come up, the old concrete is broken out, roots are cut back and the spoil is bagged and taken away. On a semi with a side gate, all of that goes out by barrow, so the width of the gate is part of the price.

The base. We dig to firm ground, lay a Type 1 MOT sub-base and compact it in layers. On made ground or old flower beds we go deeper. Then the slabs go down on a full bed of mortar, never on dabs, because dabs leave voids where water sits and frost lifts the slab.

Levels and falls. The finished patio must sit two courses below the damp proof course, about 150mm, and fall away from the house so rain runs off. Where that cannot be done at a door, a channel drain such as an ACO channel along the threshold takes the water to a gully or a soakaway. Getting this wrong puts water against the wall and into the house.

Choosing the stone. Porcelain is dense, does not stain and stays cleaner under trees, but it needs a slurry primer on the back or it will not bond. Indian sandstone and limestone are softer and warmer, and weather in time. Calibrated slabs are all the same thickness and lay faster; hand-cut stone varies and takes longer. We bring samples so you see them in your own garden.

Jointing. Porcelain wants a brush-in jointing compound or a grout; sandstone can take a mortar pointing. Good joints keep water out of the bed and weeds out of the gaps.

Steps and edges. Where the garden rises or falls, steps with a proper tread and riser, an edging course or a low retaining wall, and a haunched kerb along a lawn so the edge slabs stay put.

Cleaning instead of relaying. A sound patio gone green with algae or white with efflorescence may only need a clean and fresh joints. We will say so.

How it runs

From your call to a written price

One person to ring about your Moordown patio, from the first visit to the last. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: excavation and muck away, the sub base, the falls and where water goes, edgings and steps, the slabs themselves, and jointing on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.

Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.

A patio in a back garden does not normally need planning permission and is not building control work, though raising the ground more than 300mm can need permission, as the planning practice guidance on when permission is required sets out. Moordown has no conservation area, and the council keeps the list. Listed buildings here are few, but we check.

Cost

What decides the price of a patio

A finished porcelain patio in the wet, showing how the surface drains and where the joints sit (one of our own jobs, shown for patios in Moordown) — **Judged in the wet**Rain shows the falls and the joints that a dry day hides. Photo from one of our own jobs.

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

Getting to it. A terraced plot where everything goes through the house, a semi with a side gate a barrow fits through, and a bungalow with open access to the back are three different days of work. 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.

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 Moordown 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.

If it has become a hazard

A patio that has lifted, sunk or turned slippery

Ring rather than use the form. A slab that has lifted at one corner or a step that has dropped is a trip, and a north facing patio in winter can be genuinely dangerous.

We can usually lift and re-lay the worst of it quickly, then look properly at whether the base under the rest has gone. If a slab by the back door rocks or has lifted, put a planter on it so nobody steps on it until it is relaid, and if the patio has gone slippery, a stiff brush and hot water will do until it is cleaned. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For anything urgent, ring rather than use the form, and if we cannot pick up we ring you back as soon as we can.

Call now: 07435 839745

Worth knowing

Level from the door: patios for bungalows

Among Moordown's inter-war semis there is a good number of bungalows. Many of their owners want what a bungalow is bought for: getting in and out without steps. The catch is that the back door usually sits a step or two above the garden, and the patio still has to stay below the damp proof course.

So a level threshold in Moordown is designed, not just laid. We bring the patio up as close to the door as the damp course allows, set a channel drain tight against the sill so water has somewhere to go, and make any remaining change in height a shallow ramp or a single wide step rather than a narrow lip. Porcelain with a textured face, or a riven sandstone, gives better grip in the wet than a smooth finish. If the door itself needs lowering to make it work, that is a joinery job and we will tell you before you commit to the paving.

Who you are dealing with

A local firm you can check

We are based in Boscombe, about two miles away, and lay patios across BH9 and BH10, in Moordown, Winton, Redhill and Ensbury Park, with BCP Council as the local 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 Moordown, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Planning at a glance

Do you need planning permission in Moordown?

Most repairs in Moordown 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.

The planning position in Moordown, from council and national records.
Question	In Moordown
Who decides	BCP Council is the planning authority for Moordown. BCP Council's heritage pages set out what it controls.
Conservation area	None covers Moordown, so a like-for-like repair is ordinary maintenance.
Listed buildings	Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Moordown. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent.
Protected landscape	No National Park or National Landscape covers Moordown.

Questions

Questions about patios in Moordown

Can you relay my existing slabs?

Often, if they are not cracked and are thick enough. We lift them, build a proper base and relay them on a full mortar bed. Thin old concrete slabs are usually better replaced.

How long does a new patio take?

A medium back garden patio is usually three to five days, depending on what we find when the old one comes up and how far everything has to be barrowed.

Is porcelain slippery?

External porcelain has a textured face and grips well when wet. A shaded patio that stays damp grows algae on any surface, so it still needs the odd clean.

Will the patio drain properly?

It is laid to a fall away from the house, and where that is not possible at a door we fit a channel drain. Water should never sit against the wall.

Nearby, and next door

Patios near Moordown

Nearby places we also cover for patios, with straight-line distances from Moordown, and the other trades we offer in Moordown itself.

Patios nearby

Our other trades in Moordown

Patios guides

Driveway planning permission and where water goes Frost damage to brickwork: why it shows later Resin bound, block paving or tarmac compared

Everything we do in Moordown Patios, all areas Every area we cover