Patios in Oakdale

Taking up the old patio comes first. A lot of back gardens in Oakdale still have the grey concrete slabs laid on sand or on five dabs of mortar decades ago. The dabs leave voids, the slabs rock, and water sits in the dips. They come up, the made ground and old concrete underneath are dug out to firm ground, and the spoil is barrowed out through the side gate to a skip or grab lorry.

The base. A compacted layer of MOT Type 1 goes down to a depth that suits the ground, then every slab is laid on a full mortar bed, never on dabs, so there is nothing hollow to crack or sink. The whole patio falls away from the house, about one in sixty, towards the lawn, a border or a channel.

Porcelain. Calibrated, dense and easy to keep clean, which suits an Oakdale garden in shade where algae is the usual complaint. It needs a slurry primer on the back of each slab so the bed grips it, and joints finished in a jointing compound brushed in or a pointing mortar. Buy an outdoor porcelain with a proper grip rating, not a smooth indoor tile.

Natural stone. Indian sandstone is the common choice and looks right beside the brick of an older house, but it is porous, so in a damp corner it greens over and wants a clean now and then. Limestone is smoother and paler. Granite is hard wearing and takes a textured finish for grip.

Steps, edges and walls. Where a garden rises or falls, we build steps with even risers and a bullnosed or sawn edge, a haunched edging or kerb along the lawn so the edge slabs do not creep, and a low retaining wall with a coping where the ground has to be held back.

Repairs. A few lifted or cracked slabs, joints washed out, efflorescence and staining, a rocking step. Often a day, and we would rather relay a corner than sell you a new patio.

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

Getting to it. A bungalow garden reached along a side path, a semi with a gate wide enough for a barrow, and a mid terrace where everything comes through the house change how the spoil comes out before the first slab is cut. 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 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.

We lay patios across Oakdale and Stanley Green, from the roads off Wimborne Road and Darby's Lane to the Canford Heath side, in BH15, from our base in Boscombe, about six miles east. BCP Council handles planning and building control.

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 Oakdale, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Oakdale 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.