Patios in Redlynch
Paving set out around cottages whose floors sit low, where the clearance below the damp course is the whole problem.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Something like a quarter of the houses in Redlynch predate 1919, and on that generation of cottage the internal floor often sits lower than the garden outside it. That one fact shapes almost every patio job we price in the village.
It shows up in familiar ways. A terrace that has been topped up over the years until it stands level with the brickwork. Damp appearing on an inside wall where the paving is bridging the damp course. Water running back at the door in heavy rain. And slabs that rock because the whole thing was laid on soft ground with a skim of sand.
We come out, lift a slab, find where the damp course is or whether there is one at all, and take levels off the building before anybody talks about materials. Then you get one written itemised quote with the dig, the muck away, the sub base, the paving, the steps, the edges and the jointing on separate lines. The site visit and the quote cost nothing.
The work
Getting the level right, then everything else
Levels first. A patio has to fall away from the building and finish clear of the damp proof course, two courses below it where the garden allows, which is what Approved Document C asks for. Where the garden already stands high, the clearance is bought with a step down, a retaining edge holding the higher ground back and a drainage channel across the threshold. On a cottage with no damp course at all, a gravel margin and a channel keep the paving off the fabric.
Taking out what is there. Old concrete, flags on a sand bed, brick paviours, a raised bed built against the wall, roots and made ground all come out first, and often there is more than one layer of previous patio to remove. We dig to firm formation and load the spoil to a grab lorry or a skip so the muck away leaves with us.
The sub base. Geotextile separator over soft ground, MOT Type 1 brought up in compacted layers of about 100mm. Hardcore tipped in a single lift and given one pass with a whacker is the usual reason a patio is rocking within a few winters.
Porcelain. Calibrated twenty millimetre porcelain is dense, takes almost no water and stays clean, and in a riven or stone effect finish it sits well beside old brick. Laid on a full bed of mortar over a slurry primed back. Never on dabs: the voids find the first heavy pot.
Stone. Sandstone is warm and forgiving and the natural partner to a period cottage, though it is porous and will green on a shaded elevation. Limestone is quieter and marks with iron. Granite is the densest and the most durable. Travertine is not one for a Wiltshire winter. Hand cut stone varies in thickness so the bed levels it; calibrated stone is sawn to one depth.
Steps, edges and retaining. Where the ground drops or climbs, the steps and the retaining edge are set out before a single slab. Edging bedded and haunched in concrete, a coping on the retaining wall, a kerb line at the lawn, and a gravel border along the house wall.
Jointing. Stone is hand pointed in a mortar matched to it, or given a brush in compound worked into a full joint. On an old soft wall we keep the pointing off the brickwork itself. Porcelain takes a grout made for dense units. Short joints let water into the bed and start the algae and the frost lifting.
Where the water goes. Off the falls to a gully we have proved still runs, a soakaway where the ground will take it, or a permeable build with an open graded base so the runoff stays on your own land.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
Same team from first visit to last, one person to ring, and no sub-contracting your work out to somebody you have never met. 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.
Redlynch sits under Wiltshire Council rather than a Dorset or Hampshire authority, and there is no conservation area over the housing, so a patio in the garden is ordinary permitted development while the water stays on your ground. A dozen listed entries in the parish are the exception, and the Planning Portal sets out the other permissions that can apply. Paving is not building control work.
Cost
What decides the price of a 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 pre-1900 cottage with a passage a metre wide, a bungalow with a full width gate, and a detached house with a drive to the rear are three different jobs before any paving is priced. 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.
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 damp has appeared on an inside wall where the paving meets it, mention that when you ring, because the levels are then part of the problem. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
When the kitchen floor is lower than the lawn
On the older cottages here the ground floor was laid low and the ground outside has crept up around it, a little at a time, with every path, every load of topsoil and every patio laid over the last one. It is nobody's fault and it is very common on pre-1900 stock.
The consequence is specific. A solid wall keeps damp out partly by having a clear face above ground level, and paving laid up against it takes that away. Water sits at the base of the wall, splash comes back off the slabs, and where there is a damp course the paving simply bridges it. Then the damp appears indoors and gets blamed on the plaster.
So the first half hour of the survey is spent on levels rather than materials. Sometimes the answer is a step down and a lower terrace, which also gives you the fall you need. Sometimes the ground has to be held back with a retaining edge and the patio built at the lower level behind it. Occasionally the honest answer is to move the seating area away from the wall altogether and put a gravel margin where the slabs used to be. All three are cheaper than chasing damp inside for another decade.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Redlynch, Woodfalls, Morgan's Vale, Lover and the villages towards Downton, broadly SP5, under Wiltshire 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.
Questions
Redlynch questions we get asked
What clearance should the paving leave under the damp course?
Two courses of brick is the working rule, about 150mm. Where the garden will not give you that, a channel and a step get the clearance back rather than raising the paving.
Our cottage has no damp proof course. What then?
Then you keep the paving clear of the wall instead. A gravel margin on a land drain, or a channel, so there is a dry, ventilated strip at the base of the brickwork rather than slabs bedded against it.
Can the existing slabs be reused if we lower everything?
Often yes, if they are sound and thick enough. They come up, get cleaned, and go back on a new base. It saves the material but not the dig, and the dig is the bigger line.
Will a lower terrace hold water instead?
Not if it is drained. A lower patio still falls away from the house and still needs somewhere for the water to go, whether that is a gully, a soakaway or a permeable build.
Do you work on gardens with no vehicle access at all?
Yes. Everything comes down the passage by barrow, or through the house on boards and sheeting where there is no other route, and the extra time is shown as its own line on the quote.
Nearby, and next door
Patios near Redlynch
Patios nearby
Our other trades in Redlynch
Everything we do in Ringwood Patios, all areas Every area we cover
Free quote
Get the levels sorted before the paving goes down
Thomas comes out, checks the damp course and the falls and prices the dig, the base and the paving in writing. The visit and the quote are free.