Patios in Ridge

Digging until it is firm. On Ridge ground the depth is set by what we find, not by a rule of thumb. Topsoil, peaty made ground and anything soft comes out until there is a formation worth building on, and the spoil goes by skip or grab lorry, priced by the load. That is why a trial hole before quoting is worth more than a tape measure.

A geotextile between the two. Where soft ground meets clean stone, the stone works its way down into it over a few winters and the surface drops. A geotextile membrane across the formation keeps the sub base and the ground apart and is cheap next to the cost of lifting a patio again.

Sub base. Compacted hardcore, MOT type 1, laid and whacked in layers, usually thicker in Ridge than on a sandy plot up the hill. Then the paving goes on a full wet mortar bed with a slurry primer on the back of each slab. Not five dabs, and not a screeded sand bed. A void under a slab on wet ground is a puddle waiting under your feet.

Where the water actually goes. A soakaway needs ground that will take water, and near the river it often will not, whatever a percolation test costs to prove. So the design usually turns into a channel drain at the low end running to a gully and a positive outfall, with a permeable border only where the soil genuinely drains.

Falls and the damp proof course. The surface falls away from the house and finishes at least two courses below the DPC. On low ground the temptation is to build up to keep the paving out of the wet, and that is exactly how a damp course gets bridged. The right answer is to take the level down and drain it properly.

What goes on top. Porcelain is calibrated, absorbs nothing and carries a published slip rating, which counts where a surface stays damp. Sandstone, limestone, granite and travertine are uncalibrated and warmer looking, so each slab is bedded to its own thickness.

Edges, steps and jointing. A haunched kerb or a retaining course with a coping to stop the outer row spreading into soft ground, steps of an even rise, and joints brushed in with a two part compound rather than sand or a bagged grout, because loose sand washes out fast where water sits.

Repairs. Sunk, rocking and lifted slabs, a cracked step, algae and moss on a damp terrace, efflorescence and iron staining on newer stone.

The slabs are the part you choose, and usually the smallest part of the bill. There is no rate per square metre.

The dig. An old concrete slab, a raised bed, roots or rubble all come out first and are priced by the load. On clay, the dig often goes deeper so the sub-base sits on firm ground rather than on topsoil that will settle.

Clay that moves. The clay under Ridge gardens tightens and cracks when it dries out, then takes up water and lifts again. A patio on a thin base here will rock and crack. A full wet bed on a compacted sub-base, with a geotextile under it, holds up.

Falls and the damp course. The patio must fall away from the house and finish two courses below the damp proof course. On a flat site that can mean a channel drain along the wall, and on clay the water it collects has to go somewhere that is not the foundation. Approved Document H covers where.

Getting it in. A garden a small digger can reach is a different job from one where every slab and every bag of spoil is carried. Steps and edgings add hours.

Before you choose, ask how deep the dig is, whether the slabs go on a full bed or on dabs, and where the water is going.

Ridge, Stoborough, Arne parish and the lanes towards Wareham are all within reach of our base at 80a Wolverton Road, Boscombe, and Ridge itself is 11.9 miles away. Dorset Council is the authority for all of it.

The firm is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales with company number 15471719, and it is run by its owner, Thomas Hannen. He visits, checks your levels and prices the patio himself. A verified customer's score on Checkatrade is 10 out of 10. The visit and the itemised written quote are both free of charge. Soft ground by the river does the same to a front drive, and a driveway in Ridge needs the same deeper base and outfall. Before you book a visit in Ridge, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Ridge 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.