Patios in Rockbourne, ground that floods
A level platform in a garden the water crosses is a dam unless somebody has thought about where the water was going before you built it.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Rockbourne is a stream village, and a fair number of gardens here fall within the mapped flood zones alongside Sweatfords Water. A patio built without thinking about that does not just get wet. It changes where the water goes, and sometimes it sends it at the house.
The calls we get here are about standing water more than about paving. A terrace that ponds for days after heavy rain. A raised patio that has quietly become a dam across the garden. And slabs that have dropped and rocked because the ground under them has been saturated and dried out too many times.
We come out, look at where the water arrives from and where it can go, and dig a trial hole to see what the ground is like below the topsoil. Then you get a written itemised quote with the dig, the muck away, the sub base, the drainage, the edgings, the slabs and the jointing on separate lines. The visit and the quote are free.
The work
Building a terrace on ground that floods
Reading the ground first. A trial hole tells you more than any survey. We want to know how deep the topsoil is, whether there is made ground or old concrete under it, how far down water is sitting, and whether the subsoil will take any at all. Roots, spoil and buried rubble all come out and are priced by the load.
The sub base, and why it has to be right here. MOT Type 1 whacked in thin lifts to full compaction, on a geotextile separator so the stone cannot be pumped down into saturated subsoil. Ground that wets and dries repeatedly moves, and an under compacted base is the first thing to give.
Full mortar bed, no dabs. Slabs bedded on a full wet bed with a slurry primer on the back. In a garden that floods, a dabbed slab is sitting over a void that fills with water every time the level comes up, and it will rock, then crack, then lift.
Choosing the stone. Porcelain is calibrated, does not take up water and does not stain, which matters when a terrace is going to be under silty water occasionally. Sandstone is riven and porous and will show a tide line. Limestone marks more. Granite is very hard wearing. Travertine we would not put anywhere that floods.
Levels, the damp course and the house. Paving falls away from the building and finishes at least two courses below the DPC, and near a watercourse that clearance is worth having in full rather than at the minimum. Approved Document C is the reference, and the flood map for the address is worth a look before anything is designed.
Drainage that actually works in wet ground. A soakaway is no use where the water table comes up to meet it, so here the answer is normally a positive fall to a channel, a gully and an outfall that keeps working when the ground is already full. A permeable build up over open graded stone gives the water somewhere to sit rather than run.
Edges, steps and retaining. A haunched edging or kerb keeps the build up together, a retaining edge with coping holds a change of level, and steps are set out with equal risers. What we avoid is a solid retaining line running across the natural flow of water, because that is exactly how a patio becomes a dam.
Jointing and the repairs. Joints get a brush in resin compound worked wet and tooled off, or mortar pointing on an older stone terrace. Repairs here follow the flooding: lifted slabs, a sunk corner, rocking paving over a washed out bed, cracked stone, algae, efflorescence on new sandstone and silt staining left behind by standing water.
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.
Ground level paving in a back garden is normally permitted development and needs no planning permission, and building control only enters where a retaining structure is being built. The village is a conservation area with 52 listed entries around it, so appearance is controlled, and the interactive property map shows where the boundary runs.
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 cottage close to the stream, a house set back with a gated drive, and a thatched property with a narrow approach are three different jobs. 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 the garden is holding water, ring while it is still standing, because a photograph of where the puddle sits tells us more than a dry survey ever will. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
The local part
A patio can dam a garden that floods
Parts of the village sit in flood zone 2 and flood zone 3, with Sweatfords Water running close by. In practice that means two different things happening at different times: water arriving over the surface when the stream is high, and groundwater rising up from underneath after a wet spell. Both matter when you are building a level platform in a garden.
The mistake we are most often asked to undo is a raised terrace with a solid edge, built across the line the water used to take. It works perfectly for two years and then a wet winter comes, the water backs up behind it, and instead of crossing the garden and going on its way it stands against the house. A patio built without thinking about flow can genuinely make flooding worse.
So on ground like this the terrace is designed around the water rather than in spite of it. We keep the finished level clear of the damp course with room to spare, avoid running a continuous retaining line across the flow, put in channels and an outfall that still work when the ground is saturated, and use a permeable build up where a soakaway would simply fill. It is worth checking the flood map for your own address before you settle on a shape.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Rockbourne, Whitsbury, Sandleheath and the villages along the Avon valley, broadly SP6, 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.
Questions
Rockbourne questions we get asked
Can a new patio make flooding in the garden worse?
Yes, and it is the commonest thing we are asked to put right here. A raised platform with a solid edge across the line water used to take will back it up, and the water then stands somewhere it never used to, often against the house.
Is a soakaway any use on ground this wet?
Usually not. A soakaway only empties into ground that is drier than it is, and when the water table has come up there is nowhere for it to go. Here it is normally a positive fall to a channel and an outfall that keeps working when everything is saturated.
Will paving survive being under water occasionally?
Porcelain will, because it takes up no water and does not stain. Porous stone shows a tide line and silt gets into open joints. What actually fails is the base, so compaction and a separator matter far more here than the choice of slab.
How do I find out whether my garden is in a flood zone?
The government flood map covers it by address and takes a couple of minutes. It is worth doing before you decide on a shape or a level, because it changes the design rather than just the price.
Why do slabs in a wet garden start rocking after a few years?
Because ground that saturates and dries out repeatedly moves, and the bedding washes out from under anything that was not laid on a full bed. Once there is a void the slab pumps water every time you step on it and the movement accelerates.
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Have the water looked at before the shape is decided
Thomas comes out, sees where the water arrives and where it can go, and prices the work in writing. The visit and the quote are free.