Patios in Stone

Finding out what the wall is. Before anything is measured we look at the wall the paving will sit against. A cavity wall built after the war has a damp proof course you can see and work to. A solid wall from the 1800s very often has none at all, and that single difference decides how the whole patio is detailed.

Setting the level. Where a house in Stone has a damp course we chalk the DPC on the brickwork and finish two courses below it. Where there is not, the rule becomes keep the paving as low as the threshold allows, never let it bridge up the face of the wall, and give the wall somewhere to breathe rather than sealing it in.

The gravel margin. Against an old wall we leave a shingle border, two hundred millimetres or so wide, on a free draining bed rather than running mortar bedded slabs right up to the brick. Splashback lands in the gravel instead of on the wall, water drains straight down instead of tracking sideways, and the wall stays a great deal drier.

The dig and what leaves. Old concrete, flags bedded on sand, roots and, near the older buildings, made ground with rubble in it. It is excavated to formation and taken away. Access varies from open to awkward, so the quote says whether spoil goes by barrow through a side gate or by machinery into a skip.

Base and bed. Geotextile membrane, MOT Type 1 hardcore compacted in layers, a sharp sand screed, then a full bed of mortar under every slab with a slurry primer on the back. A proper mortar bed does not go hollow. Dabs do, and a hollow slab ends up rocking, cracked and holding water.

The paving. Riven sandstone and a soft buff limestone sit comfortably next to old brick and rubble stone. Porcelain is calibrated, takes almost no water and is easiest to keep clean. Granite is dense and dark, and travertine holds water, which we would steer you away from in a shaded yard.

Edges, steps and water. A haunched kerb or an edging in concrete holds the perimeter, a coping caps anything retaining, and the fall runs off the house into an ACO channel, an existing gully or a soakaway set clear of the footings. Where the runoff has nowhere to go, a permeable build up takes it through the joints instead.

Jointing, and the paving you have now. Joints take a brush in resin compound, a grout slurry or hand pointing in mortar. If a patio has only lifted or sunk in one bay, or gone slippery with algae and shown efflorescence and staining, we quote the clean, the re-joint or the lift and relay rather than a rebuild you do not need.

Getting materials in comes first. A house in Stone with a drive to the side lets a small digger and a skip in. A cottage with a narrow gate, or a terrace where everything crosses the kitchen, means every slab and every load of spoil is carried by hand.

What comes out first. An old concrete base, a shed slab, raised beds or roots have to be dug out and taken away, and that is priced by the load.

Clay under the garden. The ground here shrinks and swells, so the sub base goes deeper and the slabs are laid on a full mortar bed rather than dabs. Water sent towards the house on clay is a foundation risk as well as a damp one.

Level and fall. The finished surface has to sit below the damp proof course and slope away from the building. A garden that rises towards the house may need a step, a retaining edge or a channel drain.

The slabs. Sandstone, porcelain and concrete cut and lay differently; porcelain needs a primer on the back and a jointing made for it.

Communal gardens. Behind a block, a shared garden is the freeholder's to instruct.

Ask other quotes how deep they dig, what sub base goes in, whether the slabs are on a full bed or dabs, and where the water goes.

We cover Stone, Pamphill, Cowgrove and the lanes towards Wimborne, broadly BH21, and Stone is around nine miles from where our base is in Boscombe. Stone is in the Dorset Council area. You would be dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Before you book a visit in Stone, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

The company is Thomas Hannen's, and Thomas is the one who walks your garden and prices the patio. Checkatrade shows a 10 out of 10 from a customer whose review is verified. You are not charged for the visit, and the itemised quote on paper is free. The same old walls stand at the front of many houses, and a driveway at Stone is kept back from them with a margin.

Most repairs in Stone 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.