Patios in Tarrant Monkton, kept off the wall
Many of the older cottages along the valley have no damp proof course at all, so the finished level of a terrace is decided by the wall rather than by the back door.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
On a cottage built before damp proof courses were normal there is no line to lay the paving below, so the rule changes. Instead of finishing two courses under a damp course, the job is to keep water off the foot of the wall altogether: a fall away from it, and a gravel margin or a channel where the surface meets the brick.
The three calls we get from the valley are much the same. A terrace that has crept up over the years until it sits against an old wall and the inside is damp. Flags that rock because they were bedded on dabs. And a yard of broken concrete that somebody wants turning into somewhere to sit.
We survey the whole area, lift a flag, dig a trial hole to see what is under it and take levels off the building. Then you get it in writing: the dig, the muck away, the sub base, the falls, the drainage, the edgings, the paving and the jointing on separate lines. The site visit and the itemised quote are free.
The work
Terraces against old walls, and what goes under them
Reading the wall first. Older cottages here are solid walled, and many have no damp proof course at all. That decides the finished level, the drainage detail and sometimes the material, so it is the first thing we look at rather than the last.
The dig. Old concrete, a brick yard, a former outbuilding base, made ground and roots all get excavated out to a firm formation. Close to an old wall we dig by hand, because the footings on these buildings are shallow and nobody wants a machine finding them.
The sub base. MOT type 1 compacted in layers, or hardcore blinded off on a small yard. Depth is set by the trial hole, not a rule of thumb. A geotextile between the subgrade and the stone stops the two mixing where the ground is soft.
Full bed, never dabs. A full wet mortar bed under each flag, and a slurry primer on the back of porcelain. Not five dabs, not a sand screed. A dabbed flag rings hollow underfoot and cracks across the middle.
Sandstone, limestone and granite. Riven sandstone in a mixed size is what suits these cottages best. Limestone and travertine give a flatter, quieter surface. Granite is dense and hard and makes a good step tread or sett border. None is calibrated, so each piece is bedded to its own thickness.
Porcelain where it earns its place. In a walled garden away from the frontage, calibrated porcelain is hard to beat: no absorption, slip rated, and it stays clean under trees with very little doing to it.
Falls, the wall and the drainage. The surface falls away from the building. Against a wall with no damp course we finish low and run a gravel margin or an ACO channel along the foot of it, taking runoff to a gully or a soakaway well away from the footings.
Edges, steps and retaining. A haunched edging or kerb holds the outer course, a retaining edge with a coping holds a bank or a raised border, and step treads get a full bed and an overhang so water drips clear of the riser.
Jointing and repairs. Resin grout brushed in while the joints are damp on calibrated paving, or a softer lime rich pointing where the work meets old fabric, because a hard cement joint against soft brick does damage. We also lift and relay sunk bays, cut out cracked flags, repoint washed out joints and treat staining, efflorescence and a slippery green surface.
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.
The village lies in the Tarrant Valley conservation area and there are twenty seven listed entries in the area around it, so we look an address up before quoting. Paving a garden at ground level is normally permitted development even inside a conservation area, while altering a boundary wall, a visible frontage or hard landscaping attached to a listed building can need listed building consent from Dorset Council. Trees are protected inside the area too. Building control has an interest where ground levels or drainage against the house change.
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 thatched cottage on the lane with no side access, a farmhouse with a yard a grab lorry can reach and a modern house with a wide gate 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. Where a terrace sits hard against an old wall and the inside has gone damp, the paving is doing the damage every time it rains, so that one is worth looking at sooner. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
Cottages with no damp course, and where the level goes
A good part of the older housing along this valley predates the idea of a damp proof course. The wall is solid, it is built off a shallow footing, and it manages moisture by drying out through its face. There is no barrier in it, which means there is nothing for a patio to sit two courses below.
That is why so many damp problems in old cottages start outside. Ground level creeps up over a century: a path, then a slab over the path, then a terrace over that. Each layer puts the surface a little higher against the wall, rain lands on it and splashes back, and the foot of the wall never gets a chance to dry.
So the work here goes the other way. We take the level down rather than up, fall the surface away from the building, and leave the wall a margin to breathe: usually a gravel filled channel or a linear drain along the base, tied into an outfall away from the footings. It is less paving than people expect for the money, and it is the part that actually fixes the damp.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover the village, Tarrant Keyneston, Tarrant Hinton and the lanes down to the main road, broadly DT11, under Dorset 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
Tarrant Monkton questions we get asked
Our cottage has no damp course. How low should the patio be?
Low enough that splashing rain never reaches the base of the wall, and falling away from it. In practice that means dropping the surface and leaving a gravel margin or a drainage channel along the foot of the wall instead of paving tight up to it.
Could our patio be causing the damp inside?
It often is. Where the surface has crept up over the years and now sits high against a solid wall, rain lands on the slabs and soaks the brickwork above whatever protection there is. Taking the level down usually does more than any treatment applied indoors.
Should the joints be mortar or a resin compound?
It depends what the paving touches. A brush in resin grout is quick and clean on calibrated paving away from the building. Where the work meets soft old brick or stone we point in a lime rich mortar, because a hard cement joint damages what it sits against.
Can you dig close to old footings without damaging them?
Yes, by hand. Machinery stays away from the wall and the last stretch is dug with a spade so we can see what we are working next to. Footings on cottages of this age are shallow and were never meant to be exposed.
Do you take the old concrete away or bury it?
It leaves. Broken concrete buried under a new patio is a soft spot waiting to settle, and it stops the sub base compacting evenly. It goes out by barrow to a grab lorry or a skip and appears as its own line on the quote.
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Get the level right before the paving goes down
Thomas comes out, looks at the wall, digs a trial hole and prices the dig, the base, the falls, the drainage and the jointing in writing. The visit and the quote are free.