Patios in Thorney Hill

Settling the height before anything else. In the National Park the question that decides a patio is not what it is made of, it is how far it stands above the ground. Paving on the ground is ordinarily permitted development; a platform built up above it is not, and nor is a wall along a boundary. We settle that at the survey.

Keeping it low, and getting the fall anyway. The way to stay out of trouble is to dig down rather than build up, which happens to be the right answer for the house as well. We chalk the DPC on the brickwork, finish the paving two courses below it, and detail the threshold with a recessed channel where a flush doorway is wanted rather than adding height.

The dig and the muck away. Turf and topsoil, old concrete, flags bedded on sand, roots and any made ground, all excavated to formation. Access along these lanes varies, so the quote says whether the spoil leaves by barrow through a side gate or by machinery into a skip, priced by the load.

Base and bed. Geotextile membrane, MOT Type 1 hardcore compacted in layers, a sharp sand screed to level it, 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 is the one that ends up rocking, cracked and holding water.

Materials that suit the setting. Riven Indian sandstone and a soft buff limestone weather in and sit well against the older cottages. Porcelain is calibrated, takes on almost no water and is easiest to keep clean out of sight of the lane. Granite is dense and dark, travertine holds water. Samples get laid out wet against your own wall.

Walls, edges and steps. Retaining walls sit on a footing with a coping over them, the perimeter is held with a haunched kerb or an edging bedded in concrete, and a gravel border runs along the wall to take splashback. Height limits apply to boundary and retaining walls in their own right, which is worth checking before a design is settled.

Where the water goes. The fall runs off the house into an ACO channel, an existing gully or a soakaway set well clear of the foundations, with a permeable build up where the runoff has nowhere to travel. Out here there is rarely a convenient drain, so this is a designed part of the job rather than an afterthought.

Jointing, and the paving you already have. Joints take a brush in resin compound, a grout slurry or hand pointing in mortar, never loose sand. Where 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.

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 on a lane with one narrow gate, a paddock plot you can get machinery and a skip onto, and a house where everything crosses the kitchen 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.

We cover Thorney Hill, Bransgore, Holmsley and the lanes towards Burley, broadly BH23, in the New Forest National Park. 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.