Patios in Upton, and soil that moves with the seasons
On the low ground by the harbour the soil swells through winter and shrinks back in summer, so the depth of the dig matters more than the slab on top of it.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Upton sits on the low ground at the head of the harbour, and a fair number of gardens here are on heavy soil that behaves differently from one season to the next. It swells when it is wet and shrinks back in a dry summer, and paving laid without allowing for that gets pushed out of shape.
The signs are recognisable. A terrace that is flat in February and has a dip in it by September. Joints that open in a dry spell and close again in the winter. A slab or two that lifts along one line and never quite settles back.
So we dig a trial hole and look at what we are building on before anything is designed. What comes out of that hole decides the depth of the excavation, the thickness of the base and whether the terrace wants a movement joint in it. Then it all goes into a written itemised quote, dig, base, drainage, paving and jointing on their own lines, free of charge.
The work
Building a patio on ground that moves
Finding out what you have. Heavy soil rolls into a thread between your fingers and holds the shape. Sand does not. It sounds crude and it tells you most of what you need to know in the first ten minutes, along with how far down the topsoil goes and whether there is water sitting in the hole.
Digging deeper than you would elsewhere. On ground that shrinks and swells the answer is to get through the layer that moves and build on something stable, then bring the level back up in compacted stone. That is a deeper excavation and more muck away, and it is why a quote here can look higher than one for a patio a few miles inland.
The muck away. Heavy spoil is wet and it is heavy, so it is priced by the load rather than by the square metre. It goes into a grab lorry or a covered skip and leaves with us. We are registered to carry waste.
Membrane and sub base. Geotextile membrane is not optional on this ground. Without it the base stone works its way down into soft subsoil over a few wet winters and the base quietly thins out. MOT Type 1 goes in over it in compacted layers of no more than 100mm.
Full bed, and a movement joint where it is needed. Slabs on a full wet mortar bed with a slurry primer on the back of porcelain and dense stone. On a long run, or where a terrace butts a solid structure, a movement joint lets the two move independently instead of cracking a slab along the line between them.
Porcelain, sandstone, limestone and granite. Porcelain is dense and takes almost no water, so it neither stains nor greens easily and a textured face keeps its grip. Sandstone is warmer and cheaper to cut but porous. Limestone marks with iron. Granite is the toughest. Calibrated slabs sawn to one thickness lay faster than hand cut.
Water, and keeping it off the ground you are building on. Paving falls away from the house and finishes two brick courses below the damp course, the level Approved Document C works to. Runoff goes into a channel drain and out to a gully or a soakaway proved with a trial hole, judged against Approved Document H. Keeping water out of soil that swells is half the battle.
Edgings, steps, jointing and repairs. Border edgings haunched in concrete, steps off a footing with a coping front, a retaining course with a land drain behind it, and joints brushed in with a two part compound. On existing terraces we re-bed slabs that have lifted or sunk, cut out cracked ones, re-point washed out joints and clear algae and efflorescence.
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.
Upton is under Dorset Council. There is no conservation area here and the handful of listed entries are away from the housing, so a patio in a back garden is ordinary permitted development. One thing worth clearing up, because it comes up constantly on this side of the harbour: the nutrient neutrality rules only engage where a scheme adds overnight accommodation, so they touch a loft conversion or an annexe and have nothing to do with paving. What does need planning permission is a raised platform over 300mm, and a substantial retaining wall brings building control in.
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 terraced house off Poole Road with a shared passage, a bungalow with a gate wide enough for a micro digger, and a semi where the garden is a metre below the back door 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. Upton is under seven miles away and we are through here most weeks, so it is rarely a long wait. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
Soil that swells in winter and shrinks in summer
Heavy soil holds water, and holding water makes it grow. Over a wet winter it takes moisture in and expands, and over a dry summer it gives it back and contracts. The movement is small, a few millimetres, but it happens across a whole terrace at once and it happens every single year. Anything built directly on that layer rides up and down with it.
It shows up in a particular way, which is how you can tell it apart from a base that was simply built badly. A poorly compacted base sinks and stays sunk. Ground movement comes and goes: the patio looks fine in one season and wrong in another, and joints that opened in August close again by Christmas. If a terrace changes with the weather, the base is not the whole story.
The way through it is depth and drainage rather than a heavier slab. Dig past the layer that moves, build the level back in compacted stone over a membrane, keep water away from the perimeter so the soil beside the patio is not swinging between wet and bone dry, and put a movement joint in a long run. It costs more in the dig and nothing at all in the paving.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Upton, Lytchett Minster, Hamworthy edge and the Poole Road side of the village, broadly BH16, 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
Upton questions we get asked
How can I tell if my patio problem is ground movement?
By whether it changes with the seasons. A badly built base sinks once and stays down. Ground that shrinks and swells gives you a dip in a dry summer that partly recovers over winter, and joints that open and close.
Does a deeper dig really make that much difference?
On this ground, yes, and it is the main reason quotes vary so much. Getting through the layer that moves and rebuilding the level in compacted stone is what keeps a terrace flat. Laying good paving straight over it just moves the problem up to the surface.
What is a movement joint and do I need one?
A deliberate gap, filled with a flexible sealant instead of rigid jointing, that lets two parts of a terrace move independently. On a long run or where paving meets a wall or a step it stops the slabs cracking along that line.
Is a soakaway the right answer on soil like this?
Often not well, and it should be proved with a trial hole rather than assumed. Where the hole holds water an hour later, the sensible answer is a channel drain with a proper outfall instead of a soakaway that fills up every winter.
Do the harbour nutrient rules affect a patio?
No. Those rules engage where a scheme adds overnight accommodation, so an annexe or a loft conversion can be caught by them. Paving a garden is not.
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Get a trial hole dug before anything is designed
Thomas comes out, digs and reads the ground, then prices the excavation, the base and the paving in writing. The visit and the quote are free.