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.
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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 a patio laid without allowing for that gets pushed out of shape.
The signs on an Upton patio 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 in the Upton garden 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 in Upton 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.
Membrane and sub base. Geotextile membrane is not optional on this Upton 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
Building a patio behind an Upton terrace or semi
Thomas comes to see the garden and prices it himself. Behind Upton's terraces and semis the garden is often reachable only through a side passage or the house, and some sit a step or more below the back door. He checks the levels against the damp proof course and where the water will run.
You get an itemised quote: excavation and muck away, the sub-base, the falls and drainage, edgings and steps, the slabs, and the jointing. Thomas is your one contact for all of it.
Where everything has to go through an Upton house, floors are protected and times agreed. The garden is never left as an open hole overnight, and spoil goes out as it comes up. If the dig uncovers an old concrete base, roots or made ground, you see a photograph and a price before we deal with it.
Upton is under Dorset Council. There is no conservation area, so a ground-level patio in a back garden is normally permitted development. The nutrient neutrality rules around Poole Harbour only engage where a scheme adds somewhere to sleep, such as a loft conversion or an annexe, so they have nothing to do with paving. A raised platform over 300mm does need planning permission, and a substantial retaining wall brings building control in.
Cost
Patio pricing: the dig decides it
We do not quote by the square metre. The slabs are the part you choose, and they are the smaller part of the cost.
How we get in. A terraced house with a shared passage, a bungalow with a gate wide enough for a micro digger, and a semi with the garden below the back door are not priced alike in Upton. Barrowing straight to the spot is far quicker than carrying every slab down a hallway.
What comes out. Old concrete, a raised bed, tree roots or made ground are dug out and taken away by the load, not by the metre.
The ground under it. On Upton's cohesive soil the sub-base has to be deep enough to cope with ground that shrinks and swells, or the slabs start to rock within a few winters.
Levels. The patio must fall away from the house and finish two courses below the damp proof course. Getting that right can mean a step, a retaining edge or a drainage channel, and laying it at the wrong height against a wall is an expensive mistake to undo.
Ask any other quote what depth of dig and sub-base they allow, whether the slabs sit on a full wet bed or on dabs, where the water goes, whether edgings and steps are in, and what jointing compound is used.
If it has become a hazard
A slab that has lifted or a step that has dropped
Ring rather than use the form. A lifted slab corner or a sunken step will trip someone, and a shaded, north facing patio can get slippery with algae in winter. Put something over the spot or block it off until it is sorted.
At the first visit we lift and re-lay the worst units so they are safe, then look at whether the base under the rest has failed, which on ground that moves it sometimes has. Then you get a price for the proper job. Patio work is scheduled Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For a hazard, phone, and if nobody answers we call back as soon as we can.
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. Any Upton patio 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 an Upton 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
The people who will dig your garden
We cover Upton, Lytchett Minster, the Hamworthy edge and the Poole Road side of the village, from a base in Boscombe 8.5 miles away. Your council is Dorset Council. You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Before you book a visit in Upton, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Thomas Hannen owns it and comes out to price your patio himself, after walking the garden with you. A verified customer gave us 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. Coming to look, and writing up the itemised quote, cost you nothing. Clay moves under a car as well as under a table, so driveways in Upton get the same deeper, drained base.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Upton?
Most repairs in Upton 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.
| Question | In Upton |
|---|---|
| Who decides | Dorset Council is the planning authority for Upton. Dorset Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | None covers Upton, so a like-for-like repair is ordinary maintenance. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Upton. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Upton. |
Questions
Questions about patios in Upton
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.