Patios in West Lulworth, stone, steps and slopes
Riven local flags and a calibrated slab are laid in two different ways, and mixing them in one terrace is how a garden comes out wrong.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
In West Lulworth the stone in the walls, the paths and the older terraces came out of the ground a few miles away. Purbeck limestone is what the village is built from, and matching new paving into it is a real decision rather than a style preference, because riven local stone and a calibrated slab are laid in two different ways.
Three things bring people to the phone. An old stone terrace with the pointing washed out and flags that rock. A garden on a slope where the level change has been patched rather than built. And somebody who wants porcelain and is worried it will look wrong against a stone cottage.
We come and look at what is already down, take levels off the house and off the ground, and talk honestly about matching. Then you get a written itemised quote with the dig, the muck away, the sub base, the drainage, the edgings and steps, the slabs and the jointing on separate lines. The visit and the quote are free.
The jobs
Stone, porcelain and a garden on a slope
Lifting and sorting what is there. An old stone terrace is often worth saving. Flags come up, get cleaned off and stacked, and the ones that are sound go back down on a proper base. What comes out underneath is usually a bed of sand or ash over made ground, and that is excavated and taken away by the load.
Uncalibrated stone is a different job. Riven Purbeck flags vary in thickness across a single slab, let alone across a pallet. Every one has to be bedded to its own thickness on a full wet mortar bed, adjusting as it goes, so the walking surface comes out flat even though the stone is not. That is slower than laying a calibrated slab and it is the only way it works.
Porcelain and the calibrated options. Porcelain is milled to a constant thickness, so the joints run true and the bed is even. It takes up no water, needs no sealing and there are stone effect ranges that sit perfectly happily against limestone walling. Sandstone, granite and travertine all have their place, though travertine is not one we would put this close to the sea.
The base under both. MOT Type 1 in thin lifts whacked to full compaction and carried past the edge of the paving, with a geotextile separator on soft ground. A full mortar bed under every slab, never dabs. On a sloping site the base is also what stops the whole build up creeping downhill.
Levels and the damp course. Paving falls away from the house and finishes at least two courses below the DPC, and on the older cottages there may be no damp course to work from, so the level is taken off the floor inside instead. Approved Document C sets out why.
Steps and retaining on a valley plot. The gardens here run up and down. Level changes get built rather than fudged: a retaining edge or a low wall with coping, treads generous and risers equal, and a haunched edging or kerb where the paving meets grass or a border. A retaining wall of any height is proper construction and it is priced as such.
Drainage. Water off a sloping terrace has to be caught rather than allowed to run down onto the next level. A channel with a gully and an outfall does that, a soakaway works where the ground will take the runoff, and a permeable build up over open graded stone keeps everything on your own ground.
Jointing and repairs. Old stone terraces are hand pointed in a mortar mix that suits the stone rather than something too strong for it. New porcelain and sawn stone get a brush in resin compound worked wet and tooled off. Then the repairs: lifted flags, a sunk bay, rocking stone, cracked slabs, algae on the shaded side, efflorescence on new sandstone and salt staining.
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 is a conservation area with 43 listed entries in and around it, so appearance is controlled and a change of material where it can be seen is a different question from putting back what was there. Ground level paving in a back garden is still normally permitted development, needing no planning permission, and building control applies to retaining structures. Dorset Council holds the conservation area and listed building records.
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 stone cottage on the village street, a bungalow with a wide side gate, and a house on a steep plot above the road 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. A retaining edge that has started to lean on a sloping garden is worth a call before the terrace above it moves any further. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
Matching new paving into Purbeck stone
Nearly everything old in this village is built from the local limestone, and it has weathered into a colour no quarry sells off a pallet. That is the honest starting point for any conversation about matching. New Purbeck stone next to a hundred and fifty year old wall will read lighter and sharper for a good few years before it settles down.
The bigger practical difference is not colour but thickness. Traditional riven flags are split rather than sawn, so they vary, and laying them means building the bed up under each one until the surface is flat. A calibrated slab, porcelain or sawn stone, is the same thickness everywhere and lays quickly with even joints. Mixing the two in one terrace is where things come out wrong, because the setting out for each is different.
So the useful advice is to decide which world you are in before you order anything. Repairing or extending an existing stone terrace means matching riven stone, hand pointing and slower laying. A new terrace away from the old work can perfectly well be a calibrated porcelain in a muted tone, which will sit quietly against limestone walling and give you a flat, even surface. Where it will be seen from the street, the conservation area makes that a question worth asking first.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover West Lulworth, East Lulworth, Winfrith and the Purbeck coast villages, broadly BH20, 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
West Lulworth questions we get asked
Can new Purbeck stone be matched to an old terrace?
The stone can be matched. The weathering cannot, so new flags read lighter for several years before they settle. On a back terrace that is fine. Where it will be seen next to old work, we would rather relay what you have and only make up the shortfall.
Why does riven stone take longer to lay than porcelain?
Because it varies in thickness. Every flag is bedded to its own depth so the walking surface comes out flat even though the stone is not. Porcelain is calibrated, so the bed is even and the joints run true, and it lays considerably faster.
Will porcelain look wrong against a stone cottage?
Not if the tone is chosen carefully. The ranges that go wrong are the bright, high contrast ones. A muted, textured porcelain sits quietly against limestone walling and gives you a flat surface that does not need sealing.
How is a sloping garden turned into a usable terrace?
By building the level change rather than ramping it. A retaining edge or a low wall with coping holds each level, steps between them have equal risers, and the drainage catches water before it runs down onto the level below.
Does a retaining wall count as building work?
Anything holding back a real change of level is proper construction and needs to be built as such, with a footing and drainage behind it. It is priced as its own item on the quote, not folded into a rate for the paving.
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Decide the stone before the terrace is set out
Thomas comes out, looks at what is already down, takes levels and prices the work in writing. The visit and the quote are free.