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.
Last updated
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 a new patio 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.
West Lulworth patios range from an old stone terrace with the pointing washed out and flags that rock, through a garden on a slope where the level change has been patched rather than built, to somebody who wants porcelain and is worried it will look wrong against a stone cottage.
We come to West Lulworth 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 in West Lulworth 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 in West Lulworth.
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 West Lulworth 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 in West Lulworth 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
Building a patio in a sloping cottage garden
Thomas comes out, takes a level from the back door and the damp proof course, looks at how the garden falls, and prices the patio himself. Thomas answers for it from the first spade to the last joint. The written quote itemises the excavation and muck away, the sub-base, the falls and drainage, edgings and steps, the slabs, and the jointing.
Gardens in West Lulworth often slope, and plenty are reached only by a side path or through the house. Everything goes in and out by barrow, so we plan the route, lay boards and sheets to protect lawns and floors, and leave the path clear at the end of every day. Natural stone like Purbeck is heavy and needs careful handling, and each slab is bedded by hand. Spoil leaves with us. If the dig turns up an old concrete slab, a soakaway or large roots, you see a photograph and a price before we go further.
A ground level patio in a back garden is normally permitted development, needing no planning permission. A retaining wall or a raised terrace may bring in building control. Near a listed building the setting counts too, and Dorset Council keeps the listed building records. The village is also in the West Lulworth Conservation Area.
Cost
Levels, stone and barrow runs
How material gets in comes first. A garden you can reach through a wide gate is quicker than one where every slab and every bag of sharp sand is carried through a West Lulworth cottage. Narrow lanes add to that, because deliveries may need splitting into smaller loads.
Levels on a slope. A patio should fall away from the house and finish at least two courses below the damp proof course. On a sloping garden that often means steps, a retaining edge or a low wall, and each of those adds work and material.
The dig. Old concrete, roots and made ground come out by the load. West Lulworth is on chalk, which drains well but softens when saturated, so flints and loose chalk are cleared to a firm formation before a well compacted sub-base goes in.
The stone. Purbeck and other natural stone varies in thickness and needs a full wet mortar bed. Porcelain is thinner and needs a primer on the back. Laying on dabs of mortar is cheaper at the start and fails sooner.
Questions for any other quote: what depth they will dig to and which sub-base they will use, a full bed or dabs, which way the falls run and what drainage takes the water, what jointing goes between the slabs, and whether the steps and edgings are included.
If it has become a hazard
A patio that has sunk, rocked or gone slippery
Give us a ring; the form is slower. A missed call is returned as soon as we are able. A rocking slab, a step that has dropped, or a patio on the shady side that has turned slippery with algae is a fall waiting to happen.
Put a pot or a chair over the worst spot so nobody steps on it. On the first visit we lift and re-bed the dangerous slabs and look at whether the base under the rest has gone. A retaining edge leaning on a sloping West Lulworth garden needs looking at before the soil behind it moves. Patio work is booked Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
Matching new paving into Purbeck stone
Nearly everything old in West Lulworth 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 West Lulworth conservation area makes that a question worth asking first.
Who you are dealing with
A registered company, run by its owner
Boscombe, where we are based, is 19.4 miles from West Lulworth. We lay patios here and in East Lulworth, Winfrith and the other coast villages, broadly BH20, all under Dorset Council. The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, number 15471719. Before you book a visit in West Lulworth, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Its owner, Thomas Hannen, comes to your garden and works out the price himself. On Checkatrade one verified customer has marked the work 10 out of 10. The site visit is free of charge, as is the written quote setting out each item. Purbeck stone runs along the frontages as well, and a driveway in West Lulworth can be matched to it.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in West Lulworth?
Most repairs in West Lulworth 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 West Lulworth |
|---|---|
| Who decides | Dorset Council is the planning authority for West Lulworth. Dorset Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: West Lulworth Conservation Area. Check whether your street is inside the boundary before changing anything visible. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around West Lulworth. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | Inside the Dorset National Landscape (formerly AONB), so anything visible from outside gets more attention. |
Questions
Questions about patios in West Lulworth
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, not 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.
Nearby, and next door
Patios near West Lulworth
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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.