Patios in West Parley, set below the damp course
A third of the homes here are bungalows, where the back door sits low and the damp proof course, not the slab you like, decides how the terrace is built.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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More than a third of the homes in West Parley are bungalows, and on a bungalow the patio starts at a low threshold with the damp proof course only a couple of courses above it. That one fact decides the level, the drainage and often the whole design of the terrace.
The warning signs on a West Parley bungalow are usually damp showing along a skirting board, a patio that has been re-laid over an older one until it sits almost level with the doorstep, or sliding doors that now open onto a step nobody wants.
We come out to West Parley with a laser, find the damp course, measure what the threshold actually is and work out what can be done without burying it. Then it goes into a written itemised quote, with the dig, the base, the drainage, the paving and the jointing on their own lines. The visit and the quote are free.
The work
Terraces off a low threshold, and how they get built
Finding the damp proof course comes first. That happens before anything is priced. Approved Document C expects finished ground to sit around 150mm, two brick courses, below the damp course. On a good many bungalows in West Parley previous paving has been laid over previous paving and is now above it, which is exactly why the wall inside is damp.
Level access without burying the wall. Where you want to step straight out onto the patio, the answer is a recessed channel drain across the threshold with a removable grate, the paving set slightly below the channel and a fall running away from the building. It is more work than laying up to the door, and it is the only version that does not trap water at the brickwork.
The dig and the muck away. The old paving, its bedding, any concrete raft and the roots under it all come out. West Parley bungalow gardens usually have decent access, so most of this goes straight to a grab lorry or a skip rather than out by barrow. It leaves with us.
Sub base. Geotextile membrane where the ground is soft, then MOT Type 1 in compacted layers rather than one deep lift of hardcore. Getting that right is what stops a slab rocking, and it is the part that never shows up in a photograph.
Bedding. A full wet mortar bed under every slab, with a slurry primer painted onto the back of porcelain and dense stone. Dabs under the corners leave voids, and a void under a slab is where the water sits and the frost works.
Porcelain, sandstone, limestone and granite. Porcelain is dense, barely absorbs water and keeps a grip when textured, which matters on a route from the back door. Sandstone is warm and easy to cut, limestone quieter and more easily marked, granite the hardest wearing. Calibrated slabs are sawn to one thickness and lay quickly.
Steps, edgings and retaining. Where the garden drops away, a step off a proper footing with a bullnose or coping front, and a haunched edging along the border. Anything holding soil back gets a retaining course with a land drain behind it.
Drainage and where it goes. Runoff from the channel goes to a gully or to a soakaway dug well clear of the footings, or the terrace is built permeable with open joints over a free draining base. Surface water is not allowed to end up against the wall, and Approved Document H is the standard drainage is judged against.
Jointing and repairs. Joints brushed in with a two part compound and tooled off. Smaller jobs too: re-bedding a rocking slab, cutting out a cracked one, re-pointing washed out joints, and clearing algae and efflorescence.
How it runs
Laying a patio behind a bungalow, one step at a time
Behind a West Parley bungalow the garden is often level with the back door, so a patio has to be set carefully to fall away from the house and stay below the damp proof course. Thomas comes out, checks the levels and the damp course, and asks how you want to use the space. The written quote lists excavation and muck away, the sub-base, the falls and where the water goes, edgings and any steps, the slabs, and the jointing.
Thomas keeps you in the picture while it is dug, laid and pointed. On most plots in West Parley we can get a barrow or a small digger round the side, so your house is not the route in. Spoil and old concrete go away in bags or a skip, paths and the drive are swept each day, and nothing is left half dug by a door overnight. If we hit old foundations, a drain or tree roots, you get a photograph and a price before we deal with it.
A patio at ground level behind a house is normally permitted development. A raised terrace or deck more than 300mm above the ground is not, under Part 1 of the permitted development order, and that catches sloping gardens. Dorset Council is the authority. The conservation area is a small one around the old church, and on a listed property listed building consent can cover the ground around it too.
Cost
Levels, the damp course and what has to come out first
Most of the cost of a patio is in the ground, not in the slabs you pick. Access. A detached West Parley bungalow with a wide side gate lets us bring a small digger through. A chalet bungalow where the garden rises behind the house needs a retaining edge or steps.
A semi with only a narrow passage means every slab and bag goes in by hand. The HSE work at height pages still apply where there are steps and changes of level.
What comes out. An old concrete base, a rockery, a shed floor or roots all have to be broken up and taken away before the dig reaches the depth for the sub-base. That is priced by the load.
Falls, levels and the damp course. The patio must fall away from the house and finish two brick courses below the damp proof course. On a flat bungalow plot that can mean a slot drain or a drainage channel by the back door, and with the high surface water risk in West Parley the water needs somewhere to go.
Ask any other quote how deep they dig, what sub-base goes in, whether the slabs are laid on a full wet bed or on dabs, and what jointing compound they use.
If it has become a hazard
A slab rocking or a step that has dropped
A slab that lifts at one corner, a step that has sunk, or a West Parley patio gone green and slippery in winter is a fall waiting to happen, and it is usually right by the back door. Put a pot or a chair on the loose slab so nobody steps on it.
Then ring rather than using the web form. On the first visit we lift and re-bed the worst slabs or make the step safe, clean off the slippery area if that is the trouble, and see whether the base under the rest is sound. Booked work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For something like this, call us; if you cannot get through, you will hear back as soon as we can.
Worth knowing
Why the damp course rules a bungalow patio
On a two storey house the back door sits well above the garden and there is room to play with. On a bungalow, and this is bungalow country, the floor is often barely above outside ground level to begin with. Add a patio laid over the last one, then a top up of bedding sand ten years later, and the finished surface quietly climbs past the damp proof course.
What happens next is predictable. Rain hits the paving, splashes back at the wall and soaks into brickwork that has no barrier above it any more. Inside you get a damp band along the skirting in one room, usually the one behind the patio, and it is blamed on everything except the paving outside.
So on any bungalow in West Parley, the honest first question is not which slab you like. It is how far below the damp course the finished level can sit, and whether you need a threshold channel to get the doorway you actually want. Ask anybody quoting to tell you the finished level in millimetres relative to the damp course. If they cannot, they have not measured it.
Who you are dealing with
Patios across Parley Cross, Dudsbury and nearby
West Parley is about 4.5 miles from our Boscombe base. We build patios across the parish, from Parley Cross and Dudsbury along the Christchurch Road side towards Longham, and Dorset Council is the authority. Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, belongs to Thomas Hannen. Before you book a visit in West Parley, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
He sets out the levels and prices each patio himself. One of our customers left a verified 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. We do not charge for the site visit, and the written quote, broken down line by line, is free too. The front door on a bungalow has the same low threshold, and a driveway in West Parley is set below the damp course too.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in West Parley?
Most repairs in West Parley 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 Parley |
|---|---|
| Who decides | Dorset Council is the planning authority for West Parley. Dorset Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: West Parley 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 Parley. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers West Parley. |
Questions
Questions about patios in West Parley
Can I have a patio level with my back door?
You can have the doorway flush, but not by raising the paving to meet it. The way it works is a recessed channel drain across the threshold, the slabs set just below and a fall running away from the building. Level to walk on, not level with the damp course.
What is the right finished level against the wall?
Around 150mm, which is two brick courses, is the figure to work to. Less than that and rain splashing off the slabs starts wetting brickwork above the barrier.
My patio is already too high. Does it all have to come up?
Usually the run nearest the house does, and sometimes that is all. We take up the courses against the wall, drop the level, put a channel in and re-lay. Where the whole terrace has been built up over the years it is a full lift.
Is there any point in a soakaway on this ground?
Often yes, provided it is dug well away from the footings and it is proved with a trial hole first. Surface water in this area is a known issue, so it is worth checking what your own garden will actually take before anybody designs around it.
Can you take a machine down the side of a bungalow?
Most of the time, yes, and that keeps the cost down. A micro digger goes through a 900mm gate. Where there is no side access at all the spoil goes out by barrow and that appears as its own line on the quote.
Nearby, and next door
Patios near West Parley
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Get your finished level worked out before you buy paving
Thomas comes out, finds the damp course, measures the threshold and prices the dig, the drainage and the paving in writing. The visit and the quote are free.