Patios in Woodlands

Reading the ground comes first. Before anything is set out in a Woodlands garden we find out where the roots run. A trial hole in two or three places tells us far more than a plan does. Old concrete, sunken flags, brick paviours, a raised bed and made ground all have to come out, and the spoil is loaded to a grab lorry or a skip and leaves with us.

What we will not do. We do not cut a root plate back to make a level. Severing the structural roots of a mature tree destabilises it and often kills it slowly, and the paving is not worth that. Where roots cross the area we raise the build over them, reduce the excavation on that stretch and put the depth back in stone instead.

The sub base. A geotextile separator, then MOT Type 1 in compacted layers of about 100mm. Under trees the ground is threaded with fine root and holds moisture, so the separator earns its place, and the compaction is done in layers rather than one pass over a deep lift.

Porcelain. Calibrated twenty millimetre porcelain is the right answer for a shaded plot. It takes on almost no water, so algae get little grip and there is nothing in the slab for a frost to open. Full bed of mortar over a slurry primed back, never on dabs.

Stone. Sandstone is warm and easy to lay but porous, so under trees it greens and stains from leaf fall. Limestone is more even and marks with iron. Granite is dense and copes well with a damp position. Travertine is a poor choice in Woodlands. Hand cut stone varies in thickness so the mortar bed levels it; calibrated stone is sawn to one depth.

Falls, levels and drainage. Paving falls away from the building and finishes two courses below the DPC where the garden allows, which is what Approved Document C requires. Water goes to a gully proved to still run, a soakaway where the ground takes it, or a permeable build with an open graded base so the runoff stays on your land, which is also the kinder option for a tree.

Edges and jointing. Edging bedded and haunched in concrete, a coping to any low retaining wall, a kerb line at the lawn and a gravel border along the house. Over a root run we keep the jointing flexible: a brush in compound that can take a little movement rather than rigid hand pointing that cracks in a straight line. Porcelain elsewhere on the terrace takes a grout made for dense units.

Repairs. Lifting and re-bedding slabs that have been pushed up, rebuilding a sunken bay, replacing cracked units, renewing washed out jointing and cleaning a green terrace.

Thomas comes out, looks at the garden, the levels against the house and any trees close by, and prices it himself. Thomas is your contact while it is dug, laid and pointed.

On the written quote you will see the excavation and muck away, the sub base, the falls and where the water goes, edgings and steps, the slabs themselves, and the jointing. Access in Woodlands is usually round the side of a bungalow or through a gate on a big plot, so a small digger can often reach the back garden. Where a tree root crosses the dig, we expose it by hand and build over it without cutting it. The garden is tidied every evening, the spoil leaves with us, and if old concrete or made ground turns up, that is photographed and priced before we dig it out.

Around Woodlands the National Park Authority deals with planning, and protected trees can need written notice before anyone works on them. The NPA’s heritage and conservation pages set out what that means for an address. The paving itself is normally permitted development and is not building control work.

A slab lifted at one corner or a step that has dropped is a trip hazard. A Woodlands patio in the shade of trees can also turn green and slippery through the winter. Put a pot on the raised slab so nobody catches it, and keep off the slippery area.

Ring 07435 839745, not the web form, and tell us what has moved. If the line is busy, wait for our return call, which comes as soon as we can make it. Our first job there is lifting and re-bedding the worst slab or step and looks at whether a root or a failed base is the cause, and the rest is priced in writing. Booked work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

Call now: 07435 839745

A mature tree's roots are shallow and wide, not deep and narrow. Most of the structural root sits in the top half metre of soil and spreads out well beyond the canopy, which is why the flat, tempting corner of the garden is so often exactly where they are.

A normal patio excavation cuts straight through them, and a tree that loses a significant share of its roots on one side can become unstable long before it looks unwell. Roots that survive keep growing, too, and a rigid paving build sitting directly on them will be lifted and cracked, usually in one clear line rather than all over.

The build that works is a compromise built in deliberately: a shallower dig over the root run with the level made up in compacted stone, a separator between the stone and the soil, a flexible jointing compound rather than a rigid mortar over that stretch, and the seating area itself set slightly away from the trunk where the layout allows. Where the tree is protected, and in a conservation area many are, we design around it as a matter of course rather than asking afterwards.

Nearby places we also cover for patios, with straight-line distances from Woodlands, and the other trades we offer in Woodlands itself.

Everything we do in Lymington Patios, all areas Every area we cover