Patios in Yarmouth, surfaces that stay safe when wet
Close to open water a patio is damp far more often than it is dry, and that decides the surface, the jointing and the metalwork.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
A patio three kilometres from open water never really dries out between showers. Salt in the air holds moisture on the surface, algae takes hold faster than it does inland, and a stone that looked fine in a brochure can be treacherous by November. So here the finish and the jointing matter as much as the base.
People ring about a surface that has gone green and slippery, about white bloom on paving that was laid last summer, and about joints that have washed out so the slabs shift when you stand on the edge of one. Behind all three is the same thing: a patio that stays wet.
We come out and look at it in the wet if we can, because rain shows the falls and the open joints that a dry day hides. Then you get a written itemised quote with the dig, the muck away, the sub base, the drainage, the edgings, the slabs and the jointing on separate lines. The site visit and the quote are free.
The jobs
Paving that has to work when it is soaking
What comes out. Old paving, the sand it was bedded on and any old concrete under it are broken out and excavated to a firm formation. Shingle, made ground and roots come out with it and the spoil is taken away by the load, because near the water the ground is often looser than it looks from above.
Sub base and compaction. MOT Type 1 whacked in thin lifts to proper compaction, carried out past the edge of the slabs, with a geotextile separator underneath wherever the ground is soft. Compaction is what stops the paving settling, and a patio that has settled is a patio that ponds.
Full mortar bed and a primer. Every slab is laid on a full wet bed with a slurry primer painted on the back. Dabs leave voids, and by the sea a void is a permanent reservoir of salty water sitting under the stone. It is also the shortest route to a slab that rocks and then cracks.
Picking a surface that stays safe. Textured porcelain is the sensible default here. It is calibrated, it takes up no water at all, it does not stain and the grip is built into the surface rather than relying on the stone being dry. Riven sandstone has natural grip but is porous. Limestone marks. Granite in a flamed finish is excellent. Smooth polished anything, travertine included, is the wrong choice within sight of the sea.
Falls and the damp course. Paving falls away from the house and finishes at least two courses below the DPC. On the older cottages there may be no damp course at all, in which case the level is set off the floor inside and a gravel margin is left along the wall. Approved Document C explains what is at stake.
Getting the water off quickly. The faster a surface sheds water the less time algae has to work. That means a positive fall to a channel with a gully and an outfall, or a soakaway where the ground will take the runoff, and a permeable build up over open graded stone where there is nowhere else for it to go.
Edges, steps and metalwork. A haunched edging or kerb where the paving meets grass, a retaining edge with coping where a level is held back, and steps with equal risers. Anything metal in a step nosing, a handrail or a channel grating wants to be stainless here, because plain galvanised gives up quickly in salt air.
Jointing, and the two problems it causes. A brush in resin compound is what we use, worked in wet and tooled off so there are no open joints for weeds or water. Mortar pointing suits an old stone terrace. Efflorescence is the white bloom that comes out of new stone and bedding as it dries; it weathers off. Algae is different, it is a living film, and it is what makes paving slippery.
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.
Paving at ground level in a back garden is ordinarily permitted development and needs no planning permission, while a raised terrace can, and building control comes in only where a retaining structure is part of it. The town carries 48 listed entries, so on an older property appearance is worth checking first. The government guidance on when permission is needed sets out the boundaries.
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 pre-1900 house on one of the narrow streets, a bungalow with a wide side gate, and a cottage with a walled yard and no side access 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 terrace that has turned green and greasy is worth dealing with before the first frost rather than after somebody has gone over on it. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
Salt air, damp surfaces and slip
Yarmouth sits close enough to open water that salt is carried inland on the wind and settles on everything. Salt is hygroscopic, which is a long word for the fact that it pulls moisture out of the air and holds it. A patio here therefore spends far more hours damp than the same patio twenty miles inland, even in a dry week.
Two things follow. Algae, which needs moisture more than it needs shade, colonises faster and comes back sooner after cleaning, and it is algae rather than the stone itself that makes a surface slippery. And any exposed steel corrodes from the edge inwards, so galvanised gratings, step nosings and fixings that would last for years elsewhere start to bleed rust stains down the paving.
That changes the specification rather than the price of the stone. We steer people towards a textured porcelain or a flamed granite that has grip built into the surface instead of relying on being dry, we set a slightly stronger fall so water leaves quickly, we joint with a resin compound that will not wash out, and we use stainless rather than galvanised for anything metal that stays outside.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Yarmouth, Norton, Thorley and the lanes towards Shalfleet, broadly PO41, with the island council as planning authority. 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
Yarmouth questions we get asked
Which paving is least slippery in a wet winter?
A textured porcelain or a flamed granite. Both have grip built into the surface rather than relying on the stone being dry, and neither takes up water. Smooth or polished finishes are the ones people fall on, and they look their best on the day they are laid.
Why does my patio go green so much faster than my sister's inland?
Salt in the air holds moisture on the surface, so it spends more hours damp. Algae needs moisture more than it needs shade. A faster fall, filled joints and a surface that does not take up water all slow it down considerably.
Will a sealer stop the algae coming back?
It slows it on porous stone and it is not a cure, and a sealer on a slab that is already damp underneath traps the moisture in. Porcelain does not need sealing at all. We would rather fix the drainage than sell you a coating.
What jointing compound holds up near the coast?
A two part resin compound, worked in wet and tooled off, so there is no open joint for water or weeds. Kiln dried sand washes out of an exposed terrace within a season or two, and once the joints are empty the slabs start to move.
The metal grating in my drain channel is rusting. Can it be changed?
Yes, and it is worth doing in stainless rather than galvanised. Salt air takes plain galvanised steel apart from the cut edges inwards, and the rust runs down and stains the paving around it, which is a separate job to clean off.
Nearby, and next door
Patios near Yarmouth
Patios nearby
Our other trades in Yarmouth
Everything we do in Lymington Patios, all areas Every area we cover
Free quote
Have your patio looked at in the wet
Thomas comes out, sees where the water sits and where the joints have gone, and prices the work in writing. The visit and the quote are free.