New Patio in Kents Hill

Many Kents Hill homes still have the patio that came with the house: thin concrete slabs, often laid on sand or a few spots of mortar, now uneven, faded or sinking at one corner. Replacing it with a new patio is one of the most noticeable improvements you can make to the back of the house.

We start by lifting the old slabs and looking at what was put underneath. On estates of this era it is common to find very little sub-base, so we dig out further, remove soft or contaminated material and lay a properly compacted granular base. That foundation is what lets the new paving stay level for many years.

Every slab then goes onto a full mortar bed. With porcelain in particular this is essential, because the slab is dense and does not grip mortar on its own. We brush a priming slurry onto the back of each porcelain slab immediately before it is laid, which is a step that is easy to skip and expensive to get wrong.

The fall is set away from the house, and we keep the surface below the damp course even if the old patio was not. If the original paving trapped water against the wall, we correct the levels rather than copy them. Where the garden slopes, a small step or a slightly raised section can give you a flat seating area without a long ramp of paving.

Kents Hill gardens are often open plan at the side or reached through a garage, so access is usually manageable. Most replacement patios take several working days from lifting the old slabs to finishing the joints.

If you want the patio a little larger than the original, now is the time to say so. Extending into the lawn costs far less while the ground is already open, and we can square up an awkward shape left by the original layout so furniture fits properly against the house.

Neighbouring gardens on these estates are often divided by low fences, so we keep dust and spoil on your side and agree delivery times that suit the street.