Planning a Patio - Patio ideas

Planning the patio

    Choose the slabs or bricks you will use to build your patio to harmonise with the bricks of your house, the eye naturally connects the two, being similar sorts of surface. Dark colors are less reflective and are therefore don't give so much glare, which can be very strong in the full summer sun. A darker colored slab will also feel much warmer than a lighter one, and will retain - and radiate heat well into the evening after the sun has disappeared.

    Too many contrasts and too much variety looks confusing. Never have more than three types of paving, including bricks or edging materials, the effect soon becomes messy if you have more. If you want the patio to have a pattern rather than be an expanse of uniform slabs, then consider circles or arches made of the same bricks / slabs rather than different types or colors. Different patterns in one color look more sophisticated than different colors of one type of slab or brick. 

    A contrasting edge can look very effective, say of block paviours (as used for drive-ways) around patio slabs with the darker color on the outside.

Remember that if you are replacing existing slabs, you will also need to replace those making the path around the house at least to where it disappears around a corner, or the effect will be lost.  

Laying a patio

Whichever way you look at it, this is a heavy job and having seen lots of patios laid by amateurs where the slabs are uneven / wobble and / or have grass and weeds coming up between them, I'd strongly advise you to leave it to the experts unless you are particularly confident. 

If you do feel confident in making a good job of it yourself, then get a guide book such as those on this page, or leaflets often available free at your local builders merchant or garden center. (It's always a comfort to be able to refer to something in print, especially when you think you've taken a wrong turn). 

A professionally laid patio will usually represent about 3 or 4 days work, depending on the size, an amateur laid patio can stretch out over weeks or even months.

    Remove the turf and dig down so that the soil surface is about 6 inches below the intended level of the patio.

    Level this area off reasonably accurately.

    Lay a hardcore layer (limestone as used for roads or whatever is available locally from the builders / gravel merchants) about 3-4 inches thick and compact using a vibrating (wacca) plate, available from tool hire centers.

    Lay the first line of slabs against the house (don't actually touch the house with the slabs, but leave a gap of 2-3" that you can fill in with gravel), use a builders line to make sure the edge is straight. Make sure the slabs are below the level of the damp proof course

    Bed slabs on a dryish mortar mixture of sharp sand and cement. Check each slab as you lay it with a (long) spirit level that it is level with it's neighbors. Don't walk on slabs you have just laid!

    Introduce a gentle slope as you move away from the house of about an inch in 6 feet using the builders line and spirit level for reference.

The commonest mistake and cause of a patio not being level or stable is that the base is not prepared properly. Don't skimp on the foundation, dig down far enough, have a thick layer of hardcore, compact it down with a mechanical vibrator and bed the slabs on a good layer of mortar.

If you try to skimp on the foundation layer, all will be well for a while, but a year or so later your patio will resemble the collision of two small tectonic plates.

More on how to lay a patio

Relative costs - patios

How to lay a patio