Patio Installers
A well-laid patio is the heart of a garden. We lay every slab on a full mortar bed with proper falls for drainage and a clean, weed-resistant joint finish.
What's included
- Porcelain, sandstone and limestone
- Full mortar bed — no spot bedding
- Sealed joints with jointing compound
- Laid to a 1:80 fall away from the house
- Steps, risers and sleeper retaining walls built in
- Slurry-primed slabs for a permanent bond
Materials — porcelain vs natural stone
Porcelain is dense, virtually non-porous, colour-stable and easy to clean, which makes it the go-to for contemporary gardens and anywhere shaded or damp. Indian sandstone is warmer, more characterful and more forgiving on uneven cuts, and it's still excellent value. Limestone gives a smooth, uniform, modern look. We bring samples out at survey so you can see them wet as well as dry — most stone looks completely different in the rain.
Full mortar bed, every slab
We never spot-bed or 'five-dot' a patio. Every slab is laid on a full wet mortar bed 30–40mm thick over 100mm of compacted MOT Type 1, and the back of each slab is slurry-primed so it chemically bonds to the mortar. Spot bedding leaves voids that fill with water, freeze, and crack or rock the slab within a couple of winters — it's the single most common reason we get called out to replace someone else's patio.
Falls, drainage and the damp-proof course
Every patio is laid to a fall of roughly 1:80 running away from the building so water sheds instead of pooling. Where the patio meets the house we keep the finished surface at least 150mm below the damp-proof course, or fit a linear channel drain or drainage gully where levels are tight. Getting this right protects your walls and is the difference between a patio that stays dry and one that greens over.
Jointing, finishing and aftercare
We joint with a brush-in polymeric compound rather than a sand-cement mix — it stays flexible, resists frost and cracking, and keeps weeds out. On completion we wash the surface down and remove all spoil. Aftercare is simple: sweep, wash annually with a patio cleaner, and avoid a full-power jet wash on jointing. Sandstone benefits from sealing after the first summer; porcelain never needs it.