Pave the way with your patio floor

Patio paving

Stone, concrete and brick are all rigid and durable materials for areas of heavy use, provided they are bedded on a firmly consolidated base course. They are easy to lay, if you are doing the work yourself, and to maintain.

The even and consistent finish of interlocking stone slabs carefully laid on a sound foundation makes a safe level deck for dining furniture.

Paving slabs

These may be cast in concrete or reconstituted stone, in a range of colours that fade and soften with age, or cut from natural stone, often with a textured or riven finish. Baked terracotta tiles are also available in warm mellow shades.

All have crisp clean outlines and come in various sizes, allowing you to lay interesting patterns.

Larger sizes can be very heavy to handle, so manoeuvre them with care and wear heavy-duty gloves. Recycled flagstones may vary in thickness. Broken slabs are inexpensive and the traditional material for ‘crazy paving’, but need skilful arrangement to achieve a pleasing random finish.

Bricks and setts

Smaller paving units need more time and care to lay evenly but have greater design potential, whether on their own in a variety of geometric patterns or in conjunction with slabs, as highlights, inserts or edging.

New and recycled bricks, with their classic rustic colours and finish, should be frost–proof to avoid crumbling or flaking. Granite and sandstone setts are extremely hard and weather–resistant, with a slightly rounded profile better suited to paths and edgings than main seating areas.

Where the patio will be conspicuous from a height there is an additional reason to compose a pleasing design using decorative units such as floor tiles, setts or bricks.

Building tips

• If joints are mortared to produce an impervious finish, the patio floor should have a gentle slope to shed surface water. Aim for a fall of about 1cm per metre (Vin per yard) away from walls and buildings and towards a drain or pond.

• Make sure the finished surface is at least 15cm (6in) or two brick courses below the damp–proof course of house walls to avoid problems with moisture being absorbed into the building.

• Omit occasional slabs or pavers if you want to expose soil for planting or to accommodate a water feature or fire pit. Mortar joints can be filled with soil here and there for prostrate pavement plants.

• Experiment with lines of small paving stones like bricks and blocks to deceive the eye and ‘stretch’ the patio’s shape in the direction in which they run.