Patio Builders in Ormesby

Ormesby's homes and gardens

Ormesby has a long history. Its parish church of St Cuthbert and Ormesby Hall, a mid-eighteenth-century house now cared for by the National Trust, recall the old village. Most of the houses you see today, though, date from the twentieth century: inter-war and post-war semis, rows of bungalows popular with people looking to downsize, and private estates of detached and semi-detached homes built through the 1960s and 1970s.

Gardens here are a good family size, and many are on a slope, because Ormesby climbs from the lower ground towards Ormesby Bank and the hills beyond. Common jobs include replacing an old crazy-paved or concrete patio that has broken up, creating a level seating area on a sloping lawn, and replacing steep, worn concrete steps with something safer.

Bungalow owners often ask for patios that are easy to walk on, with level thresholds where possible and gentle steps with a handrail where not. We plan for that from the start, choosing slabs with good grip and keeping step heights low and even.

Many Ormesby homes also have a front garden that slopes down to the pavement. If you are thinking of paving it, we can build it with a permeable surface or drain it to a border, so it stays within the rules on front gardens and does not send water onto the street.

Building on a slope

A sloping garden needs a plan before a single slab goes down. We start by taking levels from the house: the damp-proof course, door thresholds and any air bricks. Then we work out whether the patio is best cut into the slope, built up on the low side, or split into two levels. Cutting into the slope usually needs a retaining wall to hold the soil back, while splitting it means wide, shallow steps between the two areas.

Underneath, the ground is the heavy clay found across this side of Middlesbrough. On a slope, water runs downhill towards the house, so we lay the patio with a fall away from the walls and, where needed, add a channel drain at the back door. The base is built the same way every time: dug out to firm ground, a compacted crushed-stone sub-base, and every slab bedded on a full mortar bed.

Indian sandstone and textured slabs both give good grip on a sloping site. Porcelain is very easy to clean, and we use an outdoor grade with a slip-resistant finish.

Planning, the hall and boundaries

A ground-level back-garden patio is normally permitted development and needs no planning application. On sloping gardens, watch the height: a raised patio more than 30cm above the ground usually needs permission, and that can happen at the lower edge of a terrace. Front-garden paving over five square metres must be permeable or drain to a lawn or border.

The area around Ormesby Hall is the Ormesby Hall Conservation Area. If your home is within it, tree work needs six weeks' notice to the council, and listed buildings need consent for many changes. For most of Ormesby's housing none of this applies, but we will mention it if your house is close by.

Boundary walls are worth a mention. Garden walls up to two metres high, or one metre next to a road, generally do not need permission, so a low retaining wall or raised bed is usually straightforward.

On cost, sloping Ormesby gardens can need steps or a retaining wall, which add to the job, while a flat plot behind a semi can be simpler. We do not publish prices before seeing a garden, but our patio prices guide explains what affects them.

Patios in nearby areas

We also lay patios close to Ormesby:

• Patios in Normanby: Just to the east below the Eston Hills, where many gardens slope too.
• Patios in Marton: To the west, with family estates, Stewart Park and the Cook museum.
• Patios in Nunthorpe: To the south, with generous plots and mature trees.

See every place we cover on our areas page.

Questions people ask