New patio, is this a problem?

[MrChips]

We very recently had a new patio installed, 10m x 4m overall size. Now that we've seen a bit of rain, there's an area which clearly isn't draining as well as the rest, with a shallow depression in the gradient.

Is this likely to cause long term damage? Im pretty sure the team would come back and fix if needed. The water here seems to be around 3mm deep and took over 5hrs to dry off compared to the rest of the patio. It's the only bit of the patio that does this.

[northwest monkey]

Can't answer your question, but your flags look great!

[m3jappa]

its not right no. I wouldn't say it would cause damage as such but i suppose it may leave a damp mark there before anywhere else. that stone is pretty porous too.
Also depending on what they have used to joint it then that may cause a problem with the joints. A lot of these sweep in types are saying the substrate should be permeable. Which imo is bks and a great little get out clause for any problems, They know that most decent people will be laying on type 1 then a solid bed of usually 5:1 which is not permeable and neither is 6:1 which they say it needs to be..........

[AlmostUseful]

It's a problem if you don't like puddles, and it's a problem if you don't like frozen puddles in winter.
It hasn't been laid properly, whether it's improper rolling/whacking during construction, insufficient falls (flattish can become inverted if not accurate with a level) or just plain not laid as drawn.
If it settled it might settle further, and if it was done properly on a well compacted sub-base with full bed of mortar it won't have settled.

But poster up there is right, the flags look lovely.

[m3jappa]

Its not sunk or dipped, there would be a crack, these slabs are usually laid on a wet bed, looking at the rest of the patio its a tidy job so i doubt its laid on sand.
Its simply a case of whoever laid that bit forgot to use a level

[8-P]

So just out of interest, if you lay a patio and its totally flat, where is the water meant to go when it rains?

[shtu]

8-P said:

So just out of interest, if you lay a patio and its totally flat, where is the water meant to go when it rains?

You don't.

[Andehh]

m3jappa said:

Its not sunk or dipped, there would be a crack, these slabs are usually laid on a wet bed, looking at the rest of the patio its a tidy job so i doubt its laid on sand.
Its simply a case of whoever laid that bit forgot to use a level

^ This, someone couldn't find the level at that time & just figured he'd ''eyeball it''.

Wouldn't be the hardest job to lift & replace it, even easier if you have a spare slab. Slurry mix to build it up and using a LEVEL to lay it flush with surrounding tiles.

IMO, I would try and get them to come back out, if they don't - it's not end of the world, a puddle drying within 5 hours of rain isn't going to cause any long term damage.

What grouting was used? As this would obviously need to be re-done in that localised area. This can be expensive if they don't sell it in 20kg bags....

8-P said:

So just out of interest, if you lay a patio and its totally flat, where is the water meant to go when it rains?

Flat just means the water flows in whatever direction it can, if perfectly flat it flows off equally all round - inc against a house if built flush with it. All patios should be laid with a natural fall away from houses/walls etc into a surrounding grass/flower/drain etc etc

Edited by Andehh on Monday 24th July 09:08

[TA14]

AlmostUseful said:

It's a problem if you don't like puddles, and it's a problem if you don't like frozen puddles in winter.
It hasn't been laid properly, whether it's ... insufficient falls (flattish can become inverted if not accurate with a level)

that would be my guess because

Andehh said:

All patios should be laid with a natural fall away from houses/walls etc into a surrounding grass/flower/drain etc etc

and this one appears to have been laid almost flat. If you look at the first photo the end of the patio steps up twice to the lawn; if they'd given the patio a better fall then it would have stepped up three times and they didn't want to do that.

[Andehh]

Rather then lift several slabs, which is likely what it would take - depending on area/falls/local inspection/how it would look you could just lift the 3 edge slabs, and lower them a few mm, to allow the water to drain out to the edge.

Rather then slabs being laid ''too low'' there is a chance the very edge slabs have been laid slightly too high.

[MrChips]

^ I think this is most likely the best course of action.

The guy laying it was checking levels all the time so it looks likely it's a minor mistake when laying the final few towards the front corner. The sleepers we're in place already as this is a replacement for an existing patio.

They are on a full wet base, and used EasyJoint compound between the slabs.

The gaps between the tiles is spot on and we're really pleased it it overall so will try to get the guys back to fix this area.

[gred]

Good idea to get them back for a fix otherwise that wet area is quite likely to go green and stain the slabs in a fairly short time.

[SAB888]

If it was mine I'd get them to rectify it as it would eventually annoy me. To be fair, the workmanship appears to be good from the pics, and it shouldn't be too hard to get it right.

[wolfracesonic]

Ideally needs sorting but probably not as easy as has been made out: If you lift the low flags up you're going to create a lip against the adjacent flags and so on and so on. Pity as it looks like a nice job.

[dickymint]

Had a similar issue but luckily it was in the same spot as our patio table goes so just core drilled a 6" hole, dug down as far as I could, popped in some soil pipe and fitted one of these.......



Doubles up as a parasol holder in the summer