Digging out for a patio

[CDA]

I'm in the process of digging out and prepping a new base for a patio as the old one had been laid too close to the DPC.

Whilst digging down I've come across a large concrete base which appears to be connected to my extension - see pics



The extension is around 20 - 25 years old and has a concrete floor. The area of concrete stretches to about two feet away from the building line and appears to be around three inches deep.

Is it advisable to avoid taking the concrete from outside up? Ideally I wanted to take it out and dig down further to give myself a good base for paving.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Going by the patterns on parts of that slab it looks like it used to be a patio base before.

 

[tony1851]

Was that extension built directly off the concrete!?

___________________

dogs rule!

 

[CDA]

Haha...I'm hoping the extension isn't built on top of the concrete.

I reckon it probably did used to be a patio base so I'll go ahead and rip it up.

Thanks for you input

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Has there been damp problems? Seems daft to rip up a slab just to layer another a few inches lower. Expect there's a workaround.

 

[CDA]

Yea unfortunately we were getting a bit of damp through under the patio doors.

Once I dug up the patio slabs I found another patio underneath (!) so the whole thing was a good couple of inches too high.