New Patio 3cm Below DPC

[Bunnyface]

Hi all, I have recently moved to a new build house and had the garden landscaped. Due to a pretty sizeable slope towards the house I’ve had a two tier garden, with a patio on the lower tier. After looking at the work and reading into patios I’ve realised that there is not much of a gap between the DPC and the patio (around 3cm). Would I be right in assuming this is against building regulations and would impact on a survey?

 

[^woody^]

Building regulations don't apply to patios, but its contrary to good practice and several standards.

You can see damp already above the DPC and the airbrick clogged up.

This may or may not cause a problem internally as there is a cavity, so no damp should travel across to the inside wall. Bit it is not right and would get picked up on a survey and used against you.

 

[Bunnyface]

Building regulations don't apply to patios, but its contrary to good practice and several standards.

You can see damp already above the DPC and the airbrick clogged up.

This may or may not cause a problem internally as there is a cavity, so no damp should travel across to the inside wall. Bit it is not right and would get picked up on a survey and used against you.

Thanks, would I approach the builder and suggest it is not right? What could be done to correct it?

 

[^woody^]

Well it's clearly not right. Were they just lazy and not bothered to dig out and lower the surface? Or just inept? Or both

• Tell them you want it done correctly and lowered to 150mm below the DPC level
• Accept it as it is and negotiate a substantial discount based on your future risk of damp and problems at sale time.

 

[Bunnyface]

Well it's clearly not right. Were they just lazy and not bothered to dig out and lower the surface? Or just inept? Or both

• Tell them you want it done correctly and lowered to 150mm below the DPC level
• Accept it as it is and negotiate a substantial discount based on your future risk of damp and problems at sale time.

Thanks, would it be reasonable to get the builder to replace the block paving layer between the house with gravel? This is what we had before.

 

[^woody^]

The point of having the paving surface 150mm below the DPC is to prevent drips or rain splashing up and over the DPC. Gravel makes no difference to this.

Gravel is [a bodge] that is put in to give some sort of drainage of surface water

 

[Bunnyface]

The point of having the paving surface 150mm below the DPC is to prevent drips or rain splashing up and over the DPC. Gravel makes no difference to this.

Gravel is [a bodge] that is put in to give some sort of drainage of surface water

So I should just ask them to re-do it? They seemed a little annoyed/reluctant when we spoke. Guessing because I’ve flagged it.

 

[^woody^]

LOL. I bet they were annoyed.

Perhaps they would be less annoyed if they had done it right in the first place?