Patio above DPC?

[benunited]

Hi folks

I have installed patio doors and am about to put in a patio. Normally I'd put in a step and then have the pation 150mm below the DPC as recommended.

Trouble is my garden slopes down towards the house and I want to level the grass off. To do so, what I'd like to do is raise the patio a lot higher than I'd do in normal circusmtances.

The ideal height of the patio would actually be 100mm ABOVE the DPC. I'm sure I technically shouldn't raise it to this height - but wonder what people think if I also did the following:

- Had a 200mm wide gravel 'trench' between the house and the patio, which would also extend below the DPC.
- Obviously slope the patio away from the house
- Added a plastic damp proof membrane between the house and the gravel, above and below the DPC in the house brickwork
- Also used a weather seal product the the brickwork as well

One benefit is the house is a bungalow with a one foot overhang all the way around, meaning the area immediately outside the patio doors doesn't tend to get very wet.

The alternative to level the garden would have been to dig out the highest area rather than raise the lower area - but this really isn't much of an alternative due to the size of the area.

I guess I could also look at getting one of the DPC injected into the walls on this side of the house, though I'm thinking this would maybe be a step too far for now.

Any advice out there very much appreciated!

Thanks
Ben

 

[ajrobb]

decking

 

[r896neo]

As regards the overhang of the eaves direct rain is not your problem it is simply water soaking through the ground and against the wall. The trench idea is sometimes used as an after thought to try and remedy a bridged dpc without ripping everything up but its not really something you should plan to do from the start.

I think you maybe know the answer to this yourself. You clearly understand the possibly risk of damp problems with doing what you propose and will have to weigh that up against the cost/expense of doing it properly.

(by 'properly' i am not suggesting you are going to do it badly i simply mean to the method of best practise and the regulations.)