Patios Exeter

Patios have become an essential element of any garden, providing a place to entertain guests, dine and relax. They often form the transitional area between the house and garden and, therfore, should be hardwearing, visually appealing and use materials that will blend with their surroundings to keep the flow of consistency from the house into the garden.

Three things that you should consider when choosing which material to use are - its appearance, whether it will be a practical choice of surface, and cost.

The appearance of the finished patio is usually the top priority for many people. There are many choices of material available for the construction of patios now, including natural stone flags, man-made slabs, slate pavers, bricks and crazy paving to name but a few.

Each of these are also available in a wide variety of different colours and surface finishes too, making the choice even more difficult.

Try to choose materials that will complement the style and age of your house. A combination of two materials can look great.

The surface must be a practical choice - for example, a textured finish would be most sensible if children or the elderly often used the garden, or if the patio is in a particularly shady spot, especially under trees.

Uneven edges may be considered hazardous and crazy paving or natural stone is often un-predictable, with an uneven surface.

How much your patio will cost to install all depends on many different factors. You will always have to prepare a base for any product, and this cost will remain constant. The price of each unit of paving will vary according to the quality of whichever product you may want to use to construct your patio.

Natural stone is the most hardwearing of all, meaning that it stays looking good for longer. Whereas your local DIY supplier may have cheap pre-cast concrete slabs, but they may break easily when laying and colours will fade with time.