Gravel edging above dpc?

[1jim]

Hi
I am having the garden redone at the moment, one of the jobs is to replace the gravel patio and have it replaced with a paved slab patio.
we have had a few quotes for this,
quote one, said that we would need to take the patio down 2bricks below dpc and flatten the garden (this would take our garden well below the level of our neighbours)

quote 2 said that we could have what the guy said above but that there would be a huge step down when we go outside, he suggested that he put a 6inch strip of gravel all the way along the edge of the house (which would be level with the blue brick) and then have the patio which is above the dpc (so 6 inches away from the house) and slopes slightly away from the house and he thinks that any water would soak away below dpc through gravel

should say that there is no sign of damp with current gravel patio that is above dpc

any thoughts, as dont want to pay out a lot of money to have to pay to change it in a few yrs

thanks
Jim

[lutonlagerlout]

all patios should be 2 bricks minimun below your dpc,N.B. this is the minimun,its not open to argument
the gravel round the house routine is called a french drain,absolutely useless
look
here
for more info
regards LLL

[Ted]

As the lager lout from Luton says, two brick courses at a minimum is best practice.

If you don't adhere to this advice, don't come running here complaining if you get problems in the future.

[Ted]

The patio should slope away from your house too.

[andpartington]

trust us it does make aone hell of a difference my garage is now damp on one wall because the soding builders did not put the dpc in the house and the garage at the same height. they are 5 feet apart so couldn’t slope off 2 courses and the height of the patio was decided by the drive which doesn’t really have enough fall on it so I should have pot the patio higher so less dpc a catch 22 I think. so come the warmer sunnier where i will ave to inject one not fun on.

any way the wall has effetely NO dpc if It is bridged
the levels of any job are the most import thing and takes the most time to work out and get write but you only get 1 chance so I would drop the levels or it will cost you later on

andy

[1jim]

Thanks everyone,
will opt for the guy that was going to dig right down....
have just been having a look outside, cant see any obvious damproof course on the conservatory dwarf wall.... I have found the concrete footings, on to which are set 2 layers of black coloured bricks, on top of these bricks are the normal coloured wall bricks, cant see any change in colour etc to these bricks, dont have any obvious damp problems at the moment,
do the black bricks act as some protection?
the guy who was going to dig down said he would go to 2bricks below dpc, will he go to the concrete footings if he cant see any dpc?
thanks
Jim

[andpartington]

if u look at the joint where the 2 types of bricks meet it should be there it will just look like a thin black line
andy