The Brew Cabin

I have just ripped up the old concrete patio outside our back sliding door (which was laid well above the level of the dpc). We wish to lay a new patio using clay pavers. We would like to lay this at the same level as the floor on the inside to give the outdoors-part-of-indoors effect - which would also be above the dpc! I figured I could seperate the patio from the house by a 40cm drain as shown elsewhere on your site, so as not to compromise the dpc and then cover the drain with wooden slats to bring to floor/patio level and allow ventilation to the airbricks. Does this sound bad? Do you have any better solutions?
The patio ideally would run along the wall underneath the sliding door for 4m. Where the patio meets the house would be in a bit of a rain shadow because of the eave on the house.

There are a few methjds of doing this. Because of the disabled access requirements of Document M of the Building Regs (I know these aren't directly applicable to you in Oz), there's a few published strategies that can be adopted, but, I should stress that they are intended to be used soleley at the entranceway, not the full length of the building.

I think the most suitable and easiest solution for you would be to use a linear drain. However, you should NOT cover the airbricks - if you have to make cut-outs in the linear drain, then that is better than blocking the essential ventilation provided by the airbricks.

You should also try to ensure that the paving falls away from the bui'ding, even though you have the linear drain.

Personally, an outdoor pavement level with an internal floor is not a construction I would consider for my own property. I can't see a problem with relying on a step or even a ramp, if level access is essential/desirable for whatever reason, and at least a step offers some check to litter being blown into the house!

Thanks for your reply Tony.
I have checked out the linear drains available at a few local hardware stores and am not very impressed with them. They are not much to look at!
Because of this I am still going with the Dry area arrangement (noted as alternative dry area arrangement, left hand side of diagram in this site), and then cover with slats still allowing ventillation to the airbricks. The drain was going to lead to a gully trap with I was going to have connected to the storm water drain. I know it is more work but I think I will be happier with the result.
I am definately going to slope the paving away from the house. At the moment I am going to use a 1:50 gradient as recommended by the paver manufacturer(unless you think that 1:80 would be better for my application)
The full length of the building is about 15 metres, so the patio was going to run the 3m under the doorway and a further 1m along the wall.
Outdoor patios at a level close or equal to floor level are very popular here in Australia. Not sure whether all the ones I have seen are professional jobs or DIY bodges though. I will take a closer look from now on. Regardless of the methods employed by others, it is a look that we like, but do not want it to cause structural problems with the house. The litter we can live with...but I do plan to have a small step now.
This site has been a great help. Please keep up the good work!
Cheers

1:50 is plenty - in fact, you might feel that it is a little excessive for a patio area, as all the patio furniture will have the same slope and you'll find the corks from the wine bottles rolling away, and, more importantly, you'll not be able to get a properly full glass!

I know from other Ausssies that 'flush patios' are popular, and I wondered whether it was because of the climate difference, but, from what feedback I've had, it seems it is a purely cultural thing. However, the best reason I heard was that the absence of a step between patio and house means there's one less thing to trip over when you've had a few. ;)

Let us know how you get on.