Slate porcelain patio with channel drain, Gloucester
The garden sits slightly above floor level, so falling water away from the house was not an option across the whole area. A channel drain runs along the rear elevation and the porcelain is laid to fall into it, keeping water off the brickwork and away from the door threshold.
Key facts
- Town
- Gloucester
- Year
- 2024
- Surface
- Large-format slate-effect porcelain
- Drainage
- Linear channel drain along the rear elevation
When do you need a channel drain on a patio?
Whenever the paving cannot fall away from the building — a raised garden, a level threshold, or a patio enclosed on all sides. The channel gives the water somewhere to go other than the wall.
How far below the damp course should paving sit?
At least 150mm where possible. Where the levels will not allow it, a channel drain immediately against the wall does the same job by intercepting water before it reaches the brick.
- Channel set tight to the wall and bedded in concrete
- Paving falls to the channel, not to the door
- Outlet connected into existing surface water drainage
Does large-format porcelain need a different base?
It needs a flatter one. Big slabs bridge and rock over any undulation, so the concrete base is screeded true and the slabs go down on a full mortar bed with primer.
Photographs from this job
Other projects
Gloucester · 2023
Resin bound side return
A narrow side return between two houses surfaced in gold resin bound aggregate, taken tight to the brickwork on both sides.
Gloucester · 2023
Recessed manhole cover in resin bound
An inspection chamber dressed with a recessed tray cover and filled with the same gold aggregate, so the surface reads as continuous.
Gloucester · 2024
Porcelain patio in progress
Mid-build: grey porcelain being laid on a full mortar bed with a recessed cover dressed in cut slab so it vanishes into the pattern.
Frequently asked
Do the joints stay dark like that when dry?
The surface lightens as it dries — the photograph was taken while the patio was still wet from washing down.
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