Front door patio building regs

[Gerhardt]

Getting the front door patio done soon, in a perfect wold I have the patio just under the top of the door frame. The entire patio will be under the porch and will have a fall, we can also put in a dpc between patio and house. Had a few guys mention the patio needs to be 150mm below DPC.Anyone foresee any problems with BC if we were to build patio as described above? 

[Conor]

Yes, you need a level threshold and ramp down tho the driveway/path. Its all clearly detailed out in the regs. 

 

We have a similar setup, at the reveals we just lapped a dpc down from the door frame down below the paved approach. You have that setup already so plough on. If you think driving rain is a possibility, you can put a slot drain at the threshold.

[Roundtuit]

You need a level threshold and disabled access at one door, but it doesn't have to be this one.  I can't see BC objecting to your plan; it's effectively a big doorstep, under cover.

[bob the builder 2]

Nice front door ! do you mind sharing where you got it ?

 

bob 

[Adsibob]

Even with a DPC between the patio and the house, splash from the patio (the part of it not under cover) would risk hitting your house walls above the DPC if you don’t have the patio 150mm below the dpc. 150mm is best practice. You could probably get away with less, but I wouldn’t go lower than 80mm.

[Onoff]

Create a feature French drain between patio and house wall?

[Radian]

The reason for 150mm below DPC is to prevent rain splashing up above DPC and soaking masonry. But doors aren't masonry - they're weatherproof so it always gets me how this rule seems to be applied unnecessarily. If BC insist on treating the brick piers either side despite being under cover, perhaps a 150. flashing upstand could be cut in to give them protection?

[ProDave]

This front door ramp and level access thing.  Almost every developer house has one breaching the "must be 150mm below DPC" rule but I have yet to see one with an actual problem as a result.

 

My own, I made the ramp have a 99mm gap between the house and the ramp (except the bit that actually tucked under the door threshold) to try and mitigate the issue.  BC did not have an issue with it.

[ETC]

The rational is quite simple:

All walls need a DPC.

The finished ground level needs to be 150mm below the DPC in the external wall.

If your builder hasn’t stepped up the DPC in the outer leaf at the door so that it is 150mm above FGL put an ACO drain in across the width of the patio.

Edited November 1, 2022 by ETC
Additional text.

[Ferdinand]

I was confused, but then I realised you mean the door frame at the *bottom*. 🙂

 

The path to my front door is done with slabs on ASP (Adjustable Support Pads) from Wallbarn with river pebbles filling the gap to the wall. I think that or similar would meet your needs. I even have a disabled ramp to the front door on the auto angle adjusting ones. Since they are adjustable I have just set them at gradually higher levels, and the adjustable angle heads give me a wheelchair suitable slope, to boot.

 

It's as solid as a rock, as cheap as chips, and completely dismountable so regs should be of less relevance. Since the river pebbles section is mainly air it should be OK.

 

Here's a thread with some piccies and one added below.

 

In your case you would perhaps want cut stone slabs rather than my 2" thick pavers.

 

The one note I will add is that your surface below needs to be firm. You can adjust, and I have a shed on these on a sinking fojundationma nd just wind them up a bit every year or three, but I think your entrance patio needs to be smooth - unless you deliberately make it rough to conceal changes.

 

Ferdinand

 

[Radian]

10 hours ago, ETC said:

The rational is quite simple:

All walls need a DPC.

 

Walls yes, but what about doors? I'm not trying to be deliberately awkward because I've been through this myself with 6m long patio sliding doors. These follow convention and sit on a DPC with blockwork below coming off the foundation. So the blockwork below is in no need of splash protection - it's already effectively saturated. The doorsill, frame and sliding units are all water resistant and drained (onto the face of the blockwork). So what height does the door need to be above a path or patio?

 

If there was a patio with level threshold (like I have elsewhere) then yes, an Aco type linear drain is called for. But if it's raised above FFL what need is there for it to be 150mm above? 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gerhardt]

12 hours ago, bob the builder 2 said:

Nice front door ! do you mind sharing where you got it ?

 

bob 

 

Thanks. We got it made by Urban front.

[ETC]

1 hour ago, Radian said:

 

Walls yes, but what about doors? I'm not trying to be deliberately awkward because I've been through this myself with 6m long patio sliding doors. These follow convention and sit on a DPC with blockwork below coming off the foundation. So the blockwork below is in no need of splash protection - it's already effectively saturated. The doorsill, frame and sliding units are all water resistant and drained (onto the face of the blockwork). So what height does the door need to be above a path or patio?

 

If there was a patio with level threshold (like I have elsewhere) then yes, an Aco type linear drain is called for. But if it's raised above FFL what need is there for it to be 150mm above? 

 

 

 

 

 

The door and the patio can be level. The DPC in the external leaf to each side of the door needs to be 150mm above the FGL. If this cannot be achieved - where the DPC in the external leaf is not 150mm above FGL install an ACO drain.

[Temp]

 

 

In our experience the drain doesn't need to be really big if the whole thing is raised up..

 

 

 

 

[Temp]

16 hours ago, Gerhardt said:

Getting the front door patio done soon, in a perfect wold I have the patio just under the top of the door frame. The entire patio will be under the porch and will have a fall, we can also put in a dpc between patio and house. Had a few guys mention the patio needs to be 150mm below DPC.Anyone foresee any problems with BC if we were to build patio as described above? 

 

You might have to change that door sill to meet Approved Document M. Get that sorted first.

 

There is some risk of rain blowing onto the patio area. No problem with it being level with the door but where it meets the wall of the house you could put a 6" wide channel full of decorative stone to provide drainage and reduce splashing above the DPC. Something like this..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave Jones]

make a cheap wooden ramp.

 

get completion cert.

 

burn ramp and do patio as you like.

[Gerhardt]

Thanks for all the responses, tbh I didn’t even know about the level threshold and ramp situation, like some has suggested on here, it is easy to overcome so will deal with that later, question was more related to where under porch patio meets house, by the sound of it we will build as set out above and if BC gets funny will cut in a channel with a drain where patio meets house under the porch.

[Paene Finitur]

On 02/11/2022 at 12:25, Dave Jones said:

make a cheap wooden ramp.

 

get completion cert.

 

burn ramp and do patio as you like.

I asked this very question yesterday. I was told it has to be permanent. What 'permanent' means, I've yet to research.

[Dave Jones]

The regs dont even force you to have a ramp, you can have a step.

 

Disabled access doesnt have to be front door either, can be anywhere.

 

Ask for the section of building regs they are quoting.

[Russell griffiths]

13 hours ago, Paene Finitur said:

I asked this very question yesterday. I was told it has to be permanent. What 'permanent' means, I've yet to research.

Permanent means you cannot just lift it up, so wooden ramp screwed down is perfectly acceptable, as long as it complies with the rest of the regs. 

Correct size, non slip, blah blah blah.