Raised Porcelain Patio with Granite Steps

A patio off the back of a house does two jobs at once. It has to look right against the building, and it has to sit level and solid underfoot for years. This project at a brick bungalow shows both, a raised grey porcelain patio finished with a granite step surround, and it is a useful one to walk through because there are photos of it part-built as well as finished.

The brief

The patio runs along the back of the bungalow, off a set of sliding doors. Because the ground fell away from the house, the new patio needed to be built up and held in place rather than simply laid on the existing level. The owners wanted a clean, modern surface that would sit flush with the doors, step down neatly to the garden, and stay looking sharp with very little upkeep. Grey porcelain with a granite surround was chosen to suit the brick of the house.

How it was built

The part-built photo tells the story that the finished surface hides. Before a single porcelain tile went down, the area was formed with a granite step surround and coping, then filled and compacted to a solid, level base. The plate compactor and the bed of hardcore in the photo are the real work of a patio like this. Get that stage right and the surface on top has something to sit on. Get it wrong and no tile, however good, will stay flat for long.

Why porcelain

Porcelain has become the surface of choice for a modern patio for good reasons. It is dense and non-porous, so it does not soak up water, stain or grow moss the way older concrete paving does. It holds its colour rather than fading in the sun, it stands up to Irish frost without flaking, and it cleans with nothing more than a brush and water. The grey tone here reads cleanly against the brick and the granite, and the large-format tile keeps the joints to a minimum.

The granite surround

The standout detail is the granite. A full granite step and coping surround frames the porcelain, drops the level down to the garden in clean steps, and gives the raised patio a solid edge that holds everything in line. Granite is hard-wearing and weathers well, so the frame around the patio will keep its look as long as the porcelain it surrounds.

Why the base matters

A porcelain patio is only as good as what sits under it, and a raised patio asks even more of the groundwork because it has to hold its level where the ground falls away. Each tile is bedded on a solid, well-drained, compacted base, which is what stops tiles rocking, cracking or lifting over time. It is the same principle Paul Delaney applies to every surface the crew lays.

"The base is everything. If the sub-base is wrong, the whole thing fails inside three years."

Paul Delaney, Delaney Tarmac

Skip that groundwork and even the best porcelain will fail early. Do it right, as the part-built photo shows, and it holds for the long run, which is exactly what a patio is meant to do.