It was thought from the start that paving the whole area would look too plain and boring so we built the small deck and board walk. This did a few things it broke up the area and gave the patio area a sense of its own, it eased the step down out of the conservatory and also gave some height so you didn’t feel boxed in walking down the back of the house.

By adding timber decking over the top of the concrete steps it tied it all together and smoothed out any of the rough edges.

To build the deck so low to the ground I like to use the ‘Tough Block’ system. It allows joists to be laid on top of them without needing to put in posts and bearers (other than boundary posts). It’s a great system that I’ve utilised on a couple of decks now. The steps were very tricky as the levels were all over the show, a lot of custom cut packers and grinding down of high spots took place.

After seasoning the deck was coated in an oil stain to make it look even better!!