Patio Layout
40 m²
A patio design with paving, outdoor furniture, planters and a dining zone.
Use TemplateDesign your patio (paving, furniture, planters and dining) to scale before you build.
to scale
A patio that is too small is the most common outdoor mistake, and it happens because people pick a slab size first and then try to fit a table onto it. Work the other way. Take the table you intend to use, add 36 in on every side for chairs to pull back, then add a route past it if people have to walk through. A 48 in round table needs a 10 ft square before it is comfortable. A six-seat rectangular table needs about 12 x 12 ft. Draw the table and chairs at true size on the plan and the slab dimension falls out of it.
Paving is not just the slabs. Under a foot-traffic patio there is normally 4 in of compacted sub-base and about 1 in of bedding, so the excavation sits roughly 6 in plus the slab thickness below the finished level. That finished level matters at the house: paving should sit around 6 in below the door threshold or damp proof course so water and splash stay out of the wall. The whole surface then needs a fall of about 1/4 in per foot running away from the building. Draw the patio outline to scale first and those depths become an easy calculation rather than a guess on site.
The junction with the house decides whether a patio gets used, and the perimeter decides whether it stays flat. A door that opens outward needs its swing arc kept clear of the table. If the paving sits below the threshold, you need a step: outdoor steps are more comfortable at a 6 in riser and a 12 in tread than at indoor proportions. At the other end of the slab, an unsupported edge is what fails first, so paving that is not bounded by a wall gets a concrete edge restraint roughly 4 x 4 in under the outer course. Between the slabs, leave a jointing gap of 3/8 to 1/2 in for mortar or jointing compound rather than butting the units together, because tight-jointed paving has nowhere to put seasonal movement. Draw the door on the house wall so its opening shows on the plan, then set the paving outline against that rather than against a blank rectangle.
A patio is planned from the house outward, so ignore the plot line for now and draw only the wall the paving touches. Put the door on it at its real position and width. SpacePlanner draws the opening to scale, so an outward swing shows on the paving instead of being remembered later, and the threshold gives you the level everything else is set below.
Drop in the actual table and chairs before drawing any paving. Add lounge seating if it is going on the same slab. This is the step that tells you how big the patio has to be rather than how big you hoped it was.
Trace the slab edge 36 in clear of every chair back, wider where a route passes behind. Type the overall dimensions in and the live label confirms the area you will actually be buying paving for.
Confirm the paving sits below the door threshold and set the step where the level changes. Mark which edges run into a wall and which need a restraint. Switch to 3D to see how the patio reads against the house before you order anything.
Patio figures split into two groups. The first group sizes the slab: table footprints and the clear space chairs need behind them, which is what decides whether a patio feels generous or cramped. The second group is construction: sub-base depth, bedding, fall and the height relationship to the door threshold. Both matter, because a beautifully sized patio that ponds water against the wall is still a failed patio.
| Measure | Imperial | Metric | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chair pull-back from the table edge | 36 in | 90 cm | Minimum for a chair to slide back and stand up. |
| Chair pull-back with a route behind | 44 in | 112 cm | Lets someone walk past a seated person. |
| Round table for four to six | 48 in diameter | 122 cm | Needs a 10 ft square of paving around it. |
| Rectangular table for six | 72 x 36 in | 183 x 90 cm | About 12 x 12 ft of slab once chairs are added. |
| Seat front to coffee table | 16 to 18 in | 40 to 45 cm | Close enough to reach, clear enough to step past. |
| Between facing lounge seats | 8 ft maximum | 2.4 m | Beyond this, conversation stops working. |
| Fall across the paving | 1/4 in per ft | 20 mm per m | Built into the sub-base and bedding, not by tilting each slab. |
| Compacted sub-base under foot traffic | 4 in | 100 mm | Deeper again if vehicles will ever cross it. |
| Bedding layer under the slab | 1 in | 25 mm | Sharp sand or mortar, depending on the paving. |
| Paving below the threshold or damp course | 6 in | 150 mm | Keeps splash and standing water off the wall. |
| Exterior step riser and tread | 6 in riser, 12 in tread | 15 cm and 30 cm | Shallower and deeper than an indoor stair. |
| Concrete edge restraint at an unbounded edge | 4 x 4 in | 100 x 100 mm | Stops the outer course creeping and the joints opening up. |
| Jointing gap between slabs | 3/8 to 1/2 in | 10 to 13 mm | Butt-jointed paving has nowhere to put seasonal movement. |
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Take the table footprint and add 36 in on every side for chairs. A 48 in round table therefore needs about 10 x 10 ft, and a six-seat rectangular table about 12 x 12 ft. Add another 24 in on any side where people also have to walk through. Draw the table at true size in the planner and the paving outline sizes itself.
Split-level paving is common where the ground falls away from the house. Put each paved level on its own level in the plan and connect them with steps. Keep the fall away from the building on the upper level, and check the step riser stays consistent across the whole flight.
The plan gives you the accurate paved area with live dimension labels, in feet or metres, which is the figure a supplier needs. Divide that area by the slab size and add the usual allowance for cuts and breakages. SpacePlanner measures the space, it does not price the materials.
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