Sloping block

Ceebs · Nov 26, 2009 3:03 pm

Hi everyone

I am new here and I think (??) this is my first post - hope I am putting it in the right place.

We are considering purchasing a house in Mt Eliza (just out of Melbourne) but it is on a very sloping block - my estimate would be about a 45 degree or slightly less angle.

We have one 12 month old baby and looking to have another soon.

I guess I am wondering whether houses on sloping blocks are difficult to sell in general - and if anyone has any experience with having a sloping block and babies/kids.

The back has been leveled out somewhat and has a paved area outside the back doors, then is raised a couple of steps and has a pool and a deck, then there is a high-rised (sloped) garden at the back of the pool. There is a bit of disused lawn area next to the pool that has not been landscaped and is on the full slope of the block - we would like to be able to level it out so that little ones have some place to run around but bob cat is not possible to get around the back. Front of house driveway very steep and can't do much there I don't think.

So two questions - are sloping blocks usually a bad purchase/hard to sell? And is landscaping a sloping block extremely difficult.

Any advice or input or direction to another thread would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Ceebs

seeking solutions · Nov 26, 2009 3:21 pm

welcome! We are on a sloping block (not as bad as 45 degrees) but I would not buy sloping again. I am where I am more for the location and the convinience of the transport / school/parents etc ... and this was what could afford in my area when i was looking to buy 15 yrs ago.

jbdave · Nov 26, 2009 3:42 pm

I have just sold a house on a sloping block, and providing it's not too unusable, a good house will always sell.

Firstly, I doubt it would be a 45 degree slope. That would mean a 30 metre drop over a 30 metre long block

My house has a slope of about 6 metres front to back, and 3 metres side to side. It's probably about 8 metres from front right corner to back left. It's a pretty steep block.

The one advantage with my house was when I designed it I made sure it had maximum usable space. The family rooms exit out onto a flat backyard, as does the rumpus room downstairs. The kids can run out of the family room and into their sandpit, swings or cubby house. A fence seperates the family level with the rumpus level so they don't fall down the embankment/retaining walls that divide the levels. My kids are 7 and 2 and we've been in the house since the eldest was born.

Many of the homes in my street have the family room leading onto a balcony, meaning you have to walk down stairs to get to the backyard. This set up is no good for young kids.

With regards to the stairs inside, I don't see my house as any different to a double storey home. Kids upstairs, living areas downstairs with a backyard on the same level.

My house was on the market for 10 days before selling above my reserve. The people who bought it have a 2 year old, but were happy with the layout.

As for landscaping, there are many things you can do - depends on your imagination. I have a combination of sleeper walls, rock retaining walls, and sloping pathways.

Ceebs · Nov 26, 2009 4:16 pm

Thanks for the responses.

SS can I ask what you have disliked or what has been the issues for you on your sloping block?

jbdave

Firstly, I doubt it would be a 45 degree slope. That would mean a 30 metre drop over a 30 metre long block

My house has a slope of about 6 metres front to back, and 3 metres side to side. It's probably about 8 metres from front right corner to back left. It's a pretty steep block.

Well, just goes to show how much I know :roll:

. I guess it feels like a 45 degree when you are going up the driveway :lol:

.

Hmmm, seems to be mixed reviews around everywhere I ask.

Apart from hoping to be able to landscape a part of the back that has not been touched so so that it can be flat lawn space - the other concern is the steep front drive - for safety reasons. Not so much for us in the car, but for toddlers on foot.

Any other comments welcomed, and thanks guys again for your input. All food for thought.

Ceebs

seeking solutions · Nov 26, 2009 4:31 pm

I would have prefered to have sight of the backyard from the kitchen to watch the littlies play while I cooked. In our particular layout, due to slope, kitchen is on street level and backyard below - cannot have both on same due to storm/waste water run off. Now with renovations we need extra stairs (two and a hald storeys) and I am afraid what this will do to my joints (arthritis) ...

Restricted with where we can locate BBQ - again due to sewer locations on slope ..

Macy · Nov 26, 2009 5:15 pm

Each of our houses has been on a bigger slope than the previous one. Sorry I don't know what it is, I should find the plans one day and check. Let's just say the driveway is steepish and there are about twenty five steps from the bottom of the front stairs to the highest level area in the backyard. We like views and we like how different levels allow for interesting landscaping.
There are additional costs on a sloping block. The more flat useable area you want to create the more you have to spend on retaining walls. In our previous house we had an expensive brick retaining wall. In this house we used the rocks we found on site to build small dry walls. Over the years we've added more of those and also built some walls using DIY retaining wall blocks and created some swales around plants. This was partly to make it easier to move around the garden for maintenance and partly to enable the plants to get adequate water without it running off. In the previous houses we put gates on the patios but in this house that was no longer necessary. We had to add a drain at the back of this house because the builder didn't think we needed one but once we moved in we found that in heavy rain a pool formed behind the house. One thing I wish we had done which we now have no room for is put steps beside the driveway. Another drawback is when we have landscaping materials delivered the driveway seems even steeper than usual. When we moved in we had flattish access through vacant land at the back but I understand removalists might charge extra for difficult access? Inside the house I sometimes get tired of lugging the vacuum cleaner up and down stairs (it's split level, not two-storey).
But like I said, we like the views and we like what we've been able to do with the landscaping (I'd like it more if we could have spent more at the start, still working on a few bits). For resale value I'm sure there are some people who would be put off by the slope but if the property is well presented there would be other people who wouldn't care either way or who would actually like the slope.

btherl · Nov 27, 2009 6:52 pm

My parents house is on a moderately steep block (maybe 10-20 degrees), and has 4 steps in the middle between the lower section of the house and the upper section. It's a split level house. When I was tiny I would climb up and down those steps one step at a time. I remember them being so huge that when I went down, I would have to climb down backwards, as every time I considered going down forwards I got terrified!

And after going out our back door we would have to walk down several steps to get to a sloping backyard.

I don't think it's a safety issue. When kids are small enough you need to supervise them. And when they're big enough they can understand what a slope is and how they can keep themselves safe.

I also know someone who really does live on a 45 degree slope, or maybe even more.. basically it's the side of a mountain. Their house is 3 storeys built more or less vertically. The open car park has been cut out from the side of the mountain, and there's a very steep staircase up to the top floor where the entrance is. Actually that was supposed to be the back door and the entrance was supposed to be the same level as the car park, but now it's the front door. Yep, it wasn't cheap

A lot of cutting and the house has to be totally custom designed.

_kelly_ · Nov 28, 2009 11:20 am

I;d never go back to living on the flat after living on my 25 degree slope for 10 years now. Somedays it sure does feel like 45 degrees but overall I love the feeling of living in the tree tops.

We were lucky and were able to avoid internal stairs (single storey) and scored internal access from the garage...also only one step up to the porch. The worst aspect IMO is the driveway which is steep and you really have to peer over your bonnet to make sure you don't run over pedestrians. Oh, and access to the clothesline. Kids however do love our backyard because it's huge and the slope hasn't caused too many problems...they enjoy doing the rolling thing even if inadvertently after a fall :lol:

Future plans for our backyard would incorporate some levelling off and retaining walls to create a flat space for an outdoor setting but at this point not too fussed since we do already have a large 55sqm deck already which at it's highest point is about 185cm off the ground.

In terms of re-sale I really think our place would sell in a second. People who have never been or visit infrequently always comment on the outdoor space and the elevated views over parkland. When I visit friends on flat blocks I always feel slightly claustrophobic