Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jun 13, 2014 10:43 pm Hi all, In our council, the min. side setback is 1.0 m for downstairs - as measured from house wall to title boundary. In practice, the fence has encroached onto our title for many years and is 2.2m tall with a 0.6 m tall lattice. At the moment, we can follow the guidelines and build our house to within 1 m of the title boundary, but this means that at the narrowest point, there is only 0.8 m from fence to house (no windows for this room at the back); but 1.2 m fence to house at the front. The block is oriented with a west facing backyard, and the side setback in question is on the south side. There is a 1 room with a south facing window about 1.0 m from the fence. Is this setback: 1. adequate for walking? 2. adequate for (some) light into the south facing window? 3. adequate for placing utilities (e.g. hot water, heater) there. Would appreciate your opinions.... Re: Minimum side setback - in practice is 1.0 m enough? 2Jun 14, 2014 7:52 am IMO one metre is hardly enough for a walk way - if this is what you want. Losing some of the space is worse. With a high fence it would/might seem claustrophobic ... But - if its just a check zone - eg for termite barrier etc - then maybe its ok. Re: Minimum side setback - in practice is 1.0 m enough? 3Jun 14, 2014 9:02 am Quote: 1. adequate for walking? Yes, see comment from St Mike. This would be tight for moving landscaping material and a wheel Barrow Quote: 2. adequate for (some) light into the south facing window? Depends on size of window Quote: 3. adequate for placing utilities (e.g. hot water, heater) there No. Not enough room for a HWS as a clear space of at least 600mm is required in front fro servicing & you could not get past into your back yard with say a wheel barrow. In S.A. Utility meter boxes must be located on the principle frontage (or within 1500mm of it). Electrical standards require 600mm clear in front of switchboards with the door open in any position Re: Minimum side setback - in practice is 1.0 m enough? 4Jun 14, 2014 10:15 am Ours is 1.2m and I don't think I would like to go any narrower than that. Re: Minimum side setback - in practice is 1.0 m enough? 5Jun 14, 2014 11:58 am Thanks everyone... Window is 1.8 m wide, 2.0 m tall sitting at floor level. Would 1.2 m? be the minimum for say wheelbarrow, utilities? Overall, im trying to maximise width of house... And have the south side of the house for basic access only. Re: Minimum side setback - in practice is 1.0 m enough? 6Jun 14, 2014 10:07 pm Beetaloo No. Not enough room for a HWS as a clear space of at least 600mm is required in front fro servicing & you could not get past into your back yard with say a wheel barrow. In S.A. Utility meter boxes must be located on the principle frontage (or within 1500mm of it). Disagree. Our "dead side" of the house is on the south side and it's only 1m to our retaining wall. We have our solar hot water, electrical boosted system there and also our main ducted air conditioning unit and there is enough room to walk around them. I'll see if I can find a pic. Not wide enough for a wheelbarrow etc. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Minimum side setback - in practice is 1.0 m enough? 7Jun 14, 2014 10:08 pm Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Minimum side setback - in practice is 1.0 m enough? 8Jun 14, 2014 10:10 pm You can see the HWS down further. We will have a house built next to us but so far I've been pleasantly surprised by the amount of light into those southern rooms. (The retaining wall is not on the boundary, the boundary is a metre or so further again). We mostly kept those rooms as bathrooms and lesser used rooms etc anyways. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Minimum side setback - in practice is 1.0 m enough? 9Jun 15, 2014 1:09 pm With residential blocks diminishing in size these days some councils are letting people have zero clearance for garages etc. The other side of the house should be left clear of some of the utilities like HWC, rain tanks etc just so you have clear access down at least one side. 900mm is the closest you can build to with our local councils and this is just wide enough for half decent access for maintenance, landscaping work etc. As Beetalaoo says, wheelbarrow access is important. Stewie Re: Minimum side setback - in practice is 1.0 m enough? 10Jun 15, 2014 2:46 pm The picture of the airconditioner is a concern to me. Air-conditioning manufacturer's installation instructions specify a minimum clear area in front of horizontal discharge condensers in order to prevent back pressure on the fan and also to prevent short cycling of air off the condenser. The top fan looks ok but I have doubts about the bottom fan. It would be interesting to known what distance is specified in the O&M manual Re: Minimum side setback - in practice is 1.0 m enough? 11Jun 16, 2014 6:42 pm Good thought Beetaloo! Bit late though.... Hmmm hahaha. The builder apparently looked into it at tender and said it'd be alright but who knows what that means.... I'll have a look at the manual! Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Minimum side setback - in practice is 1.0 m enough? 13Jun 21, 2014 8:32 pm If you worry so much about access to the back, I suggest having a rear garage door as well. Makes it that much easier. Thanks Draftroom that definitely helps a heap. We are still at the very early stage of planning to see what kind of house would fit on our plot. While we are on a… 3 15706 My land is 260m2 (10m x 26m) located in claymore NSW. Under campbelltown council. I know in general the following setbacks would apply ground floor side setback =… 0 6868 you need a fridgie to answer but I would think you vac the whole system then add gas if you have a leak, unless it is new install with the gas already loaded, in that case… 1 3650 |