Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 May 28, 2009 7:06 pm Hi , Was trying to find out a typical backyard size for a 4br/2ba family home.... mine is roughly 4.5 m x 18 m ... i m wondering if its too small a backyard... i find it hard to imagine the space before the house is built how big is yours? Builder: celebration homes,WA Slab down:12-Aug-09 Plate High:21-Sep-09 roof complete : 22-Oct-09 lockup: 19-Nov-09 PCI : 16-Dec-09 Key handover : 22-Dec-09 Re: How big is your backyard 2May 28, 2009 7:13 pm About 50m by 20m (although could be bigger?) But it is only relevant to what your needs are. We needed to be in closer to the centre of town and were fortunate to buy a property that had been in our family since the 1940's which more then met our every need. DH wanted enough room for play area for kidlets / vegie gardens / pool / undercover area by pool and finally if there is enough room a quarter sized soccer / cricket pitch. My best tip would be to sit down with a site plan and sketch what you need to fit into the land - or alternatively go to the block with pegs and a tape measure - measure out everything and then you can get a better idea of the space. Some things are worth waiting for. Re: How big is your backyard 3May 28, 2009 7:21 pm Ours is not huge but it is going to have to do. Ours is 21.5m x 28m, we also back onto a golf course, so kids can go and play on there...PMSL Building Thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=13002 Site start: 8th July 2009 Handover: 11/12/2009! 5 months total build time. 40 sqs of luxuary...Bliss! Re: How big is your backyard 4May 28, 2009 7:39 pm tinfish, ours is 20m wide by 12m deep. Plenty of space for what we want it for. We also have 7m from the side of the house to the fence where we have just had a large pool installed. This thread might be useful for you viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14466 PFM, your dimensions seem pretty huge to me Happy at Home Re: How big is your backyard 5May 28, 2009 7:52 pm tinfish Hi , Was trying to find out a typical backyard size for a 4br/2ba family home.... mine is roughly 4.5 m x 18 m ... i m wondering if its too small a backyard... I'm not sure you can say there's a typical size. Around here new blocks are getting smaller (some definitely too small for me). But there's still a fair bit of variation. As kyton said, what matters is what you need. You haven't mentioned what you need/hope to allow for, eg rotary clothesline, veggie patch, bbq, pool, sandpit, dog run, a particular variety of tree, etc. Is yours a wide block, so the whole back of the house will be 4.5m from the back fence? (I can't picture it the other way.) That's similar to a living room. If you plant a privacy hedge along the fenceline that might reduce it to about 3.5 or 3, similar to a bedroom. That's the depth, obviously 18m is much wider. Also if you have an easement along the back you can't build structures on top, eg garden shed. I agree doing some sketches would be a good idea. Re: How big is your backyard 6May 28, 2009 8:29 pm Mines an odd shape, my block is 14m wide and at the back I have just over 3m to the rear fence and then at the side it varies from 4-7.5m wide by about 15m long or something, i dunno it's all I need and all I want really It's perfect for me 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: How big is your backyard 7May 28, 2009 8:40 pm our bit at the back is 10m x 15m. When we were first looking at land sizes we went and measured the size of the patch of lawn at my father-in-law's old house, which we thought was a good size for running around for the kids and the minimum we wanted for our back yard. It was 160sqm. So we have a little less than that out the back, plus a 33sqm alfresco/courtyard and a 2.1m x 7m path connecting the two. Do you have a space that your kids (assuming you have them!) run around in regularly at the moment (in the place you're living now, or at grandparents' place) which you can measure as a yardstick? Outdoor space was just as important as indoor space for us when we were buying the land and working out what size house to put on it. We would have loved a bigger house, but we valued the outdoor space our 30sq home provided more. "Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions." — Elizabeth Gilbert Living in our new house. Currently scaping the land. Re: How big is your backyard 8May 28, 2009 10:49 pm tiny we only have a block half of most peoples and I like it Re: How big is your backyard 9May 28, 2009 11:24 pm Yea what is a normal size house? For a house with 4bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, you can roughly have a 20sq home to a 38sq home. Then you gotta think is it double or single because a larger single obviously takes up more room than a double storey home. We are building a 36sq single storey and we will have 18width x 10length Idiots are fun, that's why there is one in every village! - Dr. House - Re: How big is your backyard 11May 29, 2009 1:54 pm Our block is 586sqm, house total is 280 sqm...minus all the set back in front we are left with a 4.5x18 m backyard.....we do get some "side yard" about 4x 16m so.... we wanted to put a small pool..but after being to a few pool shops all are saying its very tight and it will cost us at least 20k for a 2.3 x 4 m pool.... i didn't realize that pools were so expensive...so we are still thinking whether we should spend so much on a pool..... especially because it will dominate the backyard .... Builder: celebration homes,WA Slab down:12-Aug-09 Plate High:21-Sep-09 roof complete : 22-Oct-09 lockup: 19-Nov-09 PCI : 16-Dec-09 Key handover : 22-Dec-09 Re: How big is your backyard 12May 29, 2009 3:19 pm Backyard will be 30m x 25.5m. Dead side will have 5.5m x 20m behind the garage. Other side of house (alfresco side) distance ranges from just under 9m to the fence to 5.6m to the fence and length is approx 26m. We have three distinct areas deliberately. Dead side is utilities, water tanks, clothes line and can be closed off from the dogs. Alfresco side will be lanscaped and paved entertaining area, back yard will be for vegie garden and play, cricket, footy and general frivolity. Suits our needs, but everyone's needs are different. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: How big is your backyard 13May 29, 2009 4:05 pm Yes, in-ground pools are a luxury item, probably even more so now that water itself is somewhat of a luxury. We know people who installed a rainwater tank primarily so that they wouldn't have any problems keeping the pool topped up. So there's a few things to consider, evaporation, how much use would you get from it in your climate and with your proximity to alternatives, would you ever use heating, safety fencing, the noise from the filter, privacy from neighbours . . . Your backyard is quite narrow and you are right to be concerned about a pool dominating it. Maybe you could look at a lap pool or a spa pool? I've seen some pics of beautiful lap pools that look like decorative pools. But if you don't do the surrounds right and you end up putting a cover on the pool when not in use to slow evaporation and maybe keep leaves and twigs from nearby trees from falling in the pool then you won't achieve that effect. You also need to check about safety regulations. I think sometimes if you can lock the doors and windows adequately then you don't need a fence but I do not know whether that is still the case or whether that is the case in your area. I think there are also rules about how close the fence can be to various things. So you need to find about all these things. And the costs. Eg, a nice glass pool fence will cost more (I think a lot more?) than the old-fashioned type, but would you want to be looking at bars right outside your back windows? Jeez, sorry, that turned into a bit of a ramble. Anyway, hope I've helped give you some food for thought in making your decision. And perhaps first of all you should check about easements. Building over easements isn't allowed here and I can't see why it would be any different elsewhere. Re: How big is your backyard 14May 30, 2009 9:14 am tinfish, it all comes down to what you really need and want... Our backyard is smaller than yours (about 2m x 19m), and I don't care. While a little more space would be nice, I'm completely over mowing and weeding and maintenance, so a tidy space where I can grow a few nice things suits me fine. We also have a side yard, and that's actually our main outdoor space, but it's still small. We've thought about a spa or small plunge pool, but I don't think we can justify the expense for the use we'll get out if it in Melbourne. Plus: more maintenance to worry about. Gah! If you desperately want one and you can afford it, then get one designed to fit the space you have. It can be done - if you're going to go close to the house though, you'll need to factor it into your house design before building starts, because you'll most likely need piering under your slab. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: How big is your backyard 15May 30, 2009 11:12 am Yes, kek is right, it all depends what you want, no right or wrong or average answer here. We have a relatively large backyard, 15 m deep from back of house,as well as pergola area at side, shed takes up some of the back but there is still quite a good garden area - I like gardens so that is important to me. Obvioulsy isnt for other people Re: How big is your backyard 16May 31, 2009 12:22 pm Ours will be 12m x 6m (excluding the verandah and the space between the carport and the detached garage) Re: How big is your backyard 17Jun 01, 2009 1:56 pm Ours will be 20m x 10m. We'll be putting a pool in as well, not sure as yet of the measurements of that. We also have a space down one side of the house which is 37m x 5m, I plan to put a veg patch down there. DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair That laser level looks lovely! We bought one for less than a quarter of that price off eBay. It worked really well for us and it's still going now, five years later. After… 1 16717 It's possible but a soak well is usually much larger. Your 'soak well' only holds 424 litres when full. 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