Browse Forums Building A New House Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 21Feb 27, 2009 9:06 pm We will only have 7m from the back of our house to the back fence, it will be 19m wide. The whole area will be lawn for the kids to play on. If we had gone for the 36 sq house we would have had only 3m left at the back! so we downsized the house for this reason. Our alfresco and landscaping will all be up the side.
I'm very envious of those who have a much bigger block, but we bought the biggest one we could find in our estate. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 22Feb 27, 2009 10:52 pm Our backyard will only be 5m deep and the front will be setback only 4.5m!
Our north facing side yard is ~4m deep with an extra 3m space "eating" into the house for the alfresco (Also extending the alfresco out by 2m giving us 5 x 4m of covered outdoor space, we may extend by 3m depending on the cost). Maximising the "alfresco" room will make the yard feel bigger and it suits our lifestyle perfectly though, both full time working professionals whom probably put in more hours at work than we should, plus with my study commitments (doing my CA) we will be very time poor to maintain a yard. Ultimate plan is to have an attactive low maintance front year with lots of natives and the north facing side yard will have an emphasis on paved or a decked area for entertainment and eating. Was pretty much the biggest block still avaliable in our estate at the time of purchase, would have rathered 17 or 18 wide vs the 16 wide we have but ultimately it will suit us fine. Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 23Feb 28, 2009 12:03 am I agree with the others here, that is really determined by you if the space is enough... depends how you use it etc.
I was chatting to a real estate agent in our area the other day (to get price comparisons for my "future" home) and he was saying that a similar home to ours which he had on his books at the moment (with very little backyard) was having trouble selling. So I think it will be less desirable in a new home buyers market because they have kids, and kids like to play outside - having said that, I've noticed that 75% of the homes in western suburb estates have virtually zilch backyard - so obviously people adapt (I would imagine it's price relative)... Annie A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 24Feb 28, 2009 5:51 am Annietom I was chatting to a real estate agent in our area the other day (to get price comparisons for my "future" home) and he was saying that a similar home to ours which he had on his books at the moment (with very little backyard) was having trouble selling. So I think it will be less desirable in a new home buyers market because they have kids, and kids like to play outside - having said that, I've noticed that 75% of the homes in western suburb estates have virtually zilch backyard - so obviously people adapt (I would imagine it's price relative)... That's a really good point about the sale market, Annie. Ours is one of the smallest yards I've seen, but I doubt that if/when we eventually sell it will be much of a a drawback, because our home is unlikely to appeal to first homebuyers. Buyers who want low-maintenance will love it. Funny though, what you say about price is relevant too. The house next door to us, and the one next to that, are on quite small blocks. The houses are both basic 4-bedroom/2 living room jobs (no home theatre or rumpus or anything fancy) and have maybe 4m at the back on a block about 14m wide, with nothing to speak of either side. They were spec homes and priced at the bottom end of the market for this estate. Both were bought by first home buyers with young families - so the small yard obviously was a lesser issue than the price. 11m backyard 25Feb 28, 2009 3:05 pm Hi guys, thanks for your encouragement. Went to have another look today-hoping you're right and when the house is up and the fences are fixed it looks bigger. It's took late to try and move the house forward now-we would be paying too many penalties and i'm not sure it would be worth it for an extra metre of backyard. We also thought a 2 storey house brought anymore forward than 7.6m may look a bit imposing and when you are sitting on the balcony it may feel like you are too close to the road. What do you think? Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 26Feb 28, 2009 3:24 pm We have a two storey and our setback is 6.5m, our whole street is the same - all two storeys and all with the same setback. Looks fine to me Happy at Home Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 27Feb 28, 2009 4:11 pm Governments and developers have been doing their best to convince people for years that small blocks are wonderful. They are "lifestyle" blocks for busy people.
Truth is they are merely convenient for government because they reduce infrastructure costs and pack in more people per land release; and good for developers because they get more money per land release. The idea that gardening is somehow a terrible chore (rather than a healthy and satisfying hobby) is part of this propaganda in support of tiny blocks. If big blocks were as convenient and profitable to government & developers then we would be getting the "green" propaganda about growing your own food, health benefits and the "active lifestyle" block. I'm not saying small blocks are bad. I'm merely pointing out why there is such heavy public and private sector "marketing" of small blocks. But it's also useful to keep in mind that unless you're building a truly remarkable house designed to last 100+ years, then the long-term value is NOT the house, it's the land & the location. This is unlikely to effect anyone here since most people move within 10 years anyway when the new house will still retain its value. Of course this long term / short term equation is also much diluted if property continues its stupid-crazy price cycles up and up into the stratosphere. But still worth keeping in mind imo. Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves. - Dale Carnegie Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 28Feb 28, 2009 4:49 pm easy, the minimum calculation can be expressed thus:
20m for the pitch, 5m between stumps and keeper and a 10m runup for the bowler ’’Quondo Omni Flunkus Mortati ’’ If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy. Stila BK1 Build Thread The best place to talk about sport Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 29Feb 28, 2009 4:52 pm Cabinfever Governments and developers have been doing their best to convince people for years that small blocks are wonderful. They are "lifestyle" blocks for busy people. Truth is they are merely convenient for government because they reduce infrastructure costs and pack in more people per land release; and good for developers because they get more money per land release. The idea that gardening is somehow a terrible chore (rather than a healthy and satisfying hobby) is part of this propaganda in support of tiny blocks. There's definitely truth in that. Developers want to maximise their profit, after all, you'd be an idiot to think otherwise. Perhaps things are different in Tassie, but when you live in Melbourne, where we've had umpteen years of drought, gardening is NOT healthy and satisfying. It's actually stressful and soul-destroying, watching your 20 year labour of love die before your eyes. And there's nothing you can do about it. You can only generate so much grey water, tanks are useless without rain, and the times that you are allowed to water with a hand-held hose are purposely set to make it next to impossible for working people to take advantage of (I can manage 30 minutes on a Saturday if I sacrifice some sleep ). Mulching and all the other tricks only go so far.... Drought tolerant plants are all very well, but even those are dying around my neighbourhood unless the homeowners are really committed. Or water cheaters... Plus people's needs change. Our kids grew up, our dog died and the cockies ate all my almonds (and no, I wouldn't net the tree - that would look completely naff right outside our family room window). The fruit trees struggled, the bulbs became dessicated, the neighbours cut down a shady tree and killed all my ferns and the last thing we wanted to do in our limited spare time was mow lawns. The roses at least survived in spite of the harsh conditions. You can't kill those things with a stick. So...what we want to do these days in our spare time is sit in our al fresco room and look at a few bits of greenery and maybe a water feature, sip a little wine and relax. No mowing, sod-all watering or weeding and when I want space, I go to the park 150m away and run myself stupid. Those who want something else entirely will find it just across the river in the suburbs with a minimum 1 acre block size. If they have the cash. Gee, and I thought I was over my garden grief by now.... clearly, I'm not. Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 30Feb 28, 2009 5:04 pm Kek - exactly!! I wont have a massive back yard, but I'm already saying that I don't really want any grass (which really suprised a friend today!) Yes, I want a nice garden/backyard, but I don't want to watch it die Plus, most the water from my water tank will go towards keeping all the vegies alive that I want to plant and grow '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: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 31Feb 28, 2009 5:06 pm My husband wants to deck the lot of it so the smaller the cheaper . I do want a little bit of a garden and tending towards some fake lawn for the kids to play on. Our rental has it at the moment and after my inital dislike I've grown to quite like it. The only problem is there is no-where to put the totem tennis! Fi has moved in!! Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 32Feb 28, 2009 6:55 pm sha Our backyard will be 127m Our front yard will be 85m I don't know how anyone can live on small blocks.. but I appreciate that we are all different. Our first house had a block 800sqm and I hated it!! -Sha i noticed im the sort who parked my car at the driveway..and go in straight into the house. and remains there until i need to drive out again. i dont like to hang out at the backyard, do gardening. i tried to pluck out the weeds one day..and i saw millipede...i had to stop plucking and run inside...garden spiders creep me out too.. Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 33Feb 28, 2009 7:04 pm this is my area. its small and cute yeah?
Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 34Feb 28, 2009 7:09 pm Cabinfever Governments and developers have been doing their best to convince people for years that small blocks are wonderful. They are "lifestyle" blocks for busy people. Truth is they are merely convenient for government because they reduce infrastructure costs and pack in more people per land release; and good for developers because they get more money per land release. The idea that gardening is somehow a terrible chore (rather than a healthy and satisfying hobby) is part of this propaganda in support of tiny blocks. If big blocks were as convenient and profitable to government & developers then we would be getting the "green" propaganda about growing your own food, health benefits and the "active lifestyle" block. I'm not saying small blocks are bad. I'm merely pointing out why there is such heavy public and private sector "marketing" of small blocks. But it's also useful to keep in mind that unless you're building a truly remarkable house designed to last 100+ years, then the long-term value is NOT the house, it's the land & the location. This is unlikely to effect anyone here since most people move within 10 years anyway when the new house will still retain its value. Of course this long term / short term equation is also much diluted if property continues its stupid-crazy price cycles up and up into the stratosphere. But still worth keeping in mind imo. Couldn't agree more. Well said. IMO, the move to the depressingly small blocks is not largely driven by consumer demand, but by developer greed. Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 35Feb 28, 2009 7:25 pm Part of our backyard is 8 metres deep, but the majority of it from the back of the alfresco to the fence is 4m. I had no qualms about this as the alfresco will be open on 3 sides, and form part of the overall design of the back yard. We have a 7.6m setback which is from the porch, not the actual house (double storey porch), so we immediately 'lost' over a metre in back garden. I could have applied for dispensation with the Council, but couldn't be bothered.
I do have 2 young kids, but they have access to a large beach house and garden where they do alot of their running around and exploring. The rest of the time they are at school! We are also very close to bike paths and parks, and the need for a large back yard was surpassed by the need for more living areas and storage space. Each to their own!! Actually, in this day and age with water restrictions etc, I'd much rather have a smaller backyard and less grass, as it's only going to look dry and dead for a lot of the time anyway!! Rain tanks are not going to work when you actually have to have some sort of 'rain' to fill em up... Henley - Wilshire Mk 3 ... I love my house!! Site start: 4th Feb 09 Handover: 10th Sep 09 Blog: http://stormygirlscastle.blogspot.com/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?t=7166 Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 36Feb 28, 2009 8:50 pm cococrunch sha Our backyard will be 127m Our front yard will be 85m I don't know how anyone can live on small blocks.. but I appreciate that we are all different. Our first house had a block 800sqm and I hated it!! -Sha i noticed im the sort who parked my car at the driveway..and go in straight into the house. and remains there until i need to drive out again. i dont like to hang out at the backyard, do gardening. i tried to pluck out the weeds one day..and i saw millipede...i had to stop plucking and run inside...garden spiders creep me out too.. ...ours will be about the same as sha's...but my problem is I don't like being too close to neighbours...don't get me wrong, we love people but we also like our privacy when we want it. We'll be about 30-40 mts from our garage to the neighbours back door and even that's too close for my liking.! (it makes it too hard to shoot foxes from the back door.!) BOOM SHANKER..!! - Neil (The Young Ones) Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 37Feb 28, 2009 9:13 pm I'm similar to Stormy, our backyard will be 8m from back of house to back fence and about 16m wide. Plenty enough space for us and the kids.
We will also have an alfresco area that won't be included in this area, so that area is basically all grass. We have about 2m of width down one side of the house and about 3m in width down the other which we will eventually pave and will be used as the ball/bike area. In the grass area we will have a tramp and also a cubby/swingset. We are not keen gardeners at all, my kids and I walk to the park everyday with our dog anyway so plenty of outdoor time. I was thinking about a pool, but in all honesty can't be bothered dealing with the safety issue with young children and also the cleaning issue. We do swimming lessons once a week and DH takes the kids to the pool atleast once again during the week where we get in for free anyway due to the swimming lessons. We might install a spa in one of the corners later on, but other than that I'm happy with what we have - compared to where we are living now it is a jungle!! Like Stormy I could have applied for council to reduce our front setback from 7.5m, but couldn't be bothered with the hassles/delays...If I knew it was a quick and easy process I probably might have done it, but for the sake of 1m or so it probably wouldn't have been worth it.. My karma ran over your dogma Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 38Feb 28, 2009 10:13 pm Hoffies Cabinfever Governments and developers have been doing their best to convince people for years that small blocks are wonderful. They are "lifestyle" blocks for busy people. Truth is they are merely convenient for government because they reduce infrastructure costs and pack in more people per land release; and good for developers because they get more money per land release. The idea that gardening is somehow a terrible chore (rather than a healthy and satisfying hobby) is part of this propaganda in support of tiny blocks. If big blocks were as convenient and profitable to government & developers then we would be getting the "green" propaganda about growing your own food, health benefits and the "active lifestyle" block. I'm not saying small blocks are bad. I'm merely pointing out why there is such heavy public and private sector "marketing" of small blocks. But it's also useful to keep in mind that unless you're building a truly remarkable house designed to last 100+ years, then the long-term value is NOT the house, it's the land & the location. This is unlikely to effect anyone here since most people move within 10 years anyway when the new house will still retain its value. Of course this long term / short term equation is also much diluted if property continues its stupid-crazy price cycles up and up into the stratosphere. But still worth keeping in mind imo. Couldn't agree more. Well said. IMO, the move to the depressingly small blocks is not largely driven by consumer demand, but by developer greed. So true hoffies... in Wodonga the first couple of stages in the largest new estate ever seen here (1123 homes) called White Box Rise has had much hype and advertising as THE place to build for over a year now. Yes, it will be the home of my sons new Primary school, the new local swimming pool, community centre, shops, etc etc so it does warrant the hype to a degree. When we were looking for land over a year ago, we were pretty confident that is where we wanted to build, until we saw the size of the lots. Some at 295sq2 from $84k (for terrace housing we found out), but most were at the 500-600sqm asking 130-140k and more ...not only that but the amount of convenants and restictions in place mean't that there was no way we would consider building our house in there. Apart from the long string of display homes on the main road of the estate, there are only 2 houses currently under construction.....after a year of being able to register/hold lots (it has been 6 months since the land actaully becoming available for sale). Though with the recent extra FHOG, the paper reported recently that developers said 50 homes would start construction "soon". In my view the developers of White Box got too greedy in making the lots insanely small and at ridiculous prices to boot, had the increased FHOG not come in, l'd call this estate, well these initial stages anyway a total flop. Considering that land in other newer estates/stage releases has been snapped fairly quickly and houses under construction already. Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 39Feb 28, 2009 10:16 pm We have a half a dozen or so close neighbours. I just checked on google earth and they are all 250metres+ away But we are on 22 acres
Suits me fine.....but on a quiet night you can still hear conversations etc. Although I don't want to think about living in typical suburbia, I'm sufficiently lazy that Kek's post struck a chord. Cheers zeke Re: what is an adequate length of backyard??? 40Feb 28, 2009 11:43 pm charlie0000 cococrunch sha Our backyard will be 127m Our front yard will be 85m I don't know how anyone can live on small blocks.. but I appreciate that we are all different. Our first house had a block 800sqm and I hated it!! -Sha i noticed im the sort who parked my car at the driveway..and go in straight into the house. and remains there until i need to drive out again. i dont like to hang out at the backyard, do gardening. i tried to pluck out the weeds one day..and i saw millipede...i had to stop plucking and run inside...garden spiders creep me out too.. ...ours will be about the same as sha's...but my problem is I don't like being too close to neighbours...don't get me wrong, we love people but we also like our privacy when we want it. We'll be about 30-40 mts from our garage to the neighbours back door and even that's too close for my liking.! (it makes it too hard to shoot foxes from the back door.!) This is my problem also.. I have lived in suburbs with houses so close together (and still do at the moment).. and I can hear the neighbours cough, talk, laugh, even fight etc.. and they are in their house and I am in mine!.. I wonder if these estates will cause people to become irritable and frustrated by neighbours that have no consideration for other people - and lets face it, a lot of people seem to be less sensitive to others needs these days. -sha 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 16716 It's possible but a soak well is usually much larger. Your 'soak well' only holds 424 litres when full. What is your soil type? Soak wells need sandy soils. 10 9013 Need advice on the backyard plan above. Should I excavate and cut all of the dirt to level with the house slab or semi-excavate as per photo above? Both left and right… 0 24872 |