Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 30, 2011 11:52 am Hi everyone, We have just purchased a block of land at Oran Park in the area of Camden Council. We have just discovered that there is a large storm water drain right where we want to have our driveway laid. Wondering if anyone has the same issue or has had the same issue and has resolved it. We can have our driveway laid on the opposite side by flipping the house. But this would mean our alfresco would then be north east facing, which comes to our second question; which way is best to have our alfresco? Our original plan was to have it facing south west, to make the most of the sunlight. If we flip the house it will be north east and we don't know if this is ideal to make most of the sunlight? The north east side of our house will contain the bedroom and the west side contains our living areas/kitchen. If anyone had any advice it would be much appreciated! Thanks. Re: Building a driveway and home orientation 2Nov 01, 2011 7:11 am Good on you for thinking so much about house orientation - it makes a huge difference - not only about how a house feels but in energy costs and future value of the house as well. In Australia and NZ the best orientation is north. That's why if a home is for sale where the living areas face north - it will always be stated in the sale listing because there are some people (like me) who only buy properties where the living areas face north (and bedrooms and kitchen preferably east)...and... we pay more for them. The worst orientation for light is south - and if you live in a very hot area some people regard facing west as pretty awful. North east is good for an alfresco area if you like being there in the morning. North west is good if you like more light to be there in the evenings. Hope that helps. Re: Building a driveway and home orientation 3Nov 11, 2011 11:19 am Dear Amadio, Thank you for your response. We have put so much thought into it as we also think home orientation is very important and makes a big difference to the house. We will have to put a DA into council in regards to the storm water drain and unfortunatley the outcome of the DA will determine our home orientation. Fingers crossed! Re: Building a driveway and home orientation 4Nov 11, 2011 8:52 pm I just exchanged on my block out at Oran Park, was happy when I decided to ignore the "No Entry" signs and have no drain out the front of my place. Good luck with the DA, which Stage are you in? To my understanding early saw cuts are to control shrinkage cracks, so doing them now would be pointless. Control joints may reduce ugly cracking during periods of soil… 3 9826 Hi all I need a guidance on how far I need to space expansion joints in the concrete driveway and its type (keyway/foam.) Contraction joints are at 3m max for a 125 slab. Thanks 0 10921 |