Site Size Questions

Cmar-Ireland

Hi all,

We are currently looking for a site to build our first home. The house design we have in mind is a two storey 2600sqft with a 700sqft attached garage/workshop.
The length and depth of the house/garage is approx 70 x 40 ft.

What would be the best size plot to build this on (within reason)
I am thinking somewhere between 1/2 to 3/4 acre. Would 1/2 be a bit small?

Opinions please!

Cheers
Ciaran

Do-more

IMO half an acre would be fine. Maybe an idea to get some graph paper and plot out the footprint of the buildings to give yourself an idea of what it will look like.

De_man

i agree with do-more

1/2 acre would be fine but it depends on the dimensions of the site, you're stating the house will be 70feet x 40ft say 21.5 x12m
well you need a minimum of 6M clearance from each boundary

so that would mean you need a minimum site with width of 33.5 mtrs (110ft)
and using a rough guide of 200ft (60m) back that'll give you yr 1/2 acre
which you'll need for planning, septic tank distances, percolation etc etc.

are you designing a two storey house or is it a storey and a half?

if it's a 1.5 storey to save you a lot of time and hastle, planners appear to be using the 2:1 ratio i.e. say your house is 60ft long then your max allowable width is 30ft, you'll need this max width for the required headroom upstairs (roof will be approx 35degrees ish)

you can always extend this by using an "L" at the back or front.

one word of caution, i'd find the site first before i'd begin designing the house as each site is different and your house design may or maynot suit the site due to various reasons, out of character with the area, neighbouring houses etc.


best of luck

a pint of plain is yer only man

Naux

Cmar-Ireland wrote:

Hi all,

We are currently looking for a site to build our first home. The house design we have in mind is a two storey 2600sqft with a 700sqft attached garage/workshop.
The length and depth of the house/garage is approx 70 x 40 ft.

What would be the best size plot to build this on (within reason)
I am thinking somewhere between 1/2 to 3/4 acre. Would 1/2 be a bit small?

Opinions please!

Cheers
Ciaran

Definitely check with an engineer if there are any restrictions in site size versus sqft of build. In the west there is now a limit on the size of a house that you can build on a 1/2 acre site for rural single build housing and yours sounds like it is too big for a 1/2 acre. I'm open to correction on this but I think I'm right!

This may be different in Kildare but find out before you go looking at sites!!

Avns1s

Ciaran,

I would agree with the posts already made. The site size will be determined by what is in the development plan adopted by Kildare Co. Co. It might be well worth getting hands on a copy of this asap. It might even be downloadable from the Kildare Co Co. website.

I do agree though, the first step is to find a site that you like before finally designing the house.