ᐅ Extension of the terrace up to the property boundary. What are your thoughts on this idea?
Created on: 5 Feb 2018 10:21
8
86biboHello,
we are currently redesigning our outdoor area. Overall, we have ideas for most issues, and it’s now a matter of deciding which ones to implement. However, I am still unsure about our terrace. We already have a fairly nice terrace that is 1m (3 feet) above ground level. It has a 3m (10 feet) setback from the neighbor’s property. At the terrace, there is a rather steep planting slope, a small natural stone wall at the bottom (about 40cm (16 inches) high), and then a narrow strip of grass just under a meter (about 3 feet) wide to the neighbor’s plot. Since the new neighbor has recently filled their property and it now sits higher than our fence wall and grass level, something different has to be done.
The idea: extend the wall up to the property line and expand the terrace to the boundary. This has already been discussed with the neighbor and the building authority (building permit / planning permission), and the wall is already in place. A planting strip is planned along the first 70–80cm (28–31 inches) as a boundary with the neighbor; the rest will be used for the terrace. Although we would like more space due to a step in the current terrace, I am concerned about creating a “concrete bunker.” The whole terrace would then cover an area of 11 x 6m (36 x 20 feet) (see attachments and new plan).
Therefore, I had the idea to install a sunken seating area (for a cozy/protected gathering spot). I would like to implement this about 70cm (28 inches) lower in the upper right corner with an area of approximately 3.4 x 3m (11 x 10 feet). For the construction, I imagined excavating foundations on the natural soil (about 30cm (12 inches)) and forming them down to the floor level of the lower seating area. On top, there would be a concrete wall with a sandstone finish. Three sides are quite straightforward, but supporting it against the existing slope of the current terrace is more challenging since the existing edge slabs rest only on 40 x 50cm (16 x 20 inches) angled stones (concreted in place).
For cost estimation, I roughly calculated approximately 4m³ (141 cubic feet) of concrete for the foundations plus a 12 m² (130 square feet) concrete wall. Adding stairs, paving, drainage (fortunately, the conduit is already in place), finishing stones, etc., I come to around 3000€ material cost. Of course, the effort would be significantly higher than simply filling the area to a uniform height.
So, after all this text, here is my actual question:
- Does it make sense from your (subjective) point of view to implement this, or would such a seating area rarely be used, making the effort-to-benefit ratio unfavorable?
- Do you have any other ideas on how to design such a large space more “open” and still functional?
PS: Dark red indicates the house, gray the current terrace, brown the slope, and green the grass.
In the other pictures, green shows the planting strip, yellow the new terrace extension, and blue the sunken seating area.
we are currently redesigning our outdoor area. Overall, we have ideas for most issues, and it’s now a matter of deciding which ones to implement. However, I am still unsure about our terrace. We already have a fairly nice terrace that is 1m (3 feet) above ground level. It has a 3m (10 feet) setback from the neighbor’s property. At the terrace, there is a rather steep planting slope, a small natural stone wall at the bottom (about 40cm (16 inches) high), and then a narrow strip of grass just under a meter (about 3 feet) wide to the neighbor’s plot. Since the new neighbor has recently filled their property and it now sits higher than our fence wall and grass level, something different has to be done.
The idea: extend the wall up to the property line and expand the terrace to the boundary. This has already been discussed with the neighbor and the building authority (building permit / planning permission), and the wall is already in place. A planting strip is planned along the first 70–80cm (28–31 inches) as a boundary with the neighbor; the rest will be used for the terrace. Although we would like more space due to a step in the current terrace, I am concerned about creating a “concrete bunker.” The whole terrace would then cover an area of 11 x 6m (36 x 20 feet) (see attachments and new plan).
Therefore, I had the idea to install a sunken seating area (for a cozy/protected gathering spot). I would like to implement this about 70cm (28 inches) lower in the upper right corner with an area of approximately 3.4 x 3m (11 x 10 feet). For the construction, I imagined excavating foundations on the natural soil (about 30cm (12 inches)) and forming them down to the floor level of the lower seating area. On top, there would be a concrete wall with a sandstone finish. Three sides are quite straightforward, but supporting it against the existing slope of the current terrace is more challenging since the existing edge slabs rest only on 40 x 50cm (16 x 20 inches) angled stones (concreted in place).
For cost estimation, I roughly calculated approximately 4m³ (141 cubic feet) of concrete for the foundations plus a 12 m² (130 square feet) concrete wall. Adding stairs, paving, drainage (fortunately, the conduit is already in place), finishing stones, etc., I come to around 3000€ material cost. Of course, the effort would be significantly higher than simply filling the area to a uniform height.
So, after all this text, here is my actual question:
- Does it make sense from your (subjective) point of view to implement this, or would such a seating area rarely be used, making the effort-to-benefit ratio unfavorable?
- Do you have any other ideas on how to design such a large space more “open” and still functional?
PS: Dark red indicates the house, gray the current terrace, brown the slope, and green the grass.
In the other pictures, green shows the planting strip, yellow the new terrace extension, and blue the sunken seating area.
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