Architect's Guide for Buying a Home - Part 3

Cont. Site Features-

King of the hills? Is the site on relatively flat land, is it on slope, or are you on a cliff? Grades (as in slopes) often adds interests to a site, depending on the location of the house it can also obscure sight lines and create more privacy for the home. The direction the slope face also can make a dramatic difference, a South facing slope will receive significantly more sun light then a north facing slope. This can either be a positive or negative attribute depending on your local climate. Any change in grades is generally expensive to do due to the amount of labor and equipment involved, so often time with most site it is “what you see is what you get”. Also are there any rock formation on the site? Large rocks tend to generate visual interest and provide variety to landscaping but does present potential hazard to younger children. Many home shoppers I have spoken to often attribute large flat expense of lawn as children friendly, I on the other hand feel that a more varied less open landscape. Is a lot more interesting to a child and leave much more room for imaginations.

Over the river, and through the lake? Unless you live in a desert (even there you have the occasion flash floods) water will have a major presence on your site either as a permanent feature such as ponds, streams and wetland, or as temporary runoff from rain storm. Even temporary runoff can have a major impact on your home depending on its location. A house that is located in the path of a drainage channel will have a much higher chance of having moisture related foundation issue.
So what exactly is a runoff, you don’t mean like an election right? Water always seek the lowest point, so whenever it rains, water travel both above and below ground along the slope in the shortest path. If your house happens to be located in this path then you’ll need to make sure that the proper precaution is taken so that the flow is diverted around the house and not into your basement. This can be done via properly designed drains on the surface and footing drains next to your foundation. But no system is perfect and its best to simply avoid this problem by finding a properly sited house away from the drainage path.

Rivers, stream, lake or if you’re lucky an ocean frontage all can be a major feature to a site. Aside from visual interest and opportunities for recreational activities, bodies of water also serve functional purposes. Bodies of water tends to help regulate temperature in the surrounding areas, natural evaporation and air flow cools the surrounding area during the summer and in the winter water also retain more heat than ground. Sounds of flowing water aside from pleasant to hear is also a natural white noise and does a great job masking unpleasant noises from off site. Pool and man-made water feature also falls in this category but with them also comes maintenance issues as well as potential insurance liabilities. Make sure that you have their related mechanical system carefully checked out.