inveresk
Platinum Member
This summer I bought a house on the side of a hill - I viewed the property in May and moved in late July, always with the intention of relocating the house. The main reason I want to move it is that the house is too near the road but this past wet month (record breaking weather here in coastal BC with 30 consecutive days of rain) has exposed other reasons for moving it.
The land here is clay and once it became waterlogged, sheets of water began running down the hill unabated. There are some drainage ditches and curtain drains around the property but not enough - the attached photograph shows one location (there are others) where the rain forms a small stream running down the hill too close to the house. Since I took this shot, I've diverted the water temporarily but a permanent solution has to wait until the weather and ground conditions are more amenable to backhoe work. Much too soft just now.
When I move the house I'll place it on a plateau further up the hill where the terrain is much drier than the the current location. Further up the hill means, too, that there won't be as much accumulated cascading run off to cause problems.
The other reasons for moving the house are:
views of the ocean and islands opposite from further up the hill are better;
the house is too low on the east side of the hill so we lose the sun early. Moving it up the hill will extend the time we can benefit from afternoon and evening sunshine;
the house is only 100 feet from the road on an 11 acre property. When the house is relocated, privacy will be improved and the property will have more of an estate feel.
Houses on the side of hills are perfectly fine. As an architect, I've designed and sited quite a few on hillsides myself. Just be careful where on the side of the hill you site it and try to make sure that the location is good for all four seasons of the year. For solar exposure, south and west are best, north and east to be avoided.
The land here is clay and once it became waterlogged, sheets of water began running down the hill unabated. There are some drainage ditches and curtain drains around the property but not enough - the attached photograph shows one location (there are others) where the rain forms a small stream running down the hill too close to the house. Since I took this shot, I've diverted the water temporarily but a permanent solution has to wait until the weather and ground conditions are more amenable to backhoe work. Much too soft just now.
When I move the house I'll place it on a plateau further up the hill where the terrain is much drier than the the current location. Further up the hill means, too, that there won't be as much accumulated cascading run off to cause problems.
The other reasons for moving the house are:
views of the ocean and islands opposite from further up the hill are better;
the house is too low on the east side of the hill so we lose the sun early. Moving it up the hill will extend the time we can benefit from afternoon and evening sunshine;
the house is only 100 feet from the road on an 11 acre property. When the house is relocated, privacy will be improved and the property will have more of an estate feel.
Houses on the side of hills are perfectly fine. As an architect, I've designed and sited quite a few on hillsides myself. Just be careful where on the side of the hill you site it and try to make sure that the location is good for all four seasons of the year. For solar exposure, south and west are best, north and east to be avoided.
