How To Measure Your Backyard

How To Measure a Backyard : Professional person Methods of Site Measurement

Methods of Measuring Property / Boundary Lines

How To Find the Square Footage of your Yard

There are many reasons why you would want to mensurate your lawn, or for that thing your side yard or forepart yard. Before nosotros delve into various methods of measuring your thou, nosotros should expect at situations and projects that require or necessitate yard measurements on your residential lot.

Lawn Extensions and Additions:

When you are planning on extending your existing house with extra rooms or building new detached outbuildings such equally a studio, garage, invitee house, constrict shop and servants living quarters, you will demand to measure the size of your rear yard. This includes determining the location of building lines (setback lines) on your belongings. The architect needs site measurements to plan the blueprint and produce accurate drawings. The quantity surveyor (construction computer) needs site measurements to ready bills of quantities and make accurate cost estimates. The building contractor too needs site measurements. Basically, earlier whatsoever type of construction begins, the owner must produce a site program. Producing a site programme is the responsibleness of the engineer, and this programme includes a lot of important detail such every bit the position of underground utility services, nature of terrain, side by side buildings, structures, streets and access which may touch the design.

Landscaping and Gardening:

Before you build a backyard garden or whatsoever landscaping features and improvements, you lot must have measurements of the yard and reproduce them on a site programme that an architect or landscape designer will make. This allows the mural designer to detect the right spots for concrete features such equally pathways, koi ponds, sculptures, pergolas, flower beds, shrubs, hedges, trees and lawn. The site measurements will determine the size of these physical features and their position with respect to other features and/or the site.

While house extensions and structural additions are going to accept their location and span limited past setback distance codes, landscaping features are usually not affected by setback rules, but this is something that you have to bank check with your city zoning department.

Belongings Valuation:

When you are selling your firm, ane of the things that yous have to practice is getting belongings and real estate valuers to inspect your house and yard. This includes taking measurements of your lot and yard to determine the real square footage. Holding valuers volition also take notice of all improvements on your yard and accept measurements. They volition inspect the conditions of the buildings and additions, measuring the size and estimating the value. Property valuation is likewise known as real estate appraisal.

Tools and Methods of Measuring Belongings / Boundary Lines

The following are methods used to measure a backyard or whatsoever type of site.

Record Measure Method:

The record measure out is i of the well-nigh common and of import tools that are traditionally used to take site measurements by structure estimators, quantity surveyors, builders, engineers and architects. You cannot leave to the site or in the field without a measuring tape. This is a handy surveyor's tool that fits in your pocket. In gild to take measurements on your individual property, you lot volition demand a notebook and pencil for taking downwardly measurements, a piece of white chalk to mark positions as well as an assistant to help you. Measuring the size of your backyard is easy. Y'all just demand to marshal the tape along the purlieus lines, and progressively take measurements of the whole backyard perimeter. Retractable measuring tapes come in different lengths of 5, 8 and ten metres. If the ground distance is likewise long, become an assistant to hold the other cease of the record, only you lot will always demand an assistant to concord the record on point, even for short and medium distances. A metal tape measure will exist suitable for structure site measurements. The diagram below illustrates how to have measurements of a lot or yard.

Laser Mensurate Method:

Instead of taking site measurements using a measuring tape, y'all can apply a laser mensurate also known every bit a laser distance measurer. With this digital measuring tool, you tin can have measurements much more rapidly and easier than a tape. You won't need an banana to help you on the site with this tool, pregnant you can accept measurements alone. To take measurements in your backyard with this tool, y'all volition demand to reset the button to zilch, then point your light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation to a betoken or obstruction along the purlieus line. The instrument will measure out and record the distance as the light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation beam is reflected dorsum and detected by the device. The device automatically calculates the distance travelled by the light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation beam using the formula D=CT/two, where C is the speed of calorie-free and T is the time it takes for the light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation axle to travel to and from the obstruction (the reflector).

Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation measuring tools have much longer ranges. As an example, Bosch is a brand name in digital measuring tools, producing xviii laser models with a measuring range of 35 to 825 feet (11 to 252 metres). Equally yous can see, a site surveyor can apace take measurements of big yards with this device. Whereas the longest tape measure is about 10 metres long, a laser measure tin take single measurements upward to 252 metres.

When taking grand measurements with a laser device, you volition need a travelling board that blocks and reflects the laser beam. Place the travelling lath at a signal connecting a straight boundary line, then send a laser beam to hit the lath. Take downwards the measured distance on your notebook. Alternatively, depending on your measuring device, there are devices which tin save the dimensions, and so you won't demand to write downwardly the measurements. A travelling board or reflector will only exist used where distances are too long to get a high degree of accurateness or where there is no physical reflector such as a wall or postal service at the end. If in that location is a permanent physical reflector or obstruction on the end signal, it'due south much better to brand use of it rather than using a travelling board.

Measuring Bicycle Method:

Although information technology'south not as accurate equally the tape measure out or laser measure method, this is one of the easiest ways of taking rough measurements on a site or yard. Keep in mind that you have to use this method only when you need quick and rough measurements. A measuring wheel as well known as a rodometer or trundle wheel is a tool for measuring altitude on the ground using a wheel. Past pushing the wheel along the boundary line, it volition automatically register the altitude travelled using the car odometer illustration. The circumference of the wheel is known, and this is used to calculate the distance travelled or the number of cycles that the wheel has turned.

The problem with a rodometer is that it won't give you lot an authentic linear measurement between two points, due to the fact that the wheel follows the basis terrain, and not the horizontal line between the points. Then if you have a rectangular lawn, the two opposites sides which are supposed to be equal in length will accept discrepancies. The sides won't have the same lengths equally expected because what was measured is the ground terrain or topography. I side of the yard might exist rough or sandy footing and the other side might exist a fairly flat surface with lawn or pavers.

When measuring each side of the backyard with a measuring wheel, you lot should always reset the counter or meter to take new measurements. The measuring cycle is useful for measuring large yards, roads and fields.

How To Find the Square Footage of your Yard

Methods of Calculating Backyard Area From Site Measurements

Subsequently taking yard measurements, you lot will need to summate the area of the lawn or whatsoever portion of the yard that you are interested in.

Calculating the area of a rectangular site is easy. You simply need to multiply the length by the width. Every bit an example, if side A is 40 anxiety and side side B is 25 anxiety, your surface area will exist:

Area = Length x Width

Expanse = 40 x 25 feet

Area = 1000 square feet.

Calculating the Expanse of Irregular or Polygonal Shapes:

Backyards are not always rectangular in shape. Some residential lots are irregular in shape, and in this case y'all accept to utilise a particular method.

Parallelogram

A parallelogram is a quadrilateral (four side shape) with two parallel sides. If yous have a residential lot or chiliad with this shape, you should employ the surface area of a parallelogram to find the square footage:

Area of Parallelogram, A = Base x Meridian.

A = B x H

Polygonal Shape

If your residential lot is polygonal, with more than 4 sides, i.eastward. 7 or ten sides, so you take to split up the yard into triangles and rectangles. You should then detect the surface area of each of these subdivisions and add them upwardly to go the total area of the yard.

Sketch Cartoon – Irregular Shaped Polygonal Backyard Lot – Square Footage Grid

After measuring the sides of the one thousand with a measuring tool, draw the lines on a sketch pad and mark the dimensions. Draw the building line on the sketch pad and marking the dimension. In this case, you should take backyard (rear yard) wall of your firm as the building line or reference signal. Measure the length of this rear wall elevation and mark the dimension on your drawing. The good thing well-nigh this rear wall is that it is usually a straight line. Describe direct virtual projecting lines from both ends of the rear wall. These straight lines should project from the wall to the purlieus line (fence) on both sides of the house. At present, at the bespeak of intersection of the projecting line and boundary line, you should draw a line that is perpendicular to the projecting line. This perpendicular line should be drawn equally far as the furthest point on your backyard. To analyze, if the rear wall of your house is facing N, the perpendicular line should as well face North and it should project every bit far equally the furthest point on your backyard contend or purlieus wall. So at present, you will have ii perpendicular lines emanating from the building line. Your side by side pace is joining the ends of these perpendicular lines with a parallel line (line parallel to the building line), to course a rectangle.

At this point, on your sketch pad, you lot should accept a rectangular department that encloses the irregular outlines of your existing yard.

Sketch Drawing – Irregular Shaped Polygonal Backyard Lot – Square Footage Grid_2

Y'all have to transfer these site measurements and sketch drawings on your computer or laptop. Let'south promise you have construction cartoon software such as AutoCAD or Google Sketchup installed on your computer. Google Sketchup is free and it does the job well for both 2D and 3D drawing. However, we are only interested in 2D Programme Drawing here.

Open the CAD program, and choose an appropriate scale for your sketch drawing. A scale of 1:500mm, 1:200mm or ane:1000mm is suitable for a site plan. Draw the sketch plans from your field sketch volume, and when you are done, a program like Google Sketchup can automatically calculate the area of surfaces enclosed by perimeters. To practise this, click the Text tool on Google Sketchup and then touch or highlight the enclosed surface that you desire to calculate. You will come across the surface area in real life scale marked in square millimetres or inches, which tin can exist converted to square metres or square footage.

Sketch Drawing – Irregular Shaped Polygonal Lawn Lot

Alternatively, if you don't take a estimator or CAD software, you lot tin can transfer your site measurements and sketch drawings on a grid paper, but make sure that yous depict the lines to an appropriate scale. After drawing the grand sketch on grid paper, count the number of full squares or grids covering the yard, and add together upwards the totals to observe the area. This volition give you an approximate size of the backyard.