How To Work Out Which Way Your Block Faces
Before you can choose a plan that faces north, you need to know which way your block faces. It takes about two minutes and you only need your address or a map.
This guide walks through it step by step, then points you at the free tool that does it for you.
What 'which way my block faces' actually means
A block does not really face one direction, it has four boundaries. What people mean by orientation is which way the front boundary, the one on the street, points, because that fixes where every other side sits.
Once you know the street faces, say, south, you know the backyard faces north, and you know the sun will come into the rear of the block. That is the single fact that decides which plans will work.
How to work out which way your block faces
- 1
Open a map of your block
Open Google Maps or your council's property map and find your block. Satellite view helps you see the street, the frontage and the backyard. For a New South Wales address, the Dudils lot tool draws your exact block for you, so you do not have to trace it yourself.
- 2
Find north on the map
North is up on almost every online map, including Google Maps, so the top of the screen is north. If you are standing on the block, a phone compass points to magnetic north, which is close enough for this. The Dudils tools show north for you, drawn straight onto your block.
- 3
Look at which way the street frontage points
Draw an imaginary arrow from the middle of your block out across the street. The compass direction that arrow points is the way your block faces. If it points south, you have a south facing block with a north facing backyard.
- 4
Work out where the sun lands
The sun sits in the north. So the northern boundary of your block, whichever side that is, gets sun through the day. That is the side your living areas and their windows want to be on.
- 5
Choose a plan for that orientation
Pick a plan whose living areas land on the northern side once it sits on your block. On Dudils you can enter your block and see only the plans that face north on it.
Common questions
Do I need an exact compass bearing?
No. Knowing your street faces roughly north, south, east or west is enough to choose the right kind of plan. A surveyor or your building designer will confirm the exact bearing later.
My block is on a corner. Which way does it face?
Corner blocks touch two streets, so they have two possible frontages. That is an advantage, because you can often put the driveway on either street and turn the living areas to the north. Dudils treats a corner block as having two street edges when it matches plans, and it lists the results with the better orientation first.