# Bench proportions



## wolfmanyoda

I made my wife a bench last year, my first bench and it looked great. But it sat horribly. The seat wasn't wide enough and the angle to the back was bad. Not sure if "wide" is the correct term, I think it's technically correct when you think about the seat as length x width though.

She wants another bench and I'm looking for some guidelines. I'm shooting for about 5 feet long.

How wide should the seat be? 
How high should the seat be from the ground?
How about back angle?

If anyone has some "golden" proportions I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks.


----------



## woodnthings

*Chairs and benches*

wolfman, I used to work in the human factors department at General Motors and we had a measuring device that people could sit on/in and have their seated dimensions recorded. What we found was interesting.
People's lower leg lengths varied all over the place, as did upper leg/thigh lengths and did seated heights, due to different torso lengths, neck lengths and so forth.
The famous example was two men stood side by side and were the same height. When they both sat down one's head was a foot higher than the other's. 
Point is, if you want it comfortable to you it may not be so to your wife unless the dimensions are similar.
Suggestion: find a chair that you both find comfortable then measure up from the floor to the front edge of the seat and the depth to the back edge. Then measure the height of the back edge from the floor which will give you the slope of the seat. You can use one of those digital angle finders or a protractor to determine the seat and back angles also.
It's all kinda' personal if you know what I mean.
There are architectural standards for seat dimensions:
_lSeat width 16"-20" lSeat depth 15"-18" lSeat height from floor 16"-18"_

http://www.buckinghaminteriors.com/id5.html :thumbsup: bill


----------



## cabinetman

You didn't say what kind of "bench" it is. If it's a dining height (approx 29"), the seat height and size is approx 18" h, 18" square. The back variable is approx 5-7 degrees to the seat. These are just averages.


----------



## wolfmanyoda

Thanks woodnthings. I took several different plans and averaged the measurements. I think that will get me started at least.

Cabinetman--sorry about that. A bench for the front porch to just hang out on in the evenings. Garden variety.


----------



## wolfmanyoda

Took me awhile but here's the bench:










I'll post up details in the Projects section.


----------

