# West Facing House - Good Orientation?



## BarneyMc (4 Apr 2011)

I've got plans drawn up for a house in the country that's west facing. The internal layout has the kitchen at the back and living room at the front, both on the south side of the house. Is this a good orientation to go with or if the site permits, would it be better to face the house north (back facing south)?


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## horusd (4 Apr 2011)

I have a south east facing back ( NW front). Love it, get nearly all the sunshine ( when there is any) the back and the garden does really well, barbies and evenings in the garden are an option. I'm an amateur gardener, I can grow grapes, etc because of the south aspect. For me it the best option. I kinda prefer that it's not fully south facing, because the front of the house would always be shaded, so the slight variation helps.


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## onq (5 Apr 2011)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
Also that simple questions are hardest to answer.

Posting a set of plans on a Facebook or Flickr account would be useful to allow people to answer questions like this.
As you can see from my query list and comments below, there is so much more to a house than orientating it as a "block" on a site plan.

People normally describe houses in terms of where their rear garden faces. i.e. south facing - you seem to be describing where the front faces?

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Some questions to get a better idea of the house - your architect’s plans should show any calculations and areas requested.
The kitchen faces to the rear and east, the living room faces to the front and west, both with a south aspect - is that the position?

- What's on the north side of the house?
- Where are the bedrooms, traditionally located on first floor?
- How much land to you have looking towards each compass point?
- What's the plot size?
- What's the house size?
- What’s the house dimensions and orientation of the "long" side?
- Where is the well?
- Where is the percolation area?
- Is it reed bed or standard or advanced treatment - e.g. Biocycle?
- Where's the septic tank?
- Are there any views?
- Are there any things you don't want to view?
- Is the house open plan or cellular plan on the reception level?

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Open plan houses can benefit from all orientations at once and all sun paths.
Cellular plans need careful positioning of the windows for present and future views.

Open plan houses with high windows can allow sun penetration onto internal masonry elements.
This will  act as an internal thermal heat store, in a manner  similar to masonry structures in hot climates.

North facing fronts can be foreboding and unwelcoming - they never get the sun.
Materials on a north facing elevations need careful selection, especially if it is an exposed site.
They can deteriorate quite badly unless looked after endlessly - so probably not a good idea to use large timber sheets!

Darker materials can radiate heat a lot more than lighter coloured materials, ligher colours will make the most of north light for visitors.
Having said that the north faces of houses can stain through the dampness and purity of the air promoting the growh of moss and lichens.

Materials selection is a specialist subject your architect can advise you on to ensure your house does not become unsightly in only a few years.
Looking around the neighbourhood yourself at house elevations on similar sites and near to similar vegetation will inform you of the problems if any.

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In terms of internal environment if your long elevation is south facing and your plan cellular, you can have two internal environments brewing.
You can suffer from cold northern set of rooms and a roasting hot south facing set of rooms - sometimes both on a same day!

Some form of screening to the south may be advised to manage solar gain in high summer.
However, this will impair winter solar gain - don't believe tales of low winter sunlight getting in and deciduous trees not forming a barrier.

Even a moderate overhang reduces incident light in the winter and bare branches obscure sunlight.
Think where the branches are clustered.
At the bottom third of the tree, well within the 11 degrees elevation of the sun in winter.

Again, your architect should be familiar with these problems and have advised you on them.

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In relation to running costs and the internal environment; -

Have you had this looked at for maximising solar gain and orientated your windows and sized them to best effect?
Have you decided to invest in wind, geothermal or other ambient energy sources?
Have you specified a compliant level of insulation or future proofed and gone "super-insulated"?
Have you adopted the "sealed" form of construction and designed airlock approaches?

These measures can hugely benefit a house in any location, exposed or sheltered, with or without views.
They can reduce your running costs to a fraction of a "normal house", by more than half in some cases, depending on your lifestyle, the size of house and the number of people living in the house.

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Regarding views; -

Having lived overlooking Dublin Bay and in Wicklow, I can confirm that yes, views are great, and if you want to take advantage of views you need to orientate your main spaces towards the views.
If you intend opening the house to the views and you're on a height, you need to carefully consider the design of the balconies, because these will obscure your view from the seated position when you're inside.
There are ways around this, which your architect can advise on.

But you live "in" the house, and you don't spend all your time looking at a view.
Ask any homemaker.
And for the person or couple working away from the home, the "view" is something you drive through every day... 
These days I usually enjoy views on the weekend with my family or friends - by walking "in" the views and taking photos of the experience.
And can I advise you you to make sure you take a full set fo photos at tevery stage of your build - it'll be a great adventure in your family history.

Probably all these things have already been covered by your architect but I hope this helps.

ONQ.

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.


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## RKQ (7 Apr 2011)

IMO the living areas should be positioned to get the maximum of the sun and free solar heat - kitchen, living room, lounge etc should face south, south-west or south-east.

Solar gain is very important as the sun provides free light & heat which is particularly important in winter. It will aslo affect your BER rating. Maximise the size of your windows / patio doors facing south & minimise the size of windows facing north.


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## BarneyMc (7 Apr 2011)

Seems then that a north facing house would work well with the back getting most of the sun (facing south). This would mean though that the front (north) would have to have a certain number of window as it faces the road!


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## fraggle (7 Apr 2011)

A "south facing house" has the back facing the sun.


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## onq (7 Apr 2011)

While its true what others have posted, you can have too much of a good thing when it comes to south facing sun.
I have yet to see a really well though out design maximising solar gain  that gives comfortable living conditions in all areas of the south  facing rooms.

Rooms to the rear/south, which have relatively small windows, may still 'bake' in the summer.
Rooms to the north/front which have relatively large view windows, may tend to freeze in the winter.
The effects of insulation in the walls and special glazing in the windows will be able to mitigate these effects.

Personally I think you need to really consider having big opes at all unless you specifically need them and you need to consider how shelter them from inclement weather and hot sun.
The current fad for floor to ceiling folding/sliding doors seems way OTT, costs an absolute fortune and may end in tears withing five years as the opening mechanism and the hinges wear.

ONQ.

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon  as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be  taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in  Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at  hand.


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## BarneyMc (8 Apr 2011)

fraggle said:


> A "south facing house" has the back facing the sun.


 
How is that? If a house faces (front) the south then the back faces the north and therefore the back won't face the sun.


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## horusd (8 Apr 2011)

ONQ as usual you advice and observations are top-notch, so thanks. I was considering those floor to ceiling open doors as part of a renovation next year. You have put me off that idea. What, by the way, are opes?


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## threebedsemi (8 Apr 2011)

Regarding solar gain and overheating problems:

One reason to provide large areas of glazing on the south elevation of a house is to avail of solar gain (free heat) during the heating season which runs from, say, October to March. Quite a lot of heat from solar gain can be acquired during these months, with little chance of overheating.

This has to be played off against the problem of acquiring too much solar gain during the summer months. The solution to this is to provide external shading which will stop some of the summer sun from entering the rooms affected. The angle of summer sun is considerably higher than the winter sun. Both the angle and path of the sun can be easily calculated for a particular site. The shading required can be achieved in a number of ways, i.e.:

- Fitting external shading devices (brise soleil, overhanging eaves, shutters etc) designed to catch to summer sun before it enters the building on large openings. These shading devices can even be removed from the building for most of the year if desired, as they won’t be required. 
- Planting appropriate deciduous trees in the correct locations (the leaves will be on the trees during the summer, blocking some of the sunlight, and won’t be there during the winter, letting sunlight into the building.

Your BER assessor should be able to input different window sizes for the south facing elevation of your design into the DEAP model, and tell you what the solar gain is for each option. You will then have a good idea about value of solar gain foe each option. 


There is more to large windows than solar gain, of course. While I agree with ONQ in so far as large glazing areas may not be specifically needed in all locations,  I would have to disagree somewhat with the suggestion that you should disregard then out of hand. If you have a particularly spectacular view or want an intimate and seamless connection to a small landscaped garden or courtyard, a tall glazed opening is fantastic.

Bear in mind that all large glazed opening don’t have to be complicated folding/sliding doors, and a large fixed glazing panel fitted beside a traditionally opening (glazed) door, can work just as well and has far fewer of the potential problems which ONQ outlined. 

www.studioplustwo.com


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## BarneyMc (8 Apr 2011)

The thing is I'm a home worker and want to be sitting in a room that's easily heated during the day. Getting the office to the south facade isn't that easy as it knocks out the kitchen and living room. With MHVR can you easily transfer warm air from easily headed spaces, e.g. south facing sun room, to the other side of the house? If so maybe this would be an option?


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## threebedsemi (8 Apr 2011)

BarneyMc
You are correct, and this is an often overlooked benefit of MHRV. These systems if properly installed are quite effective at 'moving' heat around a house.
There are several useful threads on installing MHRV on these forums which you should have a look at.

www.studioplustwo.com


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## BarneyMc (8 Apr 2011)

Thanks threebedsemi, maybe it's not necessary then to have the office on the south facing facade after all. Cheers.


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## onq (9 Apr 2011)

horusd said:


> ONQ as usual you advice and observations are top-notch, so thanks. I was considering those floor to ceiling open doors as part of a renovation next year. You have put me off that idea. What, by the way, are opes?



Yoiu're very welcome horusd.

I wasn't trying to castigate the principle of the "full height".
They do look well, but you should ask to see them installed.
Ask the people who live with them if they would change anything.

"Opes" is Building argot for "openings", as in Window Opes, Door Opes.

Most openings in "hole in the wall" architecture have the same basic components of Head, Returns and either a Sill (windows) or a Threshold (doors and paito doors).

So people understand there is a lot goign on with a wall to put an "ope" in it.



ONQ.

     [broken link removed]

     All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied                   upon    as a defence or support - in and of itself -     should     legal       action     be    taken.
     Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to   advise         in            Real Life with rights to inspect and issue   reports    on   the        matters    at     hand


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