The following is Part 2 of the article by our expert guest writer Anthony Braun, who shares his opinion about house orientation. Read Part 1 here.
And now we are left with the only fairly changing factor – the sun.
Common sense suggests that the rooms where people spend much time during the day should get most of the sun. To achieve this, these spaces should be facing the north part of the horizon within a 40-degree angle: 20 degrees towards north-west and 20 degrees towards north-east from the north-south line. This is the best orientation, and just as a side note, the windows facing north should have adjustable sun-protection screens.
Bedrooms are the hardest rooms to orientate. If we have them face north and west, the revenge in the summer will be the heat, distributed by the walls at night. That heat took all day to accumulate, and will make a good night sleep next to impossible. This is why it makes sense to orientate the bedrooms to south-east. Good news is that at least the bathrooms and laundry as well as other utility rooms have no requirements for orientation.
Let’s get into more detail and list a number of important considerations for house planning.
Since it is impossible to ensure optimal orientation for all the rooms in the house, there are ‘concessions’, supported by the common sense. Rooms such as study or playroom can be facing east, catching the morning sun.
We shouldn’t forget that plants and trees act as a great sun protection for single-story houses. So, in addition to our recommendation to have most rooms facing north, we add another one – to plant trees in front of the northern part of the house.
In conclusion, just another couple of tips for good house-planning:
- Make sure that there isn’t too much shade from the neighboring houses and trees.
- Make sure that the solar panels and washing lines have sun all year round.
- Make sure that the area of the windows in north-facing rooms is no more than 25% of the area of the floor in those rooms.
- Make sure that there are as few as possible rooms facing east and that they have sun-protective adjustable screens.
Remember, a good orientation of the house is your guarantee of the best living conditions.
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I haven’t had any problems with North Facing bedrooms as long as i have provided enough shading to keep the sun out until mid March.
The more difficult bedroom windows are the west facing however by using mirror tinted film on the window you can still keep the evening internal temperatures at reasonable levels.