House Orientation and Glazing

Hi Guys,

My site runs east west. East side is my backyard and west side is facing the street. I am building double storey at south of Brisbane. I am putting my master bedroom at the eastern side of the house (upstair) and the remaining bedrooms at western side of the house, facing the street. I will have one family/ retreat area separating the master bedroom with the rest of the bedrooms. Therefore, I do not consider the option of putting the family/ retreat area on the western side of the house, facing the street.

I have read a lot of posts regarding windows for eastern and western sides of the house. Some suggested to do away with glazing at east and west of the house. Obviously this is not an option for me. I am wondering what other options are available for me.

I am thinking to put full height window along the eastern wall of master bedroom which over-looks the backyard. Not sure if this is a good idea as this might impact on the heat gain/loss of the house.

For the bedrooms at the western side of the house, facing the street, I am thinking of putting two separate rows of horizontal awning windows (600mm wide each) instead of sliding windows. I would put windows at the south and north walls of these bedrooms for cross-ventilations.

I will have high ceilings as well - 2.59m upstairs and 2.7m downstairs; and 600mm wide eaves around the house.

Should I tint the windows on the east and west of the house to reduce the heat gain/loss? If so, what products? I am looking at 3M films and they seems to be a good option?

Will 600mm wide eaves provide sufficient shading for my window openings?

Thanks in advance for your input and sorry for the long post.

Regards,

Jello

Eaves don't provide anywhere near enough shade for east and West facing windows as the summer sun is low (below the eaves level) for many hours.

The best window film is a reflective coating rather than a tint. These will keep a lot of the direct sunlight/heat out of the bedrooms. Reducing the window size is also good to keep the heat out during summer and keep the heat in during winter.

You could have outdoor blinds on west facing windows. Keeping the sun off the window will help.

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