Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Aug 12, 2012 1:52 pm hi all, just wanted to ask for some advice my block of land is facing North and im in the process of designing the house plans so i put the bedrooms and shower on the east side ? and the living area like kitchen,dinning, rumpus and cinema room on the west ? or should i swap it around ? thanks for the help Re: house facing north ? 2Aug 12, 2012 2:55 pm If you go here http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/index.html and click on Passive Design -> 4.3 Orientation you download a very good article on this. The image below I downloaded from the Meridian website too Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ and relates to not only the layout but the percentage of total windows that each side should have. Stewie Re: house facing north ? 3Aug 12, 2012 5:46 pm I guess this question depends on where in Australia you reside. If we're working on the basis that you want the sun in your house for warmth in winter and shade from the sun in summer, a north facing house isn't ideal on a typical narrow front / long block. Ideally you want living areas facing north. You'll have that lovely winter sun filling your house with the best type heat there is, not to mention lower heating costs. If you can't do a homestead type plan, a 'U' shape is ideal for north facing blocks. You get at least 2 distinct rooms facing north, not to mention an easterly facing, wind sheltered centre, perfect for an alfresco. Regarding your direct question, put the living areas East, not West. The hot Ausssie sun will be belting your living areas all afternoon in the Summer otherwise, which you absolutely DON'T want and fundamentally a flawed option. East gives you Summer morning sun only. If you can, have a living area at the front of the house, not a bedroom. Otherwise, on a standard house plan you'll have no way of capturing winter sun in your living areas at all. A cold, sunless house in winter isn't pleasant. My 2c. Re: house facing north ? 4Aug 12, 2012 6:15 pm He's in Sydney. Road frontage is north..so the front of the house ( ie garage,) gets all the sun. Buy another block buddy! Re: house facing north ? 5Aug 14, 2012 3:59 pm mr chook, I saw some of your other posts. I suppose it won't help you much now but were you sold the block of land on the basis that it is good because it is north facing? North is where you need windows, lots n lots of windows, NOT the front door and the garage door. I wish somebody would explain that to the real estate agents. Re: house facing north ? 6Aug 15, 2012 7:48 am You could potentially design a house to suit. It might be possible to place a living area (or two) at the front, depending on the width of your block. It would certainly be easy enough to put utility areas at the back. If east or west are the only workable options for living rooms, then personally I'd put them on the east side. Hot western sun in my living areas? Ugh, no thanks. Something is going to have to go on that side thugh, so you will have to come up with solution for summer shade We chose our block because north was on one side and the house design we'd chosen has living areas and alfresco room to one side. Garage, laundry and kids' bedrooms are on the south side - the kids don't care; they never open their blinds anyway. Main bedroom faces east, bathroom and rumpus west. The rumpus room orientation wasn't ideal, and since it's on a corner of the house, we could have moved the large glass sliding door to the north side...but that didn't really suit our outdoor plans. So a blockout blind and a retractable shade awning, plus plantings of deciduous tree/shrubs give us shade in summer but let the sun in during winter. There's usually a solution - it might not be perfect, but orientation, window placement (for both light and ventilation) and appropriate heating/cooling systems, as well as landscaping, can give you a comfortable home. Re: house facing north ? 7Aug 15, 2012 8:31 am Mr chook I have a house very similar to yours with garage, main bedroom, one liveing room faceing front, casual liveing areas down one side and my block is north faceing like yours - I would strongly suggest you flip the house around, thats what we did, so the large liveing area faces east and we have a large alfresco outside the sliding doors - you do NOT want an alfresco faceing west or large window or even worse large glass doors (because they are harder to shade than windows and still have access through them during the day) Avoid the afternoon sun both for heat resaons and also glare reasons - the morning sun is much gentler so an east faceing liveing areas and alfresco is not a problem. The bedrooms faceing west wont be such a problem - a) bedroom windows are easy to shade and b) people dont spend much afternoon time in bedrooms anyway, as a rule and c) your sliding doors to alfresco will go from the casual liveing area I assume, certainly not through a minor bedroom. I dont think he needs to buy another block or design another house - he will have windows faceing north - ie the front bedroom and the front liveing room and simple flipping of the house solves the other problems. Re: house facing north ? 9Aug 15, 2012 9:09 am I've posted for you on the custom design-but I'll put one of my scratchy mockups here: Deemaree Something like this? You could swap theatre & verandah-but by having the verandah like this it can be paved and allow car parking if required. http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/deemareeinwinslow/chook-1.jpg Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: house facing north ? 11Aug 17, 2012 6:11 pm mr_chook Thanks alot for all the helps guys, just wanted to ask what is an ideal block of land supposed to face for good passive solar design? South ? for narrow blocks ? The ideal block depends entirely on the house design. Passive solar design isn't just about orientation though, it takes into account all sorts of things like building materials and thermal mass, window size and placement, eaves, verandahs and pergolas. Climate comes into it too - obviously you wouldn't build the same house in Cairns as you would in Hobart. There's lots of info available online...this site has downloadable fact sheets: http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/fs41.html. This one covers orientation: http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/fs43.html Re: house facing north ? 12Aug 17, 2012 6:14 pm The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: house facing north ? 13Aug 17, 2012 9:42 pm mr_chook Thanks alot for all the helps guys, just wanted to ask what is an ideal block of land supposed to face for good passive solar design? South ? for narrow blocks ? Those are good links people have given you. There's more to it which you'll understand when you read through that information, but the big thing to remember is you need maximum north facing windows and minimum other facing windows. In summer the sun is high overhead so the north facing windows won't get sun coming in. In winter the sun is low in the sky so the north facing windows will get sun coming in. Those websites have diagrams which show how it works. Having lots of big windows facing in other directions might be undesirable because you get hot afternoon sun in the west, perhaps cold winds from the south, etc, but there are things you can do to fix that like plant deciduous trees and windbreak hedges. But the big thing to remember is you want to catch the sun in winter and block it in summer and north facing windows with eaves work really well for that. Re: house facing north ? 14Aug 17, 2012 10:46 pm If my house is facing north.. isnt it better to put the living area like.dinning,living and kitchen on da west and bedroom on da east because we all go work during the day and won't get home until 3 to 6 so the dinning and living wont be use until the late arvo, by the time we come home living area will be cold in winter that's if its on east side, but if the living area was on the west the living area will heat up and hopefully still be warm when we come home. And on da living area side I'm gonna put like colourbond carpot so it.will.block out all the sun in winnter or summer. Re: house facing north ? 15Aug 17, 2012 11:31 pm In the winter the sun doesn,t really shine much in the east and west facing windows. You loose more heat through these windows over the day than the benefit from the short period of sun coming in. If you you put shade like a carport you will get zero benefit from the winter sun. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. The warning is on the sticker on the door too. Second the aluminium powdercoat 6 18199 Petercurtis You able to contact the certifier and get a copy of your structural plans, if they are not in your contract. If your home was approved via CDC then they… 1 20174 It might be a bit darker in the mornings but the light is still light, so you should be getting it. Similar to what you see from your western windows 3 19988 |