Browse Forums Outdoor Living 1 Jun 28, 2010 4:55 pm We're building in Canberra and deciding whether to have an alfresco area or not. Our block's long side will face north, so a lot of the living areas will face north. The kitchen and meals/family is one big room, kitchen to the left and meals/family to the right. The kitchen will face north and the alfresco is in front of the kitchen. Pro: Nice alfresco area for outdoor living in summer. See to be the trend these days to integrate indoor/outdoor living. Cons: Blocks sun from entering the kitchen, though there'll be light entering from the meals/family area. Eats into indoor living area. Comments? Other pros and cons? Also what do you think about future saleability of the property? Thanks in advance for your comments. Re: Alfresco in Canberra 2Jun 29, 2010 9:53 am Light reduction is definitely an issue, but you could always add a skylight to your kitchen if you think it necessary (assuming yours is a single storey house). I'd be more concerned about loss of winter sun, with your climate, so calculate the depth of your alfresco area roof carefully to take that into account. We have a 5m deep alfresco room (with the house forming its three sides) that faces north-east, and we find that the sun comes right into the area in winter, and even into our lounge beyond. In summer the windows are in full shade and the outdoor room itself receives only early morning sun, so it works well. Another option you might consider is a movable roof - like a retractable awning, or one of those Vergola-type roofs. That way you can switch between sun or shade whenever you want. A solid roof and some sort of heating will extend the use of the area outside the warmest months though. As for saleability, I don't know what the market is like in Canberra, but outdoor entertaining areas here are definitely a selling point. It was a major attraction of our old house when we sold - the house itself was nothing special (and tiny to boot), but the north facing decked pergola gave it wide appeal. Re: Alfresco in Canberra 3Jun 30, 2010 9:00 pm Thank you Kek for your response, although you're not in Canberra the information you've given is still useful and certainly got me thinking about the desireability of a alfresco area. I'll check out those sun angle calculator and see if I can work it out. Re: Alfresco in Canberra 4Jan 25, 2011 7:59 pm Hi Gelatiii, Great name!! I am in exactly the same position as you are. Long side facing north, building in Canberra, going to build in Crace. We will have an alfresco area and got our first design which indicates 1.5 metre eave. We also have our living kitchen area facing through to the alfresco area. Apparently this should shade the alfresco glass doors in summer but should let the winter sunshine hit the windows. We are trying to validate this. Did you have any luck in validating information about alfresco and shade and sunshine etc? very interested in whether you went alfresco or not and how you went with shade and sunshine...... I must admit the retractable awning sounds great.....depending on cost... Ta Thasaman Re: Alfresco in Canberra 5Jan 26, 2011 8:38 am Hi Thasaman. There's some info on retractable awnings in the Outdoor Living forum here: http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=38726 We've found ours fantastic for reducing summer heat in a north-west-facing room. They can be impossible to use in high wind conditions though, so if you're in a very windy area, it might not be the best option. Re: Alfresco in Canberra 6Jan 30, 2011 12:07 pm Thasaman Hi Gelatiii, Great name!! I am in exactly the same position as you are. Long side facing north, building in Canberra, going to build in Crace. We will have an alfresco area and got our first design which indicates 1.5 metre eave. We also have our living kitchen area facing through to the alfresco area. Apparently this should shade the alfresco glass doors in summer but should let the winter sunshine hit the windows. We are trying to validate this. Did you have any luck in validating information about alfresco and shade and sunshine etc? very interested in whether you went alfresco or not and how you went with shade and sunshine...... I must admit the retractable awning sounds great.....depending on cost... Ta Thasaman Hi Thasaman Due to developer requirement we have to be a certain distance from the side fence so our house pretty much has to be l-shaped, so no under the roofline alfresco for us. We have however put in an alfresco slab and will probably have a pergola, vergola or seashell awning. The latter two options are pretty expensive but it'll give the option of having sun or shade when you want. Re: Alfresco in Canberra 7Jan 30, 2011 12:40 pm kek Light reduction is definitely an issue, but you could always add a skylight to your kitchen if you think it necessary (assuming yours is a single storey house). I'd be more concerned about loss of winter sun, with your climate, so calculate the depth of your alfresco area roof carefully to take that into account. We have a 5m deep alfresco room (with the house forming its three sides) that faces north-east, and we find that the sun comes right into the area in winter, and even into our lounge beyond. In summer the windows are in full shade and the outdoor room itself receives only early morning sun, so it works well. Similar to us except the direction that our alfresco faces is a bit different, ours faces north-northwest and the roofline of it sticks out from the house a bit. But for all intents and purposes it is still a cave. From our glass sliding doors off the family room to the extremity of the eaves on our alfresco is 6 metres. In mid winter the sunshine will just reach the back wall of the family room which is 5 metres from the sliding doors. At midday in mid summer the alfresco deck is completely shaded. Geoff - Decophile. Re: Alfresco in Canberra 8Feb 02, 2011 4:03 pm As with all pergolas and alfresco areas we show clients shadow forecasts to the living areas of there house, For the small outlay it will show exactly what will happen at various stages of the year Landscape Design & Construction http://cherub.squarespace.com/ Wow I hadn't realised things had gotten that pricey in just a couple of years since I built, that is crazy with how much land is now costing if you aren't lucky enough to… 3 7136 Hello! I've alfresco pitch of 3 degrees sitting just below the highlight window. Need advice on below: 1. Will the 3 degree pitch be ok to drain the rain water? The roof… 0 4203 Hi everyone, Newbie renovator here, after some advice for combining our family room in the picture and the alfresco and make a larger family room. There is a flush sill… 0 4899 |