Browse Forums Building A New House Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 481Jul 22, 2015 10:55 am Thanks for the detailed reply Forg. Yes, if you can use north-facing orientation properly it does make a huge difference. It certainly makes a difference to our house on a sunny winter day. But when the sun's not shining...... still gets cold. I actually had a talk with an architect about this topic at a free event a few weeks ago. He told us we don't have enough insulation - we have R4 in the roof and R2.5 in the walls, so we are thinking of adding another layer in the roof to bring it up to R8. We also have wooden doors and windows which have their good and bad points as we have discovered. Wood tends to warp easily, even KDH, and we probably need to check for draughts. I also think we have a bit too much glass - we could probably have lost a couple of windows and actually had room then for curtains which the designer completely overlooked. And I have very little spatial intelligence - I can't visualise anything until it is built and then it's a bit late to say: "Back up! - we need space for the curtains." At least I did notice the heater wasn't going to fit in the space she had assigned to it. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 482Apr 26, 2016 12:12 am Hello, I'm hoping you might be able to help me with my house design. I've been looking for a north facing block for ages and I've finally found one that I think would suit what I want, however I'm now not so sure about how it would work. The block is 21m wide and 30m deep. It is near the beach in Perth, so the summer afternoon sun is very strong, as is the wind sometimes. I've always loved this type of floor plan, where you can see all the main areas from the kitchen, incl the garden. I have young children so this is important to me. Something along the lines of this https://www.summithomes.com.au/new-home-designs/woodlands265However I know having an alfresco to the north of the house would ruin any solar passive gain we might get. Where would you suggest putting an alfresco? How do you think the floor plan might be improved upon? I would remove the west facing window from the games area. We also want to put a pool in and I don't really want it directly outside the rear glass doors/Windows because of the glare in the summer and seeing it looking scruffy in the winter, so I was thinking of having it off to the east side a bit, but still against the rear boundary. Any help would be much appreciated. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 483Apr 26, 2016 10:34 am Hi Picketty, Just a few general comments, having lived in easy walking distance to the ocean in Perth. You have to be very careful with passive solar in Perth. We had our living areas facing north and another east, and it was so hot. We had very adequate insulation, high ceilings, but not enough cross ventilation. We built a huge pergola to cut out the heat, but needed aircon throughout summer and blockout blinds. Our roof colour and bricks were light, but in the end, having the living areas north and east was a big mistake with Perth summers. Do take advantage of the Freo doctor via cross ventilation. But be sure your main entrance is sheltered from the winter weather and north west squalls. It's good to eliminate west windows if you can, or plan your garden so that essential windows will at least be in shade in the afternoon. What is the orientation of your block? Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 484Apr 26, 2016 1:19 pm Hi guys, I have a question -I have one big window facing west and was looking into shutter. A friend of mine said his shutter is installed outside and inside, he has a venetian blind. Will this help me as to make summer less warm and winter less cold? I was thinking about similar setup with shutter (outside) and blind (plus pelmets, inside), or is curtain (plus pelmets) better? I don't like honeycomb/cellular blinds as I think finding crawlers inside it would not be a rare occasion. Cheers. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 485Apr 26, 2016 9:46 pm Hi treeseachanger, the road runs along the front of the block, which is south. The block is 21m wide and 30m deep, so a reasonably standard suburban rectangular block. 630m2. Our current house (which we didn't build) is the exact opposite, the lovely large windows in the main living area face south so it is very cold in winter and the alfresco is very exposed so we don't use it unless on the warmest of days. The two bedrooms at the front of our house and the garage are north facing and are lovely and warm in the winter. I always joke that I'm going to move into the garage in the winter. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 486Apr 27, 2016 12:06 pm ciscoarc Hi guys, I have a question -I have one big window facing west and was looking into shutter. A friend of mine said his shutter is installed outside and inside, he has a venetian blind. Will this help me as to make summer less warm and winter less cold? I was thinking about similar setup with shutter (outside) and blind (plus pelmets, inside), or is curtain (plus pelmets) better? I don't like honeycomb/cellular blinds as I think finding crawlers inside it would not be a rare occasion. Cheers. Any inputs? Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 487Apr 27, 2016 2:27 pm The shutter outside if it is made correctly would certainly keep the hot summer sun off that window and therefore heating up the room. The venetian blind I'd imagine wouldn't have much of an impact for summer or winter as its R-rating would be pretty poor. A much better solution would be to have the same shutter outside but a good curtain with thermal backing ( and pelmet ) or a honeycomb blind inside even though you make get a few surprises with critters. Stewie Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 488Apr 27, 2016 3:12 pm Stewie D The shutter outside if it is made correctly would certainly keep the hot summer sun off that window and therefore heating up the room. The venetian blind I'd imagine wouldn't have much of an impact for summer or winter as its R-rating would be pretty poor. A much better solution would be to have the same shutter outside but a good curtain with thermal backing ( and pelmet ) or a honeycomb blind inside even though you make get a few surprises with critters. Stewie Thanks heaps, Stewie! I did find curtains more appealing to me too. Is there any difference between thermal curtain with some normal polyester curtain?. From readings I had, it seems that thermal curtain has layers on it (or some use polar fleece). I am worried fleece is probably is too warm during summer. Not sure if we can over insulate a house. Cheers. Andy Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 489Apr 27, 2016 7:15 pm No, the thermal part is a separate lining to the main curtain. You choose the colour and material you want for the curtain then line it with a special thermal blockout material. Personally during the day I wouldn't have the curtains across the windows unless it was a big west facing one that gets a fierce amount of sun on it. Stewie Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 490Apr 27, 2016 7:24 pm Hi Ciscoarc, are you able to plant in front of that west window? or maybe a lattice screen outside the window or a climber on a frame to block the sun? Or put window tinted film on the glass, I am sure someone said that they had good results on the forum. Lorri Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 491Apr 27, 2016 8:10 pm I designed and built a solar passive house in inland South Australia. This area is characterised by warm to hot days and cool to cold nights. The solar passive design really works for me. I do not have any external screens on the north side as the northern walls and floor to ceiling windows are in full shade throughout summer. They get a little bit of direct sun in autumn and spring (which is a good thing as it takes the chill out of the early morning temperatures). In winter the northern walls and windows receive full sun. The western walls have no windows and are shaded by large water storage tanks. The southern windows are the smallest allowed by the National Construction Code to minimise heat loss in winter. Last summer I only used the air-conditioning on 2 days even though on some days the outside temperature reached the low 40s (because the night temps dropped to around 20 degrees) If building near the coast you are unlikely to get the large day/night temperature swings so solar passive may not be as effective as it is for me. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 492Apr 27, 2016 9:48 pm Stewie D No, the thermal part is a separate lining to the main curtain. You choose the colour and material you want for the curtain then line it with a special thermal blockout material. Personally during the day I wouldn't have the curtains across the windows unless it was a big west facing one that gets a fierce amount of sun on it. Stewie I see. Is this something that a company do altogether? Or do I have to find separate company for the blockout material? Those normal curtains that I looked were polyester (only). Unfortunately, you're right, I have a big west facing window that will get huge amount of sun. Lorri Hi Ciscoarc, are you able to plant in front of that west window? or maybe a lattice screen outside the window or a climber on a frame to block the sun? Or put window tinted film on the glass, I am sure someone said that they had good results on the forum. Lorri Thanks Lorri, I've thought about planting something in front of the window but I'd imagine it would take a while before I can put it to good use? Also with tinting, I assume it'd get pretty dark? I still want a fairly good amount of lights coming in (on winter).. Andy. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 493Apr 27, 2016 10:39 pm Andy, how about shadecloth fastened onto a frame? It would do the job, I made a blind and screwed it onto the fasciaboard? As we had the west directly in front of our living room when we live in Brissie and it was horrible until I did this, maybe it could tide you over until something grew or you found a better idea. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 494May 11, 2016 1:13 pm Lorri Andy, how about shadecloth fastened onto a frame? Thanks Lorry. Partner prefers curtain so it looks like I'm going for curtains. Preliminary quote for thermal coated curtains (for about 7 windows + 2 roller blinds + pelmets) come at around 8000. Ouch. You’re on the right track, wire brush in a grinder then a zinc rich epoxy primer then a top coat of some sort, like a waterproofing membrane. Raising the concrete would… 1 6980 How good is Simeon?! Always taking time to help others out! Wish we were building in NSW and could work together. Thanks for all that you do! 7 6515 Really tight at the top of the stairs- how to get furniture into those rooms? Study books - does anyone really use them these days? Large storage closet would be more functional. 2 6848 |