Would extraction fans be useful? Any other ways?
Sure you need extraction fans, were you not thinking of having them? For the glass itself I've read double glazing is helpful to a degree.
Browse Forums Building A New House Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 461May 01, 2014 7:09 pm Bigblock7 JazzyJess That looks good Bigblock7. The south facing bathroom windows will be prone to condensation but there are ways to reduce that. Would extraction fans be useful? Any other ways? Sure you need extraction fans, were you not thinking of having them? For the glass itself I've read double glazing is helpful to a degree. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 462May 01, 2014 7:11 pm Planning on having extraction fans in the bathroom, not in the other south facing rooms thoigh Build thread http://tinyurl.com/llgc7yk Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 463May 01, 2014 7:22 pm Oh, right, I see what your saying. I'm no expert (apart from personal experience ) but as I understand it its all to do with the heated air inside the house meeting the cold glass, so anything that reduces the temperature difference like doubleglazing or shutters outside helps. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 464May 02, 2014 12:16 am Great will def keep that in mind Build thread http://tinyurl.com/llgc7yk Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 465May 02, 2014 5:27 pm Hi Bigblock7, I actually visited your thread for the first time, before coming here. Nice to see the words "passive solar", wish the phrase was used much more often in other peoples building threads. The plans look great! Living to the north, garage & alfresco to the west, bathrooms to the south, bedrooms to the south & east, perfect! Great to see you have a north facing pergola, not a covered verander, as is often the case. In cooler climates such as yours air locks are a good idea. Looks like you've got that covered, with the mudroom being your most used entry. Talking about mudrooms, do you visit the Houzz website? I've seen some great examples there, & great storage solutions too. Some of the pictures there are way over the top, multi-million dollar mansions, but there's definitely some good ideas too. Another great forum for passive solar design & efficient appliances is the ata forum. Usually I'd say to try & keep wet areas grouped, to limit plumbing runs. Not possible for you though, as you want the mudroom closer to the stables. Last point, I'd try to keep toilets away from bedroom walls, Much better to have the bath there, as it's much less likely to be used late at night. So I'd swap the layout of the ensuite around. Good luck, looks like a great build. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 466May 02, 2014 5:31 pm Talking about glazing, are you having double glazing? Definitely worth considering in your climate. Expensive though. Another suggestion, with or without the double glazing, are honeycomb (cellular) blinds. Much better insulation than normal blinds. Though also expensive Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 467May 04, 2014 12:03 am Thanks ddarroch! It's all a bit daunting but exciting at the same time. Good points re the toilets and bedrooms! We are def considering double glazing, it will all come down to cost in the end, but it is high on the list. I haven't heard about the cellular blinds will go and look them up Houzz and pintrest are fantastic inspiration, hoping to DIY a fair bit ourselves too to save a bit of money, so many ideas from those sites Build thread http://tinyurl.com/llgc7yk Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 468May 17, 2014 1:28 pm Hi bigblock, I was originally going for cellular blinds on my windows but couldn't go past shutters. They are about the same price but the look and better light control won me over. I believe there is a new product instead of double glazing which is much cheaper yet just as effective. Sorry that I don't have the name of the product, it was one of those shopping centre display promos that I went past, looked interesting but didn't end up getting a pamphlet. Maybe you could try googling and see what you come up with? Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 469May 17, 2014 2:40 pm I do love shutters also, will see how we go budget wise! Will look into a few options. Will ask BIL re windows as he works for a window company thanks for the suggestion Build thread http://tinyurl.com/llgc7yk Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 470May 17, 2014 2:51 pm Treeseachanger I believe there is a new product instead of double glazing which is much cheaper yet just as effective. Unless things have changed in the last 15 or so months, there are coated/treated forms of glass (I think Viridian is one brand or product-name that's relevant) that are something like 85% as insulative as double-glazing. However, before getting to that 85% mark, if you've got aluminium frames you're losing heat via the frames - unless they're "thermally broken". UPVC and wood don't have this frame heat-loss issue, and there was a product by one or more of the JELD-WEN companies (Stegbar I think) which was effectively thermally-broken because it was wood on the inside & aluminium on the outside (interior appearance of wood but without the wood maintenance). I'm pretty convinced you're doing your money if you're paying for double-glazed, have aluminium frames, and the aluminium on the outside of the window (ie. exposed to the cold) is the same piece as on the inside. Having said that, I very much doubt you could get single glazing with thermally-broken frames ... Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 471May 20, 2014 4:45 pm Agree with Forg entirely. You definitely require thermally broken frames or you are spending extra and still losing out. Regarding cellular blinds, I was also going these despite the expense - but hadn't taken into account our window handles (sliders and tilt and turn style) and depth and height of the window frame. If you want them to be properly effective they should really be installed inside the window frame to help eliminate more gaps at the sides, also installed outside the frame cosmetically the edges don't look that great. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 472Jun 19, 2014 7:57 am Forg Treeseachanger I believe there is a new product instead of double glazing which is much cheaper yet just as effective. Unless things have changed in the last 15 or so months, there are coated/treated forms of glass (I think Viridian is one brand or product-name that's relevant) that are something like 85% as insulative as double-glazing. However, before getting to that 85% mark, if you've got aluminium frames you're losing heat via the frames - unless they're "thermally broken". UPVC and wood don't have this frame heat-loss issue, and there was a product by one or more of the JELD-WEN companies (Stegbar I think) which was effectively thermally-broken because it was wood on the inside & aluminium on the outside (interior appearance of wood but without the wood maintenance). I'm pretty convinced you're doing your money if you're paying for double-glazed, have aluminium frames, and the aluminium on the outside of the window (ie. exposed to the cold) is the same piece as on the inside. Having said that, I very much doubt you could get single glazing with thermally-broken frames ... Good point! Build thread http://tinyurl.com/llgc7yk Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 473May 26, 2015 3:20 pm Dredging up an old (but once very active!) thread here, but can anyone comment on the below in terms of light and sun - in my plans (keeping in mind we haven't sat down with the designer yet) we have the large windows facing east, with a deck off the back. Highlight windows are above the deck roofing to ensure light still gets into the main living area. We also have high north windows in the plan similar to the picture. The skillion in my drawings has less of a pitch, so the windows are not as big. Block orientation is 15m x 43m, with the 15m side West facing where the garage (theoretically sub-basement, depending on cost) and main bedroom will be - yes the summer sun sets that way, but so does the wonderful sunset view. Rear of the house is the living, so that's the East facing room with the north facing high windows. South side will be bedrooms, with potentially clerestory windows to either the bedrooms / hallways or both. Because of the slope of the block and the width, it's impractical to get the living down the north. Also, would very much overlook our neighbours windows, and I just don't want to go there - keeping the living area to the back means a lot more privacy. Custom designed house.. so much to think about! Anyway, too much detail as I'm basically after comments or information on the below and whether anyone has done it, designed it, experienced it http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g179/Gov45/roof3_zpszkylefce.jpg Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 474May 26, 2015 3:28 pm viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75656 This house is similar to yours with the raked ceiling and highlight windows. Stewie Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 475May 26, 2015 4:17 pm Thanks Stewie, I've read that one (great build, and jealous of the acreage) but their aspect to the living is north, without the deck roofing below the highlight windows. Specifically, it'd be great if anyone has any experience with the deck + highlight windows. We've been through stacks and stacks of houses, but none of them have had quite the same orientation and features. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 476May 26, 2015 4:32 pm So that big wall of windows faces north? It seems like a good idea, although in a way it'd be nice if the floor could be covered in something which catches heat a bit better ... and I think I'd want to carefully calculate the size of the eaves (and maybe the pitch of the roof too!) to ensure sun-blocking in summer yet sun-catching in winter. Also ... where are you? I ask because the big windows can let lots of winter sun in, and the eaves can block summer sun, but if you're a bit further south then those windows will also leak lots of heat unless they're double-glazed & thermally-broken. So if you don't have the funds for double-glazing, you'd need to think about how you'd go with curtains etc; and whether that would ruin the look you're after? *edit* Oh, and with large windows like that, consider what the rooms will be used for & when, eg. watching TV or reading the paper could be annoying depending on which way the sun comes in etc. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 477May 27, 2015 9:54 am Thanks Forg. No the orientation of the large windows with highlight and deck roof is to the east. The high triangular windows would be to the north. Totally understand the need for good thermal sealing and also double or triple glazing (depending on what the budget allows - I'd prefer triple but we may need to settle for double). We'll install blinds (hidden, if the budget allows) on the large windows but not on the highlights. Good point re: the use of the room, we'll take that into consideration esp. with the planning for furniture. The room will be a large kitchen / dining / informal living space. In terms of thermal mass on the floor, understand the principles however we're building on stumps not slab, and will have hardwood floors. I plan on putting underfloor insulation, but this will negate the thermal mass theory I suppose. Still haven't quite figured that one out yet. We're in Melbourne, once the design is done I'm guessing if we can do some shade / sun simulations that will probably be our best guide as to how big the windows should be / pitch of the roof? Thanks for your response Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 478Jul 21, 2015 9:53 pm Thread resurrection ... because I have something possibly worthwhle to report. Our front upstairs room for TV watching faces north, eaves a bit under 2m deep. The room's about 6m x 6m, with 4m of thermally-broken double-glazed stackerS facing north. House construction is wooden frame & brick veneer, and the flooring is tiles over an aerated-cement flooring system. Anyhoo ... we're finding that if we close the doors to the room, even on a cloudy day the tiles are heated & the warmth gets trapped, and the room doesn't get much under 18 degrees by bed-time, in winter. So even though it's a slightly modded project-home; this stuff definitely works. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 479Jul 22, 2015 7:54 am Hi Forg, Glad to hear you're nice and warm in this weather. Just a couple of comments: Forg eaves a bit under 2m deep. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 480Jul 22, 2015 8:45 am No, not just eaves ... but I was trying to simplify the description. We had one of those pointless balconies added to the front of the house, the ones that everyone tells you are useless because they're too small to use for anything ... but we added it mostly for sun protection. So the balcony is about 1.1m wide, then the width of the bricks, then the 600mm eaves, then the width of the gutter. In Sydney, mid-winter, the sun's ... well I've not measured it, and there's furniture in the way, but I'd say the sun shines on tiles about 3m into the room. In mid summer the sun doesn't quite reach the interior floor. Oh, and this room is more NNE than directly north. You're right about the lack of a slab upstairs, but I do find the tiles do a decent job of holding heat for a while (could be the Hebel underneath too). In fact, the heat they hold does seem to have been drawn from the air & not just from the sun directly on them, they feel slightly warm to walk on even where the sun hasn't touched them. This last thing could be imagination; except we ran the aircon for our bedroom just before going to bed on one of the recent colder nights, and even though it's a smaller room with better insulation than the TV room, it dropped temperature more quickly ... I suspect that's the cold furniture & tiles soaking-up that heat. We didn't have a lot of choice given that we were building on a house where the front faced north; front door, garage door, also a side-driveway meaning we were never going to have enough frontage to fully use the sun. However if you were in a position to use north-facing frontage properly, I can see how in a climate like Sydney you could almost get away with no heating at all. We spend most of our sitting-around time at home in the aforementioned TV-watching room, and we've only run the aircon in that room about a half-dozen times this year (and mostly because my wife wasn't feeling well & wanted it warmer than I would've chosen to have it ). 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 7020 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 6550 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 6882 |