Browse Forums Building A New House Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 281Aug 26, 2012 1:27 pm ^^^ Whichever allows most Northern sun into living areas. Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 282Aug 26, 2012 3:18 pm Deemaree ^^^ Whichever allows most Northern sun into living areas. Mr Chook - My thoughts exactly! Garages sit higher than houses (like ours) and lower than houses (like many others). If you can move position of the garage don't worry about the small slope. SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 283Sep 30, 2012 9:18 pm for passive big windows east dont help much because the sun isnt that hot when it is still low in the morning sky. that is why we get living rooms facing north. leighton at clark new homes. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 284Sep 30, 2012 9:54 pm Actually leighton, east facing windows do help-especially if the thermal mass of the house is considered. A room with morning sun streaming through ( especially in the winter) initiates the houses capture of solar gain-which is then enhanced with north facing living areas. Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 285Sep 30, 2012 9:58 pm Yeah agree with Dee - but avoid west windows completely if you can Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 286Oct 01, 2012 12:31 am greenfish Yeah agree with Dee - but avoid west windows completely if you can Still undecided about dimensions of south facing windows- some say make them small to keep heat in, and keep cold out- others say you shouldn't cos of light and cross ventilation issues; our south breezes here are cool, so good for summer but not so good in winter. What do you think? Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 287Oct 01, 2012 9:19 am It's a compromise for sure. We made ours smaller but they are still a good size. For our south bedrooms for example, we didn't go floor length. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 288Oct 01, 2012 9:29 am You should avaoid South facing windows, or lots of them anyway. although in saying that, our view are sth facing so we will have some fairly large windows. But it is a comprise. We will have double glazed and curtained windows. Plus we have HUGE nth facing windows that cover the entire floor area of the living room. So hopefully that will help. Minimal windows to the west and all will have a shutter. The rooms on the west are all amenities, so no worries about heating up bedrooms in summer and the bedrooms will get the nth easterly sun in winter! Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 289Oct 01, 2012 11:08 am Thanks for comments. Our west rooms are amenities as well- laundry and main bath. It's the south facing kiddies bedroom that I worry is going to be cold- also tv/computer room. I will either have double glazed windows or use cellular blinds. Hope this is enough. Don't really want to resort to room heaters!! Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 290Oct 01, 2012 11:31 am south rooms are an issue! double glazing far outwards blinds so it would be worth at the very least putting them in your sth facing windows. our house will have no heating or cooling. so was really important that we design it with no sth rooms. or the rooms that were facing sth also had a northern aspect. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 291Oct 01, 2012 11:40 am I am gong to check out yr build, ktotherose! Can't imagine north and south facing aspect except on a long profile E to W house....? or pod home. Intriguing. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 292Oct 01, 2012 7:39 pm We have some windows which are in the South-West quadrant. They are 1800mm x 2100mm-which is fantastic for the late afternoon winter sun. We don't have double glazing ( would have loved to-but not in budget!) but do have lined curtains on the windows. You will find that ventilation will be important for rooms in this area if you don't have double glazing as condensation can be a problem without adequate ventilation. Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 293Oct 05, 2012 7:12 am Quote: Still undecided about dimensions of south facing windows- some say make them small to keep heat in, and keep cold out- others say you shouldn't cos of light and cross ventilation issues; our south breezes here are cool, so good for summer but not so good in winter. What do you think? If you can make these windows higher rating then they will not leak heat in during summer nor let heat escape in Winter so you can make them bigger to let a lot more light in. Stewie Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 294Oct 05, 2012 1:09 pm Just a quick note that we designed our house with cool house warm house designs in mind, passive solar design (eg. living areas facing north), cross ventilation, solar panels, thermal mass etc and it is working a treat! We moved in a few weeks ago and have not used the gas heater at all, and the fans are working perfectly on the hot days. We don't have any air conditioning in the house. SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 295Oct 06, 2012 12:37 pm Yay T!!! We did the same - and moved in at the same time as T. We are in a colder climate here though, so have used the heater - but hardly at all compared to my old house where it would have been running almost FT. Can't wait to see how summer goes Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 296Oct 08, 2012 10:50 am Is there any web site that you can find which way the wind blows for a particular suburb...its good to position the house to catch the breeze but I guess you need to know where the breeze mostly comes from. Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 298Oct 08, 2012 12:22 pm Here is a snap shot of the eco friendly design elements we incorporated into our house: - North facing windows for all living areas (and luckily bedrooms as well) - Extended roof eaves calculated for summer sun - Deck roof over Eastern sliders to prevent harsh sun (although we do still have two small windows on the East which do not have eaves ) - No windows West, plus sarking on the Western walls (this is a biggie) - Sarking on all roof areas (this one is important too) - Insulation in all walls - Cross ventilation design (eg. windows and doors across from each other, big one side small the other to create the air tunnel, including high louvres upstairs to help extract the heat) - Solar panels for gas boosted hot water - Tiling in the living room downstairs facing north - lovely and warm on the colder days (this is where we would have had polished concrete if our budget had allowed for it) - pretty standard, but rain water for toilets, garden taps and washing machine (I was surprised to learn that a lot of people only connect to toilets and garden taps, not washing machine also) - Weather seals on doors - Thicker window glass (5mm - although i can't take credit for this as it was done as a result of the window company saying we needed it for fire rating. I still don't actually think we did, as we are only BAL 12.5). All working a treat. SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 299Oct 08, 2012 12:28 pm secur_ed I can't find any zoom-in on that site ... if I want "Ryde", the closest I can get is "Sydney" ... which doesn't look to match what we know is going-on at our house. Am I missing something? Re: House Orientation - Cool house in summer, warm in winter 300Oct 08, 2012 12:44 pm "Wind roses which show the frequency of occurrence of wind speed and direction are available on this web site for 81 selected locations around Australia which have a wind record of at least 15 years" So not every suburb has one. I'd imagine houses, hills, trees, etc will have an effect but generally these wind directions will apply to the whole of Sydney. 0 606 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 7031 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 6567 |