Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 04, 2016 8:29 am Hi Newbie here. I feel like I'm going in circles with every decision I try to make planning a new house. Our long narrow-ish (in comparison) block faces almost north (22.5-25.5 NNE), so I've put the living areas at the back, bedrooms on the right, west as little as possible etc, but because the house is going to be much longer in the N/S direction and the skillion looks better having the angles visible from the front, the logical place to put clerestory windows is along the spine with the windows facing in the E and slightly south direction. Of course everyone says to have the windows face north for more winter sun but with the layout of the house that doesn't really benefit any room people are going to spend time in, the rear/north of the house already will be windows. My brain can't wrap itself around the sunmap but I don't think winter sun is going to add much with this layout (6:30am to 10:30am), but summer sun will probably hit it from 5:30am to around 12:30pm, depending on amount of shading I suppose. The 3pm summer breezes come from the SE/E direction (BOM) so I thought maybe the clerestory windows would be good to get daylight to the hallways in the middle of the house and help get some breeze in in the afternoons since the bedrooms and hallway block that side from getting through to the back of the house with the thermal mass in the floor. Am I nuts? Should I stick with a 'normal' roof and forget the clerestory idea altogether? Amanda Re: Clerestory windows in a skillion E/W roof 2Mar 04, 2016 8:56 am Hi Amanda, firstly you're not nuts We have clerestory windows and love them. I'm sure others with greater experience than I will give you advice on sun orientation and window positioning. Ours are louvres that can be easily adjusted, you could consider double glazing, tinting, blinds even, endless possibilities really. Consider posting your plans and perhaps where you are building to help with advice. Good luck with it all. Custom build Northern NSW viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72217 Re: Clerestory windows in a skillion E/W roof 3Mar 04, 2016 9:11 am Have you had a good read of these threads... Passive Solar Design in Sydney viewtopic.php?f=35&t=71561 House Orientation viewtopic.php?f=31&t=55057 Stewie Re: Clerestory windows in a skillion E/W roof 4Mar 04, 2016 9:25 am Thanks TraceyWayne, Ah yes, glazing, a whole new world LOL We are building in the lower Hunter Valley NSW. In the temperate climate 5 region but with quite a large diurnal temperature difference all year around and always hotter or colder than the coast just an hour away. http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m40/cuebiyar/property-map---sun-map.gif This is a stripped back googlemap (so north is up) with my plan superimposed and a sunmap over the top. Thanks Stewie D, I'll go read those threads now. Re: Clerestory windows in a skillion E/W roof 5Mar 04, 2016 10:03 am Clerestory windows can give a nice feel to the space, but I think in this case it comes with a price of thermals. You can minimise the impact by keeping them fairly small. They don't need to be big to have a significant impact. Double glazing would help the winter heat loss, and some sort of shading could mitigate the summer heat gain, but would need to be operable to still let sun through in winter. Summer breezes could be a good thing, especially as these would generally be blocked from normal windows by the houses alongside. The problems are though, that it means you need the window to be operable, and I'm a little doubtful about how well it would work as a breeze inlet. In another coastal house near Sydney I had clerestory windows facing west, and it was good for promoting the sea-breeze to vent through from the front windows facing east. I just used a 3 metre length of aluminium angle to slide the sliding window and the curtains as necessary. On most summer days, the western sun entry wasn't a problem as with the breeze blowing through the heat wouldn't build up. That all worked very well, but the caveats are that with an east-facing setup, the breeze flow back the other way may not work as well due to the thermal layering. Also, while my aluminium-angle approach to operability was functional, it's probably a bit too crude for most people. Instead then you need to find ways to open and close the windows and blinds/curtains. The good thing about east-facing is that you can close the blinds in the morning to block the sun, and then open both the blinds and windows in the afternoon to let in the breeze. however, you will need a western opening to let the breeze out, which will be subject to the sun. Re: Clerestory windows in a skillion E/W roof 6Mar 04, 2016 10:35 am Thanks oneJohn, My concerns exactly, will the breeze actually come in since it would be asked to go from ceiling to ground height against potential heat rising from the inside. And I don't really want western windows as that western sun is a killer. I guess I'm hoping it will go SE to NW and exit through the back of the house. I'm not really worried with the solution to how to open them as such (as long as there is one), I'll do what it takes to make the house work well. At least I know I'm thinking up the right potential issues lol How do I work out the right answer? Re: Clerestory windows in a skillion E/W roof 11Mar 04, 2016 8:48 pm Consult a thermal assessor who will be able to tell you the exact data for every scenario...worth the $500 to know exactly how to make the most of your design build. I found one in my new (build) area and her advice has been invaluable! Re: Clerestory windows in a skillion E/W roof 14Mar 05, 2016 9:20 am cuebiyar Thanks deejay08 I hadn't seen that website before! No worries...I used this to find an accredited assessor. The report I received is so detailed and we've had loads of discussions on the best way to achieve the most stars for our climate. You'll be surprised how much windows make a difference! Let us know how you go Re: Clerestory windows in a skillion E/W roof 16Apr 07, 2016 7:41 pm Saig Hi deejay, sorry about jumping in but which energy report did you go for? Thank you. Hi saig, we got a thermal report which was run through first rate software. I got her to run quite a few scenarios for us and each one is detailed with energy usage ratings and recommendations. We got the most we could out of our volume build. Most of which were simple and not costly. We did get insulated glazing units which was $ but worth it. Other than that it was layout, floor coverings and insulation that made some significant changes to thermal comfort and energy usage. As did down lights! Unsealed they drag down the star rating an astounding amount! Re: Clerestory windows in a skillion E/W roof 17Apr 08, 2016 8:30 am With your downlights, just be careful that you choose the right ones. Some of them you can run your insulation completely over the top of them if you use a shroud. Others you can't at all. Stewie Why don't you call and talk with someone at the town planning in your council? 1 2180 There is evidence of water on the head reveals. That could have happened during the build, or may be happening currently. There are water stains above a couple of windows… 2 3830 Personally, considering your layout (study/work desks in bedrooms), I don't think you have any other option but to leave NW windows and make them as big as possible e.g.… 7 10470 |