Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 05, 2017 9:25 am Hi there, I hope this is relevant enough to the sub-topic, if not I'm sorry! Let me start by saying I live in Brisbane, where the weather is generally always quite warm. We are looking to buy land to build a house, but I am struggling to understand the benefits of a Northern vs a Southern facing block. It seems pretty much the standard belief that Northern facing houses are the best, but I don't fully understand why. Here's my thoughts... People say a Northern house will be warmer and that a Southern facing house will be darker and might get condensation. This makes no sense to me. Whether the house is North or South, the block itself is the same direction, and the sun travels the same path. And whether the sun travels from the right to the left across your block OR the left to the right, I don't see how it makes a difference. Why would a Southern house get condensation but Northern wouldn't? Wouldn't you get the exact same problem just in the opposite end of the house? I don't see how the position of your front door creates condensation The only difference I can see is that the afternoon sun (hotter) would hit the right side in one, whereas the other would get the hot afternoon sun on the left side. I don't see the difference. I've also seen people say that it is more about where your living area is. If you have outdoor living etc at the back, you want a south facing house (yard facing north). Again, how does this get any more or less sun if the sun is still going ACROSS the block regardless of North/South??? I'm also unsure whether these apparent fears of "condensation" are really just more applicable to places like Melbourne where it gets quite cold, whereas Brisbane is always warm? And when people say they want sun in the backyard, I think this is a very open statement that can be misleading. My current home is Western facing, but our yard is on the side of the house facing North. The yard is rectangle with the long parts of the block pointing West/East and as a result, the yard gets hit with direct sun-light pretty much ALL day. This might sound great in theory to some, but it makes it pretty much impossible to play with the kids outside from about 9am onwards in summer. The biggest factor for us wanting to move is so that our backyard is bareable in the hotter months for our kids to play. But at the same time we don't want the yard to be "cold" because the sun never hits it. We want a pool too, so I'm not sure what is most ideal for this. I'll sign off by just repointing out that we live in Brissie, so the sun is hotter than possibly where you are all from. Sorry for the long rant/unspecific question, I just can't make sense of this, hoping someone can clear it up! Quick question about land orientation 2Oct 05, 2017 9:43 am The error in your logic is that the sun travels the same path - it does not. The sun travels a different path in summer and winter, slow moving from one to the other and back again during the year. The orientation of the block and house is just one aspect - house design to make best use of the orientation is the other. Please have a read of the link and if you have further questions, post back and I'll try and answer. Trust me, this is the most important thing you can right or wrong about buying or building a house. http://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/orientation Edit: I have owned homes in Brisbane and Townsville too. Re: Quick question about land orientation 3Oct 05, 2017 10:01 am arcadelt The error in your logic is that the sun travels the same path - it does not. The sun travels a different path in summer and winter, slow moving from one to the other and back again during the year. The orientation of the block and house is just one aspect - house design to make best use of the orientation is the other. Please have a read of the link and if you have further questions, post back and I'll try and answer. Trust me, this is the most important thing you can right or wrong about buying or building a house. http://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/orientation Edit: I have owned homes in Brisbane and Townsville too. Hi mate, had a look at the article and that is way more detailed than anything I've been able to come across thus far, thanks! It is quite difficult to follow through though. To clarify, I'm looking to build a project home and am fairly set on the build that I want. So it's a matter of finding out what sort of block would suit best for this house. Perhaps this isn't something I'm going to be able to research myself... Is there someone I could contract to look at the block/project house design and suggest what would be best (without hiring an architect who probably wouldn't be interested if not being hired to design the house)? Or do you think I could figure this out? Re: Quick question about land orientation 4Oct 05, 2017 10:50 am djblurr Hi mate, had a look at the article and that is way more detailed than anything I've been able to come across thus far, thanks! It is quite difficult to follow through though. To clarify, I'm looking to build a project home and am fairly set on the build that I want. So it's a matter of finding out what sort of block would suit best for this house. Perhaps this isn't something I'm going to be able to research myself... Is there someone I could contract to look at the block/project house design and suggest what would be best (without hiring an architect who probably wouldn't be interested if not being hired to design the house)? Or do you think I could figure this out? I like to think that this stuff is pretty basic, so anyone should be able to figure it out - but then I see people stuff it up all the time. Are you reasonably intelligent and are you prepared to invest a little time in planning what will be one of the most expensive decisions of your life? If so, you can figure it out. Building advocacy services are not very common in this country as Australians have not yet come to terms with paying for the knowledge others have developed (“she’ll be right mate” attitude is still alive and well). However, you might find someone who does provide such a service alone, without also designing or building your house. That said, what help has the project building company said. They build these all of the time so surely they could offer some advice, or perhaps they are only interested in taking your money? Last resort, post the floor plan and some images of the house you have you heart set on here and take a chance with a bunch of strangers on the Internet. Re: Quick question about land orientation 5Oct 05, 2017 10:52 am arcadelt djblurr Hi mate, had a look at the article and that is way more detailed than anything I've been able to come across thus far, thanks! It is quite difficult to follow through though. To clarify, I'm looking to build a project home and am fairly set on the build that I want. So it's a matter of finding out what sort of block would suit best for this house. Perhaps this isn't something I'm going to be able to research myself... Is there someone I could contract to look at the block/project house design and suggest what would be best (without hiring an architect who probably wouldn't be interested if not being hired to design the house)? Or do you think I could figure this out? I like to think that this stuff is pretty basic, so anyone should be able to figure it out - but then I see people stuff it up all the time. Are you reasonably intelligent and are you prepared to invest a little time in planning what will be one of the most expensive decisions of your life? If so, you can figure it out. Building advocacy services are not very common in this country as Australians have not yet come to terms with paying for the knowledge others have developed (“she’ll be right mate” attitude is still alive and well). However, you might find someone who does provide such a service alone, without also designing or building your house. That said, what help has the project building company said. They build these all of the time so surely they could offer some advice, or perhaps they are only interested in taking your money? Last resort, post the floor plan and some images of the house you have you heart set on here and take a chance with a bunch of strangers on the Internet. Haha thanks mate. I'll upload the floor plan soon, I didn't think to ask the builders but I might do that too. Re: Quick question about land orientation 6Oct 05, 2017 11:30 am I work in the building industry and live in brisbane and orientation is all down to capturing the prevalent breezes and making the most of the northern aspect as this is usually seen a small more "desirable" in brissie no matter the season. Because we are subtropical the sun always travels around to the north (unlike up north in cairns I think where a small sort of the year the sun actually is to the south too!)
It is a personal preference but living areas to the north are usually lighter, brighter and due to sun angles (higher in summer and lower in winter) you will oftentimes be shaded in summer but get some lovely sun into your living spaces in winter. Having you backyard to the south isn't a bad thing either but it will be cold and shady and be aware that in summer you will get the hot afternoon sun beating in from the south west. The front or south facing block is a bit confusing - i take it that just refers to where your driveway comes off the street. But all house plans are different so just looks at yours and where your living areas are. Also take a look at your exact block - are there significant trees to provide shade or hills/rises to block breezes. Go out and stand on your block a two different times of day. Re: Quick question about land orientation 7Oct 05, 2017 12:10 pm We live in the Moreton Bay region and have bought a narrow block of land with the front facing south east. We have designed the house with the living areas on the northern side and outdoor living on the northern side. I don't think it really matters which way the block faces as long as you design the house to suit the block. We have always found that during Winter, the sun in more to the north and during Summer, the sun is more to the south. So that way the outdoor living areas will be warmer in Winter (with more sun coming in) and cooler in Summer when the sun is on the other side of the house. The house we live in at the moment faces West, so again the outdoor living area is on the northern side to be warmer in Winter and cooler in Summer. I don't think it matters which way your house faces, as long as the design works. We are buying a house off the plan which works for our block, but sometimes you can just flip them to make them work. Re: Quick question about land orientation 8Oct 05, 2017 12:45 pm Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Here's the basic floor plan provided by Porter Davis. In addition to this, there would be more alfresco at the back (behind the theatre/family area). Behind this would then be a pool as well. As well as this, the wall in the family room which is facing the backyard, is large windows, see image below, so I think it might be pretty important for me to work out how to best handle these windows. I don't want the sun beaming in through them in the middle of summer. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ So I'd say the living area is mostly at the back (kitchen, family, outdoor, pool). Based on this, sounds like I would want a Southern facing house (i.e. backyard faces north). Am I right in saying the backyard will be warmer in winter and cooler in summer? Re: Quick question about land orientation 9Oct 05, 2017 1:31 pm As long as the outdoor area has more of a northern aspect than southern aspect, it will be cooler in Summer and warmer in Winter. You can always reverse the floor plan if you need to. Take the plan with you when you are looking at blocks and see how it would work on the block. Re: Quick question about land orientation 10Oct 05, 2017 2:14 pm bestspecials As long as the outdoor area has more of a northern aspect than southern aspect, it will be cooler in Summer and warmer in Winter. You can always reverse the floor plan if you need to. Take the plan with you when you are looking at blocks and see how it would work on the block. Bingo. It’s that easy! 1. Roof cleaning and paint - which colour do you recommend? I often see black/ dark grey in use these days but I would prefer… 0 8310 Yeah I don't know why I came to a forum. Place is full of wierdos/pedos thought internet may help but I suppose I'll try my luck with someone in person. Cheers. I tried… 0 6390 Need advice on the backyard plan above. Should I excavate and cut all of the dirt to level with the house slab or semi-excavate as per photo above? Both left and right… 0 24829 |