Help! Acreage style house has to face west to street in hot

Megan Heather · May 31, 2022 12:53 pm

Hi all,

Title says it all.

We have purchased a 1200m2 block in northern suburbs of Adelaide. The developers have positioned the garage on the building envelope and will not budge. This means our house is going to face west to street in a very hot climate. The block is 31m wide and a corner block. So that is over 20 Metres of living areas that are going to have west facing windows. I'm doing the research the best I can and have engaged a professional. I'm wondering if window reveals would work to block the western sun? Deep external window reveals so the windows almost have blinkers on them. Has anyone ever done this? I'm not sure how deep id need to go with the reveals, would 500mm suffice? Thanks!

bashworth · May 31, 2022 1:30 pm

You would need a lot more than 500mm to keep the afternoon evening sun out during summer.

A solution that has worked for me is to keep the windows small and use a reflective film on the windows.

A good reflective fim will keep up to 80% of the radient heat out.

Abit more advice at https://anewhouse.com.au/2021/04/shadin ... g-windows/

Megan Heather · May 31, 2022 2:07 pm

Thank you! Much appreciated.

bashworth

You would need a lot more than 500mm to keep the afternoon evening sun out during summer.

A solution that has worked for me is to keep the windows small and use a reflective film on the windows.

A good reflective fim will keep up to 80% of the radient heat out.

Abit more advice at https://anewhouse.com.au/2021/04/shadin ... g-windows/

stonesthrow · May 31, 2022 3:30 pm

Can you post details of the site and where they're proposing the garage to be? Is the envelope fixed or can you change shape?

Your block is large and if you have flexibility for the rest of the layout you still should be able to make it work well regardless of west being towards the street.

oklouise · May 31, 2022 8:04 pm

Megan Heather

Hi all,

Title says it all.

We have purchased a 1200m2 block in northern suburbs of Adelaide. The developers have positioned the garage on the building envelope and will not budge. This means our house is going to face west to street in a very hot climate. The block is 31m wide and a corner block. So that is over 20 Metres of living areas that are going to have west facing windows. I'm doing the research the best I can and have engaged a professional. I'm wondering if window reveals would work to block the western sun? Deep external window reveals so the windows almost have blinkers on them. Has anyone ever done this? I'm not sure how deep id need to go with the reveals, would 500mm suffice? Thanks!

what is the only location for the garage and does that have to be in line with the driveway or could the driveway curve sideways to the garage? instead of thinking about a wide house facing west...consider rotating a wide house plan to have the house sideways on the block with the living areas to the north and move the garage doors to the side facing west or use a curved driveway with garage doors facing north... there are plenty of suitable house plans that would only need relatively few changes to make the best of the your site and could include an entry porch that could be accessed form either street and minimise the windows facing west ....if you have a favourite house plan we can suggest some variations but something like this might suit Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅

patrik · Jun 02, 2022 12:20 pm

Megan Heather

Hi all,

Title says it all.

We have purchased a 1200m2 block in northern suburbs of Adelaide. The developers have positioned the garage on the building envelope and will not budge. This means our house is going to face west to street in a very hot climate. The block is 31m wide and a corner block. So that is over 20 Metres of living areas that are going to have west facing windows. I'm doing the research the best I can and have engaged a professional. I'm wondering if window reveals would work to block the western sun? Deep external window reveals so the windows almost have blinkers on them. Has anyone ever done this? I'm not sure how deep id need to go with the reveals, would 500mm suffice? Thanks!

As has already been mentioned here, eaves on the west won't work as intended unless they are several meters deep. At which point, you might as well make it a veranda and add some blinds to it to block out the sun entirely. That's because the rays at the end of the day will be hitting your house almost horizontally and what you really need at that point is something that functions like a wall.

You do have several other options:

The best one in my opinion is just because your garage faces west, doesn't mean the rest of your home needs to face west too. Especially if you have the space. Have your living spaces face north and bedrooms face south. On the western side, it should just be utility rooms such as your garage, entry way and things like your laundry.

Another option is to place deciduous trees between the street and your west facing facade. This will block the sun during the summer but will allow you to passively warm your house during the winter if you are in an area that gets cold. In this scenario, you probably don't want to use mirrored windows and the other downside is you need to wait for the trees to mature to really take advantage of it.

Read up on solar passive house designs for a better understanding on how to get the most out of your lot without having to break the bank.

cupcakes24 · Jun 05, 2022 4:22 pm

a large country home style verandah along the front might work.