How should you place a house on a lot to minimize the heat of the sun?

Question

facing north, south, east or west?

Answer 1

Hi,

If you want to minimize heat gain in the summer and still get passive solar heating in the winter, then you want to have the majority of your windows on the south side of the house.

Windows on the south side of the house should have overhangs above them to shade the window from the high summer sun, but allow the low winter sun to come in.

Windows on the east and west side of the house are difficult to control solar gain on.  The sun is relatively low when it is shinning on these windows, so overhangs above the windows don't work.  So, you should minimize east and west facing windows, or plan on providing some form of outside shading form them (trees, rollup shades, or trellis).  You could also use windows with a low SHGC (Solar Heat Gain Coefficient) on the east and west, but shading on the outside is more effective.

Windows on the north side of the house will not gain a lot of unwanted heat in the summer, but they do lose heat in the winter.

You should also try to find out the prevailing wind direction in the summer, and have windows on the opposites sides of the house in the direction of the winds that you can open for ventilation.  Also consider a whole house fan -- very effective it if cools down at night.

Some tools and ideas you might find helpful on my website:

Solar Homes:

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Sol...

Have a look the "Design Guides" part -- some of these are written for warm climates -- e.g. the North Carolina guide.

Passive Cooling:

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Coo...

Lots of info here on various passive and efficient active cooling -- shading schemes ...

Overhang Design:

http://www.builditsolar.com/References/S...

The Sustainable By Design window overhang tool listed here is very good and easy to use tool to get the depth of shading overhangs above a window correct.

Also, download a "Sun Chart" for your area on this same page.   This chart shows you the path of the sun in your area for the full year.  If you study this a bit you will see why the windows facing south approach works well.

The advice above assumes you are in the northern hemisphere -- if not, reverse all the norths and souths.

Gary

Answer 2

Face north. Sun rises in the east, moves across the sky to the west. Much of the day, heat comes from the south.

Answer 3

you should be having a professional figure it out.

Answer 4

You will want the long side of the house to face north or south to keep it cool, east or west for warmth.

Answer 5

The South and West are where the heat rolls in from.  Large trees shading those sides of your home will help.  Spending days in a finished basement below ground will allow you to keep the upper floors warmer until retiring in the evenings.  Have the large windows facing North and East.  These will need to be insulated in the Winter so don't go overboard.  Attic fans help be preventing a layer of heat from sitting on your top floor.

Answer 6

If I remember correctly:

The wall with the most glass should face North - that's good light (try to use double pane windows to avoid heat - not just here but all over the house)

The house footprint should be located with the long direction running in the East-West axis (and therefore these should be the walls with the least openings) - sunlight will cause heat and not to mention glare - placement decreases heat gain

The South elevation/facade should be well thought out as to how many windows/openings you want - most houses only have a porch and few windows here.

The book below might be a good resource to look at - your local library might have it.

Answer 7

The orientation of the house is a minor factor.  Much more important are these things (and others):

The type of window used.  Arranging overhangs to shade the windows in summer, and let sunlight in in winter.

Light colored roof.

Planting deciduous trees on the South side so as to shade the sun in summer.  Planting evergreens on the North side to block winter winds.

Really good insulation and attic venting.

There are professionals who know a lot about how to do this.

Answer 8

If you are on a slope that faces south, with trees, you will have shading in the sunniest side of the house. In any case. angling the house on the lot so that the sides don't face directly into the cardinal directions will help breezes cool the house.

The windows on the south should be minimal, and if you have trees on that side it will help too.

If you are in a hot climate, having part of the house "inside" hill, or partly underground will help cooling. It's also good if the winters are severe--a natural insulation.