Which Way Should Your House Face?

[bifftastic]

Here in the UK 'south facing' is seen as a bonus. We don't get much sunshine so it's regarded as a bonus if the garden or terrace or whatever, is South facing to get as much light as possible.

I imagine in Thailand these priorities are different.

I'd be interested to hear peoples opinions on this.

If you were building a house (I know many of you have already) what would you take into consideration when deciding which way the front/rear of the house should face?

I should point out that I am in the very very early stages of planning a small house build and want to make this one of my first decisions, after all, once it's built I can't turn it round if I don't like it!

My first thought was to have a terrace or patio in front of a long living room facing East to catch the sunrise (I do love a sunrise) but then, I do love a sunset too!

Anyone built a house and sat on their new terrace and thought '...hmm maybe I should've had it facing the other way...' ?

BTW it will be in the far north of Chiang Rai province if that makes any difference

Thanks in advance for input, look forward to reading your ideas.

Biff

[splitlid]

you should build it on an east to west axis, facing which ever direction to best utilize the summer and winter suns.northern hemisphere is south facing, southern hemisphere is north facing.

google passive solar design.

this is a passive solar north marker. it is specific to Perth australia, and not to be used for thailand, but you could make one up to suit your area. and then you can decide on your layout.

[bifftastic]

thanks for the map. If I were building in Perth I'd still go North-South and face East for the morning sun.

[splitlid]

of course people are all different and the passive solar design example i gave is the optimum position etc.

why not design the house so that it runs on a east to west axis but have the living area on the end so it gets the sunrise.

no need to move the house, just move the rooms.

[bifftastic]

of course people are all different and the passive solar design example i gave is the optimum position etc.

why not design the house so that it runs on a east to west axis but have the living area on the end so it gets the sunrise.

no need to move the house, just move the rooms.

good idea, all ideas are 'on the table' at the moment. Very interesting results from googling passive solar design, thanks for that

[Naam]

there is no rule. each and everything depends on the individual floor plan of the house.

[splitlid]

actually, house design is obtained from many factors, given to the designer in a client brief.

they include:

style

budget

quality

site

lifestyle

time restraints

blah

blah

blah

passive solar design is something that is incorporated into the design to make the house better.

[jackr]

I'd say south-facing for the warmth in 'the cool' beings as you're up in CR and have a terrace on either side. Whatever you go for, make sure your bed headboard points north/northeast or you'll get dizzy.

[flying]

I should point out that I am in the very very early stages of planning a small house build and want to make this one of my first decisions,

Anyone built a house and sat on their new terrace and thought '...hmm maybe I should've had it facing the other way...' ?

Very good that your thinking ahead.

I am a builder & when asked this question I usually give some input but...What I think is best is have the client go & sit on the property at different times of day/year ...if time permits & see what they think.

It is after all their home/ finger print so they should do this. Your lucky that your thinking in advance & have time to do so.

Because as you know at different times of the year sun placement will change.

You can go & sit approximately where your house will be & it will even help you with your window placements. You will see where the sun rises & perhaps want your dining/breakfast area there or bedroom...who knows.

You can also see wind patterns & place your windows ventilation that way to your advantage too.

Good to see you thinking ahead !

Most folks just face the front door to the road & call it good.

Edited April 2, 2010 by flying

[canopy]

Choosing the orientation of a house is an extremely important factor that is often overlooked. Thailand is hot all year round in the daytime which simplifies passive solar considerations. Correct orientation will allow a house to be cooler. To minimize heat, face the house north. If the house is rectangular rather than square, face the narrow side on the south face to minimize the heat profile. The nice things about optimizing house orientation is that it makes a big difference, is free, requires no maintenance, and lasts forever.

[Beardog]

I would avoid putting your bedrooms on the western facing side. From 2:00- 5:30 your rooms can get quite hot. No need to change all the plans as mentioned before just place your cool rooms where you want them. Our new house will get am sun & the only areas that get afternoon sun will be the internet room second bathroom & the dining room all shaded by fruit trees. The outside veranda area will bee the only area with full sun & I may put an awning on that area. It is surprising how much extra heat the sun will generate. If your in Chiang Mai area or somewhere cooler you may want the sun in different rooms. In Pattaya area you tend to want to hide from the sun or have a lot of air conditioners to make up for it.

Best thing to do is hang out on the property & see where the sun hits & put a plan together from there.

[mdechgan]

In Thailand the west is the most hottest side and area especially in the afternoon and evenings.

Be careful of the west side. It should have plenty of shade and insulation.

If possible minimize the windows, plant some big trees, and design the roof to slope away from the west.

If possible make sure the windows on this side are double glazed and the walls are double walled.

[bifftastic]

Thanks for the replies

my original thoughts are; bedrooms in the middle, under the highest point of the house (with the roof pitch above), living area to the East and bathrooms/utility rooms on the West side. Great idea to go sit there and see how it feels/imagine the place after it's built.

Any tips for an inline resource to get some basic sketches/plans going? I've started with floorplanner dot com ...it's free but any other suggestions gratefully received.

Cheers,

Biff

[Jimi007]

Most Thai houses in the south, I'm at 7º N latitude, face East to West. According to the Chinese your head when you sleep should point east. My bedrooms are on the north side of the house with the beds at the east end... It's Fung swei (spelling?)

[Jimi007]

Most Thai houses in the south, I'm at 7º N latitude, face East to West. According to the Chinese your head when you sleep should point east. My bedrooms are on the north side of the house with the beds at the east end... It's Fung swei (spelling?)

[Maestro]

...It's Fung swei (spelling?)

Feng Shui. And the main entrance door should also face East, I believe.

--

Maestro

[wpcoe]

Feng Shui. And the main entrance door should also face East, I believe.

And not directly/closely face a stairway nor be in a direct path to the rear exit, as well, I believe?

[CDNinKS]

Do not forget to consult a monk first if your wife is Buddist........I had things all sorted on how the houses were going to sit on the land and then was told something about "3 corners" on the small house (intersections of roads). Then the main house had the front door facing west.......apparently this is VERY bad, so I was able to turn house plan so the front door faced north. All good now? No, because then the master bedroom was planned with the head of the bed facing west.......no good

Apparently west is where the ghosts go or something like that.......not sure, but if you don't want a problem in the future be sure to have the monk approve things first.

[wordchild]

Do not forget to consult a monk first if your wife is Buddist........I had things all sorted on how the houses were going to sit on the land and then was told something about "3 corners" on the small house (intersections of roads). Then the main house had the front door facing west.......apparently this is VERY bad, so I was able to turn house plan so the front door faced north. All good now? No, because then the master bedroom was planned with the head of the bed facing west.......no good

Apparently west is where the ghosts go or something like that.......not sure, but if you don't want a problem in the future be sure to have the monk approve things first.

Yes bed-head to the west is a big no-no for thai/chinese!

[bifftastic]

Do not forget to consult a monk first if your wife is Buddist........I had things all sorted on how the houses were going to sit on the land and then was told something about "3 corners" on the small house (intersections of roads). Then the main house had the front door facing west.......apparently this is VERY bad, so I was able to turn house plan so the front door faced north. All good now? No, because then the master bedroom was planned with the head of the bed facing west.......no good

Apparently west is where the ghosts go or something like that.......not sure, but if you don't want a problem in the future be sure to have the monk approve things first.

Yeah the monk will be consulted, she goes to the Wat from time to time but I wouldn't say she's particularly devout, had the motorbike blessed and her father in law consulted the monks as to the best day for her nephew to get married (turns out it's April 14th so it could be a wet wedding!) having said that her sisters house has the door facing west, so does father in laws house, bed heads all face east. I think they all just consult the monks/go to the Wat etc. for 'good luck' rather than any buddhist motivation, haven't seen her meditating, I have seen her appear to be in that completely peaceful 'living in the moment' vibe where no outside influences can affect her state of mind or interfere with her focus and concentration... but that was when the Thai soaps were on the TV!

I think the monk may get an extra envelope from me and have the whole design explained to him before the consultation...you never know, it may turn out that the design is 'spot on'

I will check out any land for 'bad luck' before buying it...we were already offered one piece of land but in the same breath her father in law said it was a bad luck plot, apparently, some time ago, someone nicked it from the Wat. Current owners thought they might offload it on the farang... much shaking of heads and 'mmmm mai dee' all round so that was a non-starter!

To be honest, I don't think it will have the standard kind of 'front door' at all, more likely to be a rectangular block with a long living space at one side, bedrooms in the middle with bathrooms off them to the rear (the hot side) and a kitchen area to the side nearest the street/road with a kind of walled off walkway as an entrance/corridor type arrangement. As it is forming in my mind (subject to change as all the best plans should be) what you will see from the outside is a wall with a gate in it, the short side of the rectangle facing towards you.

I've seen some homes in Spain, Italy and southern France that have like a cloister type arrangement under the eaves of the roof with low walls, running down the sides of the house and a few different doors to enter the house from but no set 'front door'

It will appear unassuming and not flashy and I want it to blend in with the surroundings, so it all depends where the land is I guess.

Early days

Oh, if west is where the ghosts go, that should be ok, that's where I come from!

Edited April 2, 2010 by bifftastic

[trogers]

Location Chiang rai? Basic direction - back of the house to face the mountain, and the front door on the opposing side. You will not want the approach to your front door to slope into the house. Living area and main bedroom at south-east and east respectively to reduce air-con bills.

[bifftastic]

Location Chiang rai? Basic direction - back of the house to face the mountain, and the front door on the opposing side. You will not want the approach to your front door to slope into the house. Living area and main bedroom at south-east and east respectively to reduce air-con bills.

Thing is, the mountains are kind of in both directions, this was taken slightly to the South of the village half way up what was referred to as a mountain (actually a very large hill i reckon but hey) and those you can see are to the North and very much in the distance. If I were thinking of building really near a mountain then yeah, back of the house toward the mountain, but seeing as they kind of loom in the distance I can't really see the advantage of orienting my house with them in mind.

And I agree, with Mae Nam Kong 50 metres from sister in laws front door, I don't want anything sloping anywhere toward any aspect of my property. Aside from the potential flooding risk, all the chickens would gravitate towards us!

[147SAG]

Do not forget to consult a monk first if your wife is Buddist........I had things all sorted on how the houses were going to sit on the land and then was told something about "3 corners" on the small house (intersections of roads). Then the main house had the front door facing west.......apparently this is VERY bad, so I was able to turn house plan so the front door faced north. All good now? No, because then the master bedroom was planned with the head of the bed facing west.......no good

Apparently west is where the ghosts go or something like that.......not sure, but if you don't want a problem in the future be sure to have the monk approve things first.

Too late for me the front door of the house faces the West.But my bedroom should be the coolest room, just gets the morning sun then is shaded the rest of the day on the northside,also useing the bigger blocks to keep the house hopefully cooler,60x20x20 Cpac.Living room should be ok as well and kitchen.

[tutsiwarrior]

our rear terrace faces east and is uncomfortably hot this time of year...we've installed blinds to shield the eating area and the kitchen or they would be unusable...

I'd say with a new house simply put in double wall construction and you could orient the house anyway you like with good cooling efficiency, also have some sort of shading arrangement for the windows and ventilate the ceiling space...

[xerostar]

I designed our house in LOS with a verandah (under the main roof on every side), so no matter which side is facing the sun,

there is always a cooler place to sit. (mainly the North side)

That said, I found that having a concrete raft or slab (that includes the verandah) was a bad idea.

Thai style houses made from wood, raised off the ground on stilts must be much cooler, allowing cooling air to flow underneath.

Wood has a low thermal conductivity, but steel reinforced concrete has a much higher figure.

http://www.matbase.com/material/other/conc...rete/properties

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-...vity-d_429.html

The use of concrete for building houses is cheaper than wood (and defeats the termites) but the design has to be very well thought out to avoid the house becoming yet another "hot box".

In retrospect I should have laid an insulating material over the entire slab to insulate the rooms from the warm concrete, before the ceramic tiles were

installed. What material would be best suited? Somebody may have the answer ..

The sun shining directly on any part of the verandah (mornings or afternoons) causes the concrete to stay warm (29 Celcius) nearly year round.

The heat seems to transfer through to all rooms. Even though the walls are Superblock and remain cool to touch, the floor is the hottest part at night.

We're on a farm where people get up at sunrise. So having the bedrooms facing East was an easy choice.

We have planted a row of shade trees on the west side to shield the verandah from the afternoon sun, but they will take a few years to become effective.

The south side is well shaded by a nearby shed with 3M high walls.

In the meantime I am going to install roll-down blinds on the edge of the west-facing verandah. I might install them on the East side too.

Unfortunately we will then need to constantly make adjustments to the blinds depending on the sun's position and to consider which way the breeze (if any) is blowing.

Needless to say, the airconditioner gets a lot of use in my bedroom! electricity bill:

BTW , please add my comments to your "what not to do" book.

[Beardog]

I designed our house in LOS with a verandah (under the main roof on every side), so no matter which side is facing the sun,

there is always a cooler place to sit. (mainly the North side)

That said, I found that having a concrete raft or slab (that includes the verandah) was a bad idea.

Thai style houses made from wood, raised off the ground on stilts must be much cooler, allowing cooling air to flow underneath.

Wood has a low thermal conductivity, but steel reinforced concrete has a much higher figure.

http://www.matbase.com/material/other/conc...rete/properties

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-...vity-d_429.html

The use of concrete for building houses is cheaper than wood (and defeats the termites) but the design has to be very well thought out to avoid the house becoming yet another "hot box".

In retrospect I should have laid an insulating material over the entire slab to insulate the rooms from the warm concrete, before the ceramic tiles were

installed. What material would be best suited? Somebody may have the answer ..

The sun shining directly on any part of the verandah (mornings or afternoons) causes the concrete to stay warm (29 Celcius) nearly year round.

The heat seems to transfer through to all rooms. Even though the walls are Superblock and remain cool to touch, the floor is the hottest part at night.

We're on a farm where people get up at sunrise. So having the bedrooms facing East was an easy choice.

We have planted a row of shade trees on the west side to shield the verandah from the afternoon sun, but they will take a few years to become effective.

The south side is well shaded by a nearby shed with 3M high walls.

In the meantime I am going to install roll-down blinds on the edge of the west-facing verandah. I might install them on the East side too.

Unfortunately we will then need to constantly make adjustments to the blinds depending on the sun's position and to consider which way the breeze (if any) is blowing.

Needless to say, the airconditioner gets a lot of use in my bedroom! electricity bill:

BTW , please add my comments to your "what not to do" book.

You know there is a quick fix to shade while your waiting for the real shade trees to fill in. We found that Taw Kobe trees will fill out a real nice shade canopy within 4-6 months. We used the Taw kobes to shade as well as fruit berries. They can get a little messy when they get older. If you were to grow your trees & give it a little distance from the Taw kobe trees & when your trees are big enough knock down the Taw Kobe trees it would give ample shade. That is how we started our first house. we had 7 trees & are down to 2 now.

[Naam]

Choosing the orientation of a house is an extremely important factor that is often overlooked. Thailand is hot all year round in the daytime which simplifies passive solar considerations. Correct orientation will allow a house to be cooler. To minimize heat, face the house north. If the house is rectangular rather than square, face the narrow side on the south face to minimize the heat profile. The nice things about optimizing house orientation is that it makes a big difference, is free, requires no maintenance, and lasts forever.

that is an incorrect assumption. as the "long" sides have to take a big heat load from in the mornings and late afternoons when the sun is for a long time "low" whereas the heat load from the south is less due to the sun standing "high" in tropical and subtropical countries.

[canopy]

that is an incorrect assumption. as the "long" sides have to take a big heat load from in the mornings and late afternoons when the sun is for a long time "low" whereas the heat load from the south is less due to the sun standing "high" in tropical and subtropical countries.

I have yet to see a source mention this factor, but it is a tantalizing counter argument to ponder. It would be nice if someone made a calcultor for this like they have for solar panel pitch and such that takes into account all the various factors that could influence making this call.

[bifftastic]

That said, I found that having a concrete raft or slab (that includes the verandah) was a bad idea.

Thai style houses made from wood, raised off the ground on stilts must be much cooler, allowing cooling air to flow underneath.

Wood has a low thermal conductivity, but steel reinforced concrete has a much higher figure.

Yeah I can see how the slab would transfer the heat into the house, duly noted.

The wooden Thai house whilst the idea may be to let the air circulate, is basically, non-controllable temperature-wise. A thin skin of wood as a wall means that if it's hot outside it's hot inside too (and vice versa up north).

The Thai constructions I have seen, both online and in real life, have had the roof structure built first, creating a large sun canopy over the whole building, including flaring out to shade the areas outside the house as well. Then the walls and rooms are added inside that canopy.

In the West we build the walls as the structure and stick the roof on top to keep the rain out.

I'm thinking of mixing both styles, the roof structure acting like a large sun hat with the pitch changing lower down to form the 'brim' as it were.

Then rather than having the rooms raised off the ground, go for a more western style ground-floor construction with a high vaulted ceiling space and vent the hot air up near the top of the roof. Double walls, good quality blocks, insulate the roof.

I reckon most builds go over budget, I know everything in Thailand heads that way too! So I'm thinking it can go up in stages. Get the roof up and the water in/out (septic tank and piping for where the bathrooms will be) electricity supply, then go for phase two, (Thai) kitchen, family bathroom and two bedrooms, one with en-suite one without, water tank and pump installed. Meaning it will be habitable. Pause for breath and go water my money tree. Add the master bedroom and big long living/dining area as phase three. This phase will have most of the windows/patio doors etc. and more tiles than you can shake a stick at and, hopefully, include all the finishing touches which always cost more than you thought they would.

Then sit back and admire everyone elses work (no work permit so I guess I'll just have to watch )

Sounds easy doesn't it?

Anyway, it's forming in my mind and on floorplanner dot com!

So, the first tentative steps down a road with land purchase, Amphur visits, plans to be drawn and approved, lawyers, usufructs, family members all chipping in their two 'penneth, builders doing everything differently than the plans, 'my country not you country' much smiling whilst thinking 'farang ba!' monks chasing off ghosts and telling me to face my bed in the right direction and not start building until the day everyone needs to go and work in the fields, falling out with the missus so we have a house but no relationship.

Can't wait!

[Jim's_a_Thai_Fox]

To the OP,

Is there a temple nearby? That might dictate the bed location within the rooms and therefore maybe the location/placement of the actual bedrooms. My friend's bed had his feet pointing towards the temple (nearly 1km away but visible over the fields) and he was strongly urged to change his design by the builders (and the wife) to ensure that this wasn't the case!

For my preference, I love a sunset (never up to see the sunrise) and so have a western facing terrace/decking + purchased 5 mature trees to provide ample natural shading for the house.

Cheers

James