Which Way Should Your House Face?

[Naam]

Even though the house is right on the northern most border with Laos and she's from Korat, she's complaining it's too hot. Mum's visiting from Korat and she's too hot, kids are too hot, everyone's too hot. Electric bill has gone up from 500 baht when I was there in January, to over 1,000 due to multiple fans, which only blow the hot air around anyway!

without any airconditioning the house will be too hot no matter how you build it.

[bifftastic]

...the perimeter wall is designed to protect 3 sides from some sunlight

to me it seems your land is too small for that dominating wall Biff. people living in the house will suffer from claustrophobia.

noted

without any airconditioning the house will be too hot no matter how you build it.

this is the house they currently live in, which is a wooden Thai house.

you are designing a place to live and enjoy, at the moment it looks more like a dark, depressing, unhealthy mess.

also noted, although you can't see the large patio doors and I was planning some roof light type windows in the east face, having said that I could rip it up and start again

thanks for the input

Edited April 11, 2010 by bifftastic

[bkkbill]

With Biff apparently doing a redesign and the thinking being minimum 10% window to room area size what would be the optimal window sizing. Bearing in mind no sun hitting the windows.

[bifftastic]

With Biff apparently doing a redesign and the thinking being minimum 10% window to room area size what would be the optimal window sizing. Bearing in mind no sun hitting the windows.

personally i think it depends what the room is for. Some people like a lot of light in their bedroom, for instance. I prefer my living space to have more light and i'm not convinced about any 10% rule. Depends what you like surely?

[doggie888888]

With Biff apparently doing a redesign and the thinking being minimum 10% window to room area size what would be the optimal window sizing. Bearing in mind no sun hitting the windows.

personally i think it depends what the room is for. Some people like a lot of light in their bedroom, for instance. I prefer my living space to have more light and i'm not convinced about any 10% rule. Depends what you like surely?

Sharing my own experience here.

My bedroom faces west, but has windows on 3 sides, so perhaps windows account for almost 50%. West also happens to be the breezy side of the house. When I moved in, the bedroom was always hot, eventhough there was a veranda of about 1.5 meter on the outside such that there is no direct sun on external windows/walls except in late afternoon when the sun is at low angle. I planted trees and palms like crazy and now 2 years later, there is even less direct sun on the external walls and windows. The result is that the room is always cooler than the rest of the house, and because of the windows, tends to cool down fast in the evenings. I do not use air con to sleep except perhaps on the hottest of nights (maybe about 5 times a year max). I guess by accident, this is passive cooling? Windows to catch breeze, plantings to provide shade, low thermal mass due to more windows than walls.

On the east side of the house, where the living areas are, I have wider verandahs. Again windows on 3 sides, so it is very open. It is less breezy on the east and unfortunately there are also fewer options to plant shade trees de to space constraints. I feel this part of the house is hot...the breeze is not strong enough to provide a cooling effect, there are no trees to shade the roof. The morning sun heats up the area despite the wide veranda. I tried closing up the living areas to exclude hot air coming in, but this works until midday when it gets as hot as outside. In hindsight, I think perhaps a better insulated roof/walls/fewer windows may be better here to provide a cave effect because I have been to a neighbour's house where she closes up during the day and opens up at nights only resulting in a cooler interior. I guess her "envelope" insulation is better as very little hot air gets in.

I am still confused which is better in this heat and humidity (particularly around now where even the breeze/air outside is hot)...a very open breezy so-called passive colling design or a very well insulated envelope aka cave design. The former depends on having a breeze that's not too hot, although I think lots of trees may cool the air a little?

Anyway, good luck to the OP in getting a cool house!

[splitlid]

With Biff apparently doing a redesign and the thinking being minimum 10% window to room area size what would be the optimal window sizing. Bearing in mind no sun hitting the windows.

good question, and obviously as the room sizes are unknown, im presuming you are talking about the general height of the windows, and not specifics. its all gotta do with the angle of the sun at midday on the longest and shortest days and other things.

there is a relationship between the eaves overhang,height of window sill etc, as shown in diagram.(example only)

of course the bigger the eaves then the less sun you will get on your windows.

[splitlid]

personally i think it depends what the room is for. Some people like a lot of light in their bedroom, for instance. I prefer my living space to have more light and i'm not convinced about any 10% rule. Depends what you like surely?

yes you are correct, in thailand you can pretty much have what you like, building codes in other countries vary and the % rate varies in those countries.

however, the codes are there for a reason and are basically set up to improve lifestyle and living.

personally i like alot of light, with the doors and windows can be opened if required to allow ventilation, large eaves or verandas keep the sun off. .

its going to be your house so do what you feel is best for you, but, having the walls close to the house and no windows, prevents ventilation in and around the house. at the moment your not limited by space as you dont have a plot. your original question was about what is the best orientation, optimum orientation is a luxury that alot of building plots dont have, so if you can get it,then you are already minimising the effects of the sun on your house.a few other factors will reduce the effects even greater.

get designing

[bifftastic]

personally i think it depends what the room is for. Some people like a lot of light in their bedroom, for instance. I prefer my living space to have more light and i'm not convinced about any 10% rule. Depends what you like surely?

yes you are correct, in thailand you can pretty much have what you like, building codes in other countries vary and the % rate varies in those countries.

however, the codes are there for a reason and are basically set up to improve lifestyle and living.

personally i like alot of light, with the doors and windows can be opened if required to allow ventilation, large eaves or verandas keep the sun off. .

its going to be your house so do what you feel is best for you, but, having the walls close to the house and no windows, prevents ventilation in and around the house. at the moment your not limited by space as you dont have a plot. your original question was about what is the best orientation, optimum orientation is a luxury that alot of building plots dont have, so if you can get it,then you are already minimising the effects of the sun on your house.a few other factors will reduce the effects even greater.

get designing

thanks for your comments i find them very useful. I've already scrapped the perimeter wall idea and am in the process of deciding what's right and wrong in function and look with what i'd started with. All this input from you guys is really helpful.

[PomMichael]

Great thread - I'm also in the beginning stages of designing a house on land.

I found Google Earth V.5 to be a good tool to look at the properly and align the house and check sun angles. It even has a tool to check the sunlight on the location.

What is the best way to make your own passive solar north marker (besides camping out on the land on 21st/22nd June and again 21st/22nd December)?

[splitlid]

Great thread - I'm also in the beginning stages of designing a house on land.

I found Google Earth V.5 to be a good tool to look at the properly and align the house and check sun angles. It even has a tool to check the sunlight on the location.

What is the best way to make your own passive solar north marker (besides camping out on the land on 21st/22nd June and again 21st/22nd December)?

i would use the internet, local knowledge, gov. agencies, local universities, the monk down the road. just for starters. that sould give you most of the info you need.

[JimShortz]

One thing that we all need to consider when designing houses to be cool is how we will shade our East, South and West windows and walls. To be ablew to plan properly you need to know the sun's angle in the sky at different times of the year. Here's a simple (and accurate) way of calculating the sun's angle for your location that I found at http://andrewnetherton.wordpress.com/2007/...overhang-design

SUN ANGLE = 90 – (LATITUDE) +/- 23.5

For example, Chiang Mai is at 18.5 degrees N latitude, so:

the sun's altitude for the winter solstice = 90 – 18.5 – 23.5 = 48 degrees

for the summer solstice = 90 – 18.5 + 23.5 = 85 degrees

When trying to provide shade for the South side of the house it is then this angle of 48 degrees that's of real interest to us; being the maximum angle that the sun will reach at solar noon (actually about 12.30pm) on December 21st - it's a tough job providing shade to deal with this...

[Gary A]

Some of the more spiritual people insist the the front door of the house must face east to greet the sun. All I know is that our master bedroom faces west and gathers heat all afternoon until the sun goes down. The air conditioner has to run a couple of hours to cool it down before we can go to bed. It's a good thing the house has a one meter overhang or it would be worse.

[PomMichael]

for the summer solstice = 90 – 18.5 + 23.5 = 85 degrees (95) degrees

Thanks! Exactly what I was looking for!

[KarenBravo]

Before the invention of air-conditioning, all houses around the world in the tropics had many things in common to ensure a cool house.

1. On stilts to stop ground temperature transfer and to protect against termites.

2. Large over-hanging eaves to keep the sun off the walls.

3. Rooms with tall ceilings, typically over three metres, so that the hot air was above head level.

4. Large volume roof that was well ventillated to stop heat build-up.

5. House orientated to catch the prevailing winds.

I used all these techniques and don't use any air-conditioning. I rarely have to use fans.

[bryanlunadelacruz]

Hello guys,

Just thinking of my condo in Bangkok, I always choose the room with the bedroom windows facing the east side.

Reason behind is that the sunlight can also work as an alarm clock to wake you up in the morning.

I work from 7-4pm. The sun will be shining in my bedroom wherein I will be out most of the day. when the sun is about to set in the afternoon it will be at the other side. The other door or other room will get the sun shining in his bedroom (the hottest time from 11-5.30pm). By the time I go back home, there;s no more sun shining and the room temperature is bearable. It will be a total opposite at the other block. The time he reaches home, his room will be very humid and will definitely turn on his AC and fan to cool his room.

I might do the same thing I I will build my own room. Isn't great to get first ray of of the sun in your room.

Well the other side of my house might be a garage, store room ,kitchen or the garden.

[juehoe]

I am living in a resort in Khao Tao, near Hua Hin. All our houses long sides are facing north/south (see here).

We have a common garden in the middle so the main terraces of one row faces south, the other north. The floor planes are also "mirrored" so that the master bedrooms are facing to the morning sun or to the evening sun.

• The terraces facing south are fare more hotter than the nort-facing ones - even both are well shaded.
  
• The master bedrooms towards the morning are cooler in the evening, but heat-up in the morning.
  
• It is better to place the bed not near the outer wall.
  

[Gary A]

I used to go to a restaurant that was built in the middle of a pond. It had perforated piping laid along the roof ridge with water continually running across the roof on both sides of the ridge. I don't know how much cooler it was inside but it always seemed comfortable. The owner spoke good English so I asked him how much it helped with the heat. He said it seemed to help some but the main reason he did it was to aerate the water for his fish. His customers liked the sound of the water and throwing food over the railing and watching the fish eat it.

[bifftastic]

I am living in a resort in Khao Tao, near Hua Hin. All our houses long sides are facing north/south (see here).

We have a common garden in the middle so the main terraces of one row faces south, the other north. The floor planes are also "mirrored" so that the master bedrooms are facing to the morning sun or to the evening sun.

• The terraces facing south are fare more hotter than the nort-facing ones - even both are well shaded.
  
• The master bedrooms towards the morning are cooler in the evening, but heat-up in the morning.
  
• It is better to place the bed not near the outer wall.
  

Glad to see this thread is still alive! (I'm still planning, just got other stuff to deal with in my life at the moment)

I see you have some construction photo's on your picassa site there juehoe, good advice as well, danke sehr