House Facing West

[DaveM]

Hiya!

Have found a house that will do nicely as a new PPOR. Has everything I am looking for (doing a reno will keep me entertained).

My only real issue with it is that it faces north west, with 3 bedrooms and lounge having a westerly aspect. Kitchen and family room face east, with nothing facing south and one bedroom facing north. The backyard and pool are an easterly aspect and oriented north-south on the block.

I have lived in places with westerly bedrooms before and they are warm in the evenings in summer but also nice and warm in winter.

Just wanted to get thoughts on the westerly aspect of it, there are any real issues apart from heat in summer. There are awning blinds and trees in front of the westerly windows, and the house has ducted aircon.


Thanks
Dave

 

[datto]

A house may not be too bad.

I remember walking into a top floor unit that faced west and in summer it was llike walking into a sauna.

Some low bushy trees on the front of the house will help keep it cooler.

 

[wylie]

Our main bedroom and living rooms face north west. When we first bought, I immediately wanted to remove the old metal venetian blinds. Thank goodness I didn't.

The very front would have once been a narrowish verandah, but long ago was enclosed with windows. When we renovated about a year after we moved, we replaced the front windows with two large sets of french doors and three sets of windows. So the whole front is glass but we added a three metre verandah on front of that.

The verandah stops the sun and heat from reaching the glass and makes a huge difference. The house stays cool. Before we renovated, as soon as the sun hit the glass in the windows I had to close the venetians to minimise the heat.

Our bedroom had corner windows, but we closed them and built a five window box bay. We installed aluminium lockable louvres (double as fantastic security - we leave bedroom windows open most of the year).

Our bed is pushed into this box bay, which means we just reach up and change the angle of the blind to control air and light.



If you can stop the sun hitting the glass via a verandah or secondary roof somehow, you will be fine. Our house is high up and breezy.

We do have a small split system AC in our bedroom (only installed last year) but the louvres made a big difference to summer afternoon sleeps, and the air-con makes it great. In a Brisbane summer, the other bedrooms facing east are too hot for having a nap but the one facing west is hotter (until the louvres are closed).

 

[Ausprop]

personally I hate being in the shade in the afternoon - I prefer it to be bright and sunny

 

[DaveM]

Thanks all. The lounge and one bedroom that I would use as my home office have an awning/carport in front of them which is a good thing judging by the above, though they do cut out light. I was going to look at replacing some of the roof sheets with polycarbonate to let more light in.

The house is single storey so sounds like some shrubs will be of great benefit as well as street privacy.

 

[INVSTOR]

Just don't use clear polycarbonate. My hubby replaced one sheet of ours (previosly a whitish sheet) it feels like you are walking through a sauna.

 

[devank]

Generally house eves cover the top part of the window. How about tinting lower section only?
I bought silver wrapping paper. Going to stick that outside the window and see if that makes much difference.

 

[westminster]

Hiya!

Have found a house that will do nicely as a new PPOR. Has everything I am looking for (doing a reno will keep me entertained).

My only real issue with it is that it faces north west, with 3 bedrooms and lounge having a westerly aspect. Kitchen and family room face east, with nothing facing south and one bedroom facing north. The backyard and pool are an easterly aspect and oriented north-south on the block.

I have lived in places with westerly bedrooms before and they are warm in the evenings in summer but also nice and warm in winter.

Just wanted to get thoughts on the westerly aspect of it, there are any real issues apart from heat in summer. There are awning blinds and trees in front of the westerly windows, and the house has ducted aircon.


Thanks
Dave

I imagine the family room will be coolish in the winter if it's facing east. The awnings and trees will help with the westerly windows - if you can get some tinting on those windows too.

 

[sports fan]

ive always stuck to the principle of buying north facing properties might it makes them so much more livable. my inlaws have a west facing house which gets belted by the sun and storms they have ac going all summer long if the house was on the other side of the street it wouldnt need ac

 

[Ideo]

Houses you can get away with.

I'm currently renting a west/north west facing apartment. It has a 3m deep balcony (covered) but even so gets very hot in the afternoon.

 

[INVSTOR]

I have a property with kitchen corner facing west. It has a large patio on both sides, and the walkin pantry is in the corner so it's actually not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Half of the house has pull out blinds on the outside of the house over the windows. I think they make a big difference also.

 

[wylie]

Investor's post reminded me of our first house together. We had two bedrooms facing west. We tried Verasol blinds which were good at stopping the heat from getting past them into the room, but only when the windows were shut because they lost their shape with the breeze blowing them about.

We paid for aluminium louvres set far enough out to allow the casement windows to open fully, and had a winder inside. As soon as the sun hit the glass, I wound these closed enough to stop the sun. Breezes flowed in and around them, kept the place cool but kept the sun off the windows. No good for security though, and I love the louvres we have now. I'd install them at any future house in an instant.

 

[Angel]

Thanks all. The lounge and one bedroom that I would use as my home office have an awning/carport in front of them which is a good thing judging by the above, though they do cut out light. I was going to look at replacing some of the roof sheets with polycarbonate to let more light in.

The house is single storey so sounds like some shrubs will be of great benefit as well as street privacy.

Rather than poly sheets on your carport, you could install a skylight to the office to make it lighter.

Our home has two rooms at the back which cop the western sun. Wonderful in Winter, but awfully hot in Summer. We installed a large screen across the entire back of the house and planted a row of trees in the park behind us. The trees take a while to grow and can be a hazard if there is not much land. If you have the space, you might consider a deciduous tree.