RENOVATE | Best orientation for your home

The best aspect for your renovation

Aspect or orientation, what is it and why is it important?

After the year we have all had I am sure there are a few of you that have realised how much or how little natural light you are actually getting being home all day. Or perhaps you haven’t noticed that but you have noticed that when you are inside all day your mood isn’t fabulous. While that can be to do with a lot of other things natural light and fresh air have a lot to answer for!

Northern sun - direct sun throughout the day. With your main living areas facing towards the north you will guarantee maximum brightness throughout your home. In winter the sun will be lower in the north and higher in the summer. This allows us to design our window treatments (blinds, curtains etc) and our overhangs (eaves, awnings etc) to block the summer sun but allow the winter sun in.

Eastern sun - direct, morning sun that can be cooler than it’s setting, western counterpart. 

Southern sun - no direct sunlight therefore will be quite dark.

Western sun - hot, afternoon sun that needs to be managed to make sure you aren’t baking yourself in summer.

The sun tracks higher in the sky during summer and lower to the north in the winter. This allows us to get clever with our eaves, overhangs and window treatments to let in light during winter and control it during summer.

Speaking to a few of my friends who are either looking to move into a new rental or looking to buy, one of my favourite things is getting sent a floor plan and being asked for my “sun report”. Basically what this means is that I look at the floor plan, the location and the orientation of the windows and the living spaces and let the prospective tenants or buyer know how much vitamin D they will be getting.

I also look at this a lot with my clients who are planning bigger renovations and while we are making the most of their floor plan we pay particular attention to how the rooms are set out with the sunshine they are getting in their property.

One of my pet hates is when you hear sales people saying that a house has a “northerly aspect”. All houses will have at least one aspect facing north (therefore a northerly aspect) but it matters which part is facing north. For example the northerly aspect of a home might be where the laundry, bathrooms and garage are located but that doesn’t help us to get natural light into the main living areas of the house.

Now if it was me looking to rent or buy something, my ideal orientation would be to have my main living spaces/kitchen facing north, a bedroom with either a north or easterly facing window to wake up to the sun and an outdoor space or deck to the west to watch the sunset. This ideally leaves the south facing side for very functional spaces like laundries and bathrooms. 

If you would like to be enlightened to the aspect of your home, book in a free 30minute chat with me and I can explain the orientation of your home to you and where it can be maximised.