Which facing House is best for Sun in Dublin?

kevincool

Hi,
I am not from ireland and now planning to buy a home in Dublin. which facing house(w.r.t garden) is best for sunshine here? IS south west facing garden the best?:

HeidiHeidi

All depends on size and shape.


I'd say west or southwest is best, you get the most of the evening sunshine with that aspect.


I have a really small due south facing garden, and it's too hot to sit out there in the afternoon when the sun is up during the summer, and then thanks to the neighbours big extension the sun is gone by about 4pm.

ETA - I'm talking about back gardens!

Water John

Are you better off with the sun in your back garden and probably near your kitchen?

notharrypotter

Water John wrote: »

Are you better off with the sun in your back garden and probably near your kitchen?

Facing east.
Then you have the sun in the back garden in the afternoon an evening when it is if benefit to you.

South is best if you have a roof full of solar panels though.

Zulu

notharrypotter wrote: »

Facing east.
Then you have the sun in the back garden in the afternoon an evening when it is if benefit to you.

South is best if you have a roof full of solar panels though.

eh what?
OP the Sun is in the south for Ireland. And, it rises in the East, sets in the West.


A South facing back garden will give you the most hours of sunshine, but a southwest is best, as it'll give you more evening hours, which is what most people want as you dont tend to have your BBQ at 5am in September.

Zulu

Also:
http://suncalc.net/#/53.2119,-7.7275,6/2018.11.01/09:16

will give you an idea of sunshine across the year.

Askthe EA

West for me. (Assuming you work 9-5 ish)

It was the only thing, she who must be obeyed and I agreed on when we were house hunting as we both work office hours.

I grew up in west facing and it gets incredibly warm at the back of the house in the evening in summer, I'd probably go for south myself.

Charlie19

notharrypotter wrote: »

South is best if you have a roof full of solar panels though.

I don't get this logic?

The panels would be fitted on the roofs orientation that gets the most sun.

5uspect

Charlie19 wrote: »

I don't get this logic?

The panels would be fitted on the roofs orientation that gets the most sun.

They lie flat against the roof. If your house is south facing they are naturally pointing towards and upwards at the sun.

If your house is east/west facing and your roof slopes that way too you won’t get much out of solar panels.

macnug

Ive a south west facing garden and get direct sun from about noon till near dusk. Can actually be too warm during summer.

jimmycrackcorm

Any direction other than east.
In practical terms if you're working then you'll likely use the garden during the summer in the evenings when the sun is in the west. If your garden is east, you'll get more all day sun but only benefit really at days off.

Which direction your garden is then will determine at which side you should put your seating area.

My own is north facing with decking facing west.

kevincool

Thanks all for the wonderful info. So south or south west are best.
Planning to buy a south facing 4 bed.

hmmm

This might be useful
http://suncalc.net

Spanish Eyes

West/South West is Best. South is great. North is awful unless you have a long back garden.

Marcusm

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

West/South West is Best. South is great. North is awful unless you have a long back garden.

A north facing house would conventionally imply that the back garden is to the south!

awec

Also depends on the landscape around your house I think.

We have bought a house with a north facing garden, but we are also exposed to the west thanks to a large green area. From looking at suncalc, we should get some sun in the evenings in the summer months.

Pkiernan

Are there enough houses for sale that you will have a choice ?

kevincool

Pkiernan wrote: »

Are there enough houses for sale that you will have a choice ?

No. But I am not desperate to buy one soon. I will shop around for atleast a year until I get one.

theteal

We’ve a west facing garden which is great for all day sun. An added bonus is that our bedroom at the front of the house gets the morning sun which makes it a very pleasant place to be when waking up

jaffa20

I am currently living in south facing but it is overshadowed by building and large trees. I don't think orientation is too important. I would prefer a 20m north facing garden over a 5 meters west or south facing.

The Bishop Basher

We’re west facing as in the front of the house faces west. This suits us perfectly as we don’t have a back garden. The front of the house gets the sunshine all year round from about 10am through to sunset.

Our solar panels face the same way and work great in the summer months. Not so well in the winter but they are 10 years in now.

Never understood the rush for south facing as you lose the sun earlier in the day.

Orientation was critical for us as we rented a house that was North / South facing and hated it.

cruizer101

Ours is just 5-10 degrees west of north and I was bit worried but the garden is decent enough size so most of the garden has sun by 2-3 in the summer and the patio beside house is covered in sun by 5 which is when would be sitting out, where as if it was south facing you would start losing the sun then at the time when you probably want it the most.
Front of the house faces south so even in winter on sunny days gets lot of heat in.
Direction can be important but south facing rear isn't necessarily the best. although traditionally thought to be.

awec

Yea in our development the south facing houses all went first.

But, what wasn't apparent from looking at the plans is that the south facing houses are actually a LOT lower than the area directly behind them, the back wall of the garden of these houses pretty much reaches the upstairs windows level. So I think these people will be in for a bit of a surprise when it comes to getting sun.

goat2

South to south west is great, I live in the south west facing home, with one gable with big windows on the south facing gable, during winter when it is giving the sun, this heat the house up,

kevincool

Is south-east facing garden OK. I'm planning to buy No:54 house as in the attached. Will this be OK?

kevincool

Attached.

theteal

kevincool wrote: »

Is south-east facing garden OK. I'm planning to buy No:54 house as in the attached. Will this be OK?

That won't be too bad as you've nothing to the west to block the sun. Directly behind the house will have shade in the evenings during the summer but the end of the garden will get plenty of sun - provided the boundary wall isn't too big

4068ac1elhodqr

South, with a range of 270o GPS reflectors, in the back garden to create a 'dual sun' effect.

Zulu

theteal wrote: »

That won't be too bad as you've nothing to the west to block the sun. Directly behind the house will have shade in the evenings during the summer but the end of the garden will get plenty of sun - provided the boundary wall isn't too big

What (s)he said.
Draw a horizontal line from the bottom corner of the house across the garden, when the sun is setting above that line will be in shadow.
The fact that there appears to be nothing below you (road?) means nothing else will be casting a shadow.


Use suncalc.net. You can overlay it on google maps, and get a good idea. We've an east facing garden, but it might as well be south as there is nothing south of us, so no shadows are cast.

Cienciano

South west is better than south. You'll lose a few hours in the morning that south gets but you'll get a few more in the evening.

4068ac1elhodqr

While the GPS solar reflectors (returning 95% of light & heat) aren't cheap e.g.
https://www.fastcompany.com/1680592/a-mirror-system-that-brings-sunlight-into-the-darkest-corner-of-your-home
are both at least a couple of hundred notes per unit http://cleardomesolar.com/solareflexpanels.html

You can just buy this for 35 notes:
'10m Roll Silver White Lightite Mylar Heavy Duty Strong Highly Reflective Mirror Sheeting Foil, 1.2m Wide'
And attach to concave fixture (not convex unless you're into parabolic outdoor cooking).
Only issue, might get some funny looks from neighbours.

Using GPS units however you can target a dark North window from 30 feet away for 10hrs or so.
Surprised these units haven't taken off in Irish cities that are as far north as Saskatoon or Edmonton, Canada.

Fian

It is not the direction that the back garden faces that is important, it is the shade profile. A southwest facing back garden means teh house is to the NE of it so will cast less shadow on the garden. But if there are trees a the back of the neighbours garden to the south or west of you, or if your neighbours house is close to your garden and Sw of it the way your garden faces is irrelevant.

So you need to work out what is to the South and west of the garden that could cast shadows on it in the evenings, "facing" is only a proxy for that.

dk1982

kevincool wrote: »

Is south-east facing garden OK. I'm planning to buy No:54 house as in the attached. Will this be OK?

How many houses are you buying? 😂Youve said in another thread youre about to buy in Ashfield Swords (a semi-d I presume even though you said in some other thread a while back you wouldnt share a roof with anyone else!) youve also said earlier in this thread you wont be buying for at least a year. Very confusing!!

kevincool

dk1982 wrote: »

How many houses are you buying? 😂Youve said in another thread youre about to buy in Ashfield Swords (a semi-d I presume even though you said in some other thread a while back you wouldnt share a roof with anyone else!) youve also said earlier in this thread you wont be buying for at least a year. Very confusing!!

This was all correct at that time. But this is the latest. I’m buying only one house. So currently it is detached in swords. I hope all is good with this one.

kevincool

kevincool wrote: »

This was all correct at that time. But this is the latest. I’m buying only one house. So currently it is detached in swords. I hope all is good with this one.

Cancelled this one too as there are 10 social housing units coming next to the home.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

If you're looking to buy a new build there will be social housing near it. It's the way it is now. If that's a deal breaker move to looking at second hand homes

kevincool

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

If you're looking to buy a new build there will be social housing near it. It's the way it is now. If that's a deal breaker move to looking at second hand homes

I’m ok with social housing but 10 houses of social just opposite to my home, that’s a big no for me.

Thestones

kevincool wrote: »

I’m ok with social housing but 10 houses of social just opposite to my home, that’s a big no for me.

I would honestly just buy a second hand home and do it up as you like. They are better value, usually bigger gardens and the community is settled, you generally know what your buying into, there are unknowns with how a new estate will go.