I have a question which is undoubtedly very dumb but what the hell.
"South-facing" always seems to be sold as the best way a room can face, I think for maximum sunlight.
As the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, I can see how an east-facing room would be sunny in the morning and a west-facing one sunny in afternoon/early evening, but I don't understand why south-facing is considered to give you the most light.... surely the sun is never directly shining on the window then? Why doesn't north-facing give good light?
Sorry if this is a very dumb question but I just don't get it!
South facing gardens get the sun all day, as that is where the sun comes from, the south. Think of the equator line, that is where it is hottest, and look on a world map, you will see the sun is south of little old England.
I have never heard that south facing rooms are the best only south facing gardens. It is to do with the amount of sun the garden gets and therefore the range of plants that will grow there and the amount of time that you can sit comfortably in the sun.
My south facing room gets the sun most of the day and the north facing room never has the sun shining through the window. I sit out at the front (north facing) when I want to cool down and be in the shade.
South facing rooms are brighter and therefore feel cheerier.
**Just wants to pass some time without any hassle**
I think someone said "There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers".
The sun does not move from the east to the west by travelling in an arc right over your head. It moves in an arc that you can watch in front of you as you look south (but higher in the summer than the winter). That's why it shines on a south facing wall, but not a north facing one.
It is important to think about what you want when buying property. I owned a flat that faced south and was much too hot and sunny. I kept blinds and curtains closed for a heck of a lot of the time to stop all my furniture and rugs getting ruined. I much prefered a friends that faced east and had big bay windows. Her flat was always light during the day as the curtains could always be kept open, without it getting so hot.
Funnily I was wondering about this myself. You always hear about South facing but never West or East facing. I guess the rear of my house must be south facing. The sun comes up somewhere over to the left as you look out the back. When it's low in the mornings it will shine on the windows of the houses opposite mine then by around 11am it's starting to shine on my back yard. I then have the sun out back until it goes down, save for some shadow from the wall later on. So the kitchen and the back bedroom get sun all day (and can get pretty hot but less so since I had the double glazing - how does that glass work at keeping cold out and heat out depending on the time of year?) and the living room and front bedroom keep nice and cool on hot days.
*It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them. -- Pierre De Beaumarchais
A south facing room or garden will get the maximum amount of sunlight as the sun moves round, and in the winter in England, when the sun is low, this can make quite a difference. In the summer, when the sun is higher in the sky, it is not so obvious. In fact, right now virtually all of my garden is in the sun and it's not even 10am. Having a bungalow helps too! By the way artists always prefer a north facing room as the light is least variable in that direction.
Wombat, West is often sold as the best aspect for a garden - you will get the sun at the bottom of the garden in the morning, and it will gradually move up so that the whole of the garden is in sun in the afternoon, evening sun on the patio (other buildings/trees etc permitting).
The house we recently bought has a north-south aspect. I prefer it to east-west because you have the option - you can have both nice cool north facing rooms in the summer, along with warm south facing ones. With east-west, you have morning sun on one side, then afternoon sun on the other, so it can get baking in there in the summer. Whereas in a south facing room in high summer, the sun is too high in the sky to get very far into the room, but of course at cooler times of the year the sun is lower in the sky so you get more of it through south facing windows.
I prefer an East - West facing home. My old flat had the bedroom in the East, so I was greeted every monrning with glorious sunshine, but by the afternoon the room cooled down, so was not over hot to sleep in in the summer.
My garden, on the other hand, was cool enough to work in first thing, but for most of the day was bathed in glorious sunshine, including the evenings, which were long and warm in the summer, and at least less chilly in the winter.
South / North homes have one side that never gets a break from the sun, and another that never sees it. I prefer the balance of an East / West house.
Ary.
-------------------------------------- ***Do not, I repeat Do NOT feed the Trolls! *** *** All Hail the mighty hamsters! ***
Originally posted by wombat20: I complete on my house next Thurs and app it's a west facing garden. So will this be okay for sunshine?
Yes.
The back facing west is my preference, although it does mean that any kitchen facing the back gets too hot on summer evenings. Its my preference cos I like to look out on the garden and see the sunsets...
As well as being lower in the winter the sun doesn't go as far round. It rises less easterly and sets less westerly. When I was renting a flat with a south facing sea view the summer sunsets were out of sight to the right. In winter the sun set over the sea in full view, pretty spectacular...
We've got a west facing back garden which gets the sun all day & is lovely. Our previous house had a south-facing back garden, which was also lovely, but the north-facing lounge windows meant for a very dark room. On balance I'd say I prefer the East-West arrangement.
We've lived in both. But at this point we're trading our sunny west-east for a north-south with water views. I don't think it really matters, but you are a bit more restricted in decorating the north facing rooms. You'll have to stick with creams and warm colours and definately minimize the cold colours (blue).
One question you should consider with orientation is degree of exposure. South facing walls receive the sun all day. The sun rises in the east and tracks across the sky to the south setting in the west. A north facing wall is therefore in shadow much of the day and an east wall receives morning sun but can be in shadow for the rest of the day . The prevailing weather comes from south and west i.e. wind driven rain from Atlantic fronts will drive against those walls. This can cause more rapid weathering in pointing, joinery and paintwork. Softwood windows on a south and west elevation will usually rot before those on north and east. Obviously if you face south-east you will get some weathering from the southerly angle. Damp penetration through the walls (as opposed to rising damp) is more of a problem on southerly and westerly facing sides particularly in pre 1920s houses with 9" solid or rat trap bonded walls. badly insulated northern elevations may be more prone to condensation internally. Hope this is useful. I like a house with east and west aspects; you get the morning sun at the east end and the sun moves around to the west side in the evening (if not shaded by other buildings or trees). A south facing room can be unbearable at height of summer.
Our garden faces north-east. That means we get the best of both worlds. The rooms at the back (kitchen and dining rooms) are nice a cool, the rooms at the front are nice and warm and the garden is 100' long so we get the sun all day anyway.
___________________________
There are 10 types of people in this world, those that understand binary and those that don't.
I am going to be the only person, so far, to champion a north facing garden. That is if it is long as mine is (oh-er) most of it is pretty much south facing (after the shadow cast by the house), and you get sunlight throughout the day. Also the front of the house gets good sunlight and if its too hot you can always seek shelter in the back of the house. It also lends itself to a cooler conservatory in the shade round the back.
A south facing room can be unbearable at height of summer.
I don't find that at all. In summer the sun is so high in the sky that it barely touches the interior of a south facing room. Whereas in east and west facing rooms it reaches right to the back of the rooms. My last e/w facing house was sweltering on a hot day, whereas the two s/n facing houses I've lived in have been much cooler.
It is my opinion that the best feature, sun wise, to have in a house, is that the bathroom faces towards the east with an unblocked view. That way, you get the sun shining in the bathroom window as you get up in the morning, and it is nice and cheery, just when you want it so.
My current house (my 4th) is my first one like that, and I would not change it for anything and if I had to move it would be an important feature to look for. Of course my wife thinks I'm nuts, but men take longer in the bathroom in the mornings.
I have a long North facing garden in a forest of bungalows. The garden is sunny virtually all day long and we can sit on our patio without being baked or blinded. Don't have a conservatory...
All Hail the mighty hamsters! 
