Garden orientation for sun on new house.

geeovana

HI,

We are due to complete on this house in the coming weeks:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69886084.html

We had been looking for approximately 6 months in the area before we found this house as it was important to us to have a south facing garden. Google maps shows it to be a little more East than it looks to be when standing at the house with a compass. It is near enough South facing. I think around 170 degree so would say South South East.

We are moving from a West West North garden and have enjoyed sitting out until 7:30 - 8 pm in the summer months for BBQ's etc.

What are you opinions on how much evening sun this garden will get? I predict we will have sun on the back of the house until around 4 PM in the summer months and then it will begin to swing around to the front. Because the garden is long I am envisaging the bottom of the garden will be in the sun in the evening. Do you agree? I am planning on taking the garage out of the bottom of the garden.

Slinky

Best bet is to go and take an evening visit now when the sun's out...... It's early in the year still obviously, but it'll give you a pretty good idea.


It looks as though the garden slopes from the right to the left (which won't help you) as well as top to the bottom. That garage slot could be nice and sunny, but may not be if the neighbouring house and the slopes work against you.

geeovana

Slinky wrote: »

Best bet is to go and take an evening visit now when the sun's out...... It's early in the year still obviously, but it'll give you a pretty good idea.


It looks as though the garden slopes from the right to the left (which won't help you) as well as top to the bottom. That garage slot could be nice and sunny, but may not be if the neighbouring house and the slopes work against you.

Thanks.


Yes I visited yesterday and when I got there around 6 pm it looked as though the sun was still on the garden, but the hedge was casting a shadow due to the sun still being low.


It's difficult to predict the angle of the sun during the summer months.

Oxid8uk

Try this link:

http://suncalc.net/#/53.7543,-1.4761,20/2019.04.03/18:49

Our last house had a south facing garden which was approx 20m long. We lost the sun at the back of the house at around 4.30/5pm at the height of summer. We did get sun at the end of the garden but we were on a slope with the houses higher than the garden so the sun did dropped behind the houses earlier than say if the houses where at the same level or lower. I can't remember what time that happened though as we didn't really use the bottom of the garden as it was quite overlooked.



We now have a NW facing garden and prefer it so much more.

[Deleted User]

geeovana wrote: »

Thanks.


Yes I visited yesterday and when I got there around 6 pm it looked as though the sun was still on the garden, but the hedge was casting a shadow due to the sun still being low.


It's difficult to predict the angle of the sun during the summer months.

Its probably just the time of year. We have a lot of shadows at the moment which come summer we barely notice. You'll always have areas of your garden that will get shadowed from the house, hedges, sheds etc. As long as you have a nice spot that catches the sun most of the day where you can fit some loungers/table & chairs then you'll be good.

hazyjo

Mine's east facing and we have a small patio outside the back doors which gets sun early on, and a larger patio at the bottom of the garden which we use all the time which gets sun all afternoon into the evening. Works well for us, and isn't overlooked down there. The smaller patio is in shade for most of the day.

ProDave

That house is not ideal as the main living room faces north and will never get the sun.

If I did buy it I would want to take down the wall between the dining and living rooms, and then use the front end of that combined room for dining and the back, sunny end of the room as the living room.

For most families out at work all day, a south west garden is probably better than south so you still get evening sunshine.

Silvertabby

Our garden is east facing. If we want to sit outside, we use the main patio next to the house until the afternoon and then the smaller patio at the back of the garden in the late afternoon.

East facing is also ideal for a conservatory, should you decide to go down that route. We use ours all year round, whereas a south facing one would be like a greenhouse in hot weather!

markin

You can't go by magnetic north

This will give a better idea, LS26 0LX
https://www.pvfitcalculator.energysavingtrust.org.uk/

Google Maps North

Google Maps use a variant of the Mercator projection for its map images. The Mercator map was designed as an aid to navigators since straight lines on the Mercator projection are loxodromes or rhumb lines - representing lines of constant compass bearing - perfect for 'true' direction.

True North on Google Maps is not shown, but for a normal Mercator projection, grid north and true north will coincide and it will follow any vertical line (or meridian) to the top of the map.

https://setcompass.com/TypesofNorth.htm

getmore4less

ProDave wrote: »

That house is not ideal as the main living room faces north and will never get the sun.

If I did buy it I would want to take down the wall between the dining and living rooms, and then use the front end of that combined room for dining and the back, sunny end of the room as the living room.

For most families out at work all day, a south west garden is probably better than south so you still get evening sunshine.

We love our north facing living room no mater how hot it gets in the summer it stays cool.

if it is nice enough outside we can go out and have a "living room" there then the dining area kitchen access is handy for stuff when alfresco eating.

In the winter the living room get any very early morning sun or late evening sun in through the bay window for a bit of solar gain if we want tit.

Davesnave

ProDave wrote: »

That house is not ideal as the main living room faces north and will never get the sun.

Our last house had the same orientation as the one under discussion, but a patio where its immediate neighbour is enjoyed the evening sunshine along with the front garden.

The main problem in the living room was sun into the bay window beside the TV late in the day, but not a huge issue, thanks to curtains being invented.

'Ideal' depends on the individual and may even change over time. Personally, I love having a north-facing live-in kitchen/dining space to retreat to. It's also not everyone who wants to bathe their children in ultra-violet; look at all the schools that have introduced outdoor shade measures in the past 20 years.