Good idea to take a compass when viewing houses?

lou49

Morning everyone. We want to move from our house (east facing back garden which has always annoyed me) When viewing houses, should we not take a compass and what is the best, easiest and most moneysaving kind?

Also - am I correct in thinking that a house with a north/north west back garden is not good as there is too much shade and the back of the house tends to be cold? My dh thinks this doesn't matter but I particularly like to sit out in the garden in summer, have BBqs and so on..

Thanks
Louise

Doozergirl

You can look at map links through rightmove etc. There are aerial views there so you can see which direction your garden faces (North is always up). That is free.

North/north west would be shadiest but it also depends on how big the garden is. If it's a big garden it won't make much difference. Consider as well that north/north west rooms are also likelier to be colder and darker. Our house is quite large and it's particularly noticable that the front rooms are colder. Luckily they aren't the main living areas, so it doesn't matter very much.

West facing is nice if you like to sit out of an evening.

ixwood

Yes, finding the orientation is a must. South - South West is best for a garden. North facing would only get morning and evening sun (assuming the east and west are clear of other building, fences etc.

You don't really need a compass. The sun starts in the east and moves round to the south and then sets in the west which should be enough to get a good idea.

And at night/evening the plough points at the north star, which is er.. north!

And moss only grow on north side of trees.

ixwood

It's also worth bearing in the mind the house itself. A house with most of it's windows facing south will effectively be Solar heated and a lot cheaper to heat. All other facing windows give a net loss (Northa facing windows are bad/the worst).

It sounds a bit far fetched but I have an old place with most of the windows on the south side and the sun heats the house into the 20's on a nice sunny day in winter.

Nearby trees that will block the sun in summer are good as well to help keep it cool.
Unheated extensions (conservatories, sunrooms etc, porches. Or room for) on the south side are alos good, as they'll heat up during the day and pass the heat to the main house duirng the eveining.

Not fogetting the roof. Only unobstructed South facing roofs are really any good for Solor water heating/panels.

seraphina

That's a really good idea - sure, you can look on maps etc but there's no substitute for figuring out which way is N/S/E/W when you're actually in the property!

Thanks!

barnaby-bear

lou49 wrote: »

Morning everyone. We want to move from our house (east facing back garden which has always annoyed me) When viewing houses, should we not take a compass and what is the best, easiest and most moneysaving kind?

Also - am I correct in thinking that a house with a north/north west back garden is not good as there is too much shade and the back of the house tends to be cold? My dh thinks this doesn't matter but I particularly like to sit out in the garden in summer, have BBqs and so on..

Thanks
Louise

I do this - it's amazing how many people claim their garden SW facing - I won't do the east facing bedroom thing, google maps is quite hard to work out. Mine was about £6 from a camping shop.

barnaby-bear

barnaby-bear wrote: »

I do this - it's amazing how many people claim their garden SW facing - I won't do the east facing bedroom thing, google maps is quite hard to work out. Mine was about £6 from a camping shop.

East facing bedrooms are awful unless you like birds twittering and brilliant sun at 4am in the summer - no amount of blackout blinds mitigates this - Mrs. BB has watched too many house doctor programs and has some weird cream curtain fetish too.... :mad:

lisyloo

Also - am I correct in thinking that a house with a north/north west back garden is not good as there is too much shade and the back of the house tends to be cold? My dh thinks this doesn't matter but I particularly like to sit out in the garden in summer, have BBqs and so on..

It really does depend.
You need to look at the shelter in the direction of the sun.

We have a North facing garden and I was not ken on the house because of this.
However because we are unsheltered we actually get quite a lot of sun.
In fact we get too much sun on certain parts and have put in a pergola to provide shade.

So don't just go on the direction.
Look at the shelter and visit several times if you need to.
Of course if you really like the house then there is a lot that can be done with garden design to put the BBQ area in the sunniest part of the garden (although we did that and then needed shade!!)

Stephen_Leak

barnaby-bear wrote: »

I do this - it's amazing how many people claim their garden SW facing.

They can stand in the garden and face south-west.

ixwood

You can also use your watch as a compass:

http://geographyfieldwork.com/WatchasCompass.htm

ixwood

"To use your watch as an approximate compass outside of the tropics in the northern hemisphere, hold the watch horizontal and point the hour hand at the sun.

Half way between that point and the twelve o'clock mark on your watch points to the south. For example, if it is eight o'clock, point the 8 on the watch face at the sun and south would be at the ten o'clock position. If it is four o'clock, point the 4 on the watch face at the sun and south would be in the two o'clock position. At midday (twelve o'clock), the hour hand itself should point south."