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Old 02-13-14, 10:12 PM   #11
AC_Hacker
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...The front door of the house must face the road...
Is there a reason why the front door must face the road?

Seems to me that if energy efficiency is your goal, you'd make solar orientation your first priority.

And if there is some kind of local ordinance that you must obey regarding making the front door face the road, I suppose you could design a 'road-facing front door feature' and then orient the rest of the house to the sun.

-AC

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Old 02-13-14, 10:45 PM   #12
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It's code, and I don't know how specific they are about the angle. I could orient the house to face due south and the door would still be facing the road. Part of it is me wanting to be civil with the neighbors and stay somewhat "normal". As it is, the house will be about 30 degrees southwest.
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Old 02-13-14, 11:02 PM   #13
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It's code, and I don't know how specific they are about the angle. I could orient the house to face due south and the door would still be facing the road. Part of it is me wanting to be civil with the neighbors and stay somewhat "normal". As it is, the house will be about 30 degrees southwest.
Freiburg, Germany is a town where whole communities are built with energy efficiency in mind.

I have seen photos of entire neighborhoods that had all the houses oriented to best take advantage of the sun.

CHECK IT OUT.

Go take a walk in the woods near your house, I just bet you'll see flowers and plants that are oriented to the sun.


-AC
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Old 02-13-14, 11:06 PM   #14
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It's code, and I don't know how specific they are about the angle. I could orient the house to face due south and the door would still be facing the road. Part of it is me wanting to be civil with the neighbors and stay somewhat "normal". As it is, the house will be about 30 degrees southwest.
There is really code to tell you what way your front door faces? Wow America the land of the free.
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Old 02-14-14, 01:01 AM   #15
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Anther part of the code says no exposed cement block. There again, I don't know if painting it is enough or if it has to be stuccoed or sided, but I definitely think it's to make an aesthetic standard.

I've spent a fair amount of time out there and I think it would be weird to have the house face due south. Being perpendicular to the road gives me a grounding sense of where I am. But I don't like being forced to be perpendicular to the road. If I could get them to change the road, all would be great.

I'd like to get in on a place like Freiburg. That's pretty cool.

AC Hacker, I garden a bit and pay attention to wild plants and always enjoy how they do. I especially like how plants will make unusual turns to get to a sunny spot. It's weird to think I took this picture 10 years ago and just a couple days ago I was checking out the way a different tree and some bamboo in a completely different place(downtown Atlanta) were growing in odd ways to get some sun. I didn't realize I've had that fascination for so long.

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Old 02-14-14, 01:12 AM   #16
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...I especially like how plants will make unusual turns to get to a sunny spot. It's weird to think I took this picture 10 years ago and just a couple days ago I was checking out the way a different tree and some bamboo in a completely different place(downtown Atlanta) were growing in odd ways to get some sun. I didn't realize I've had that fascination for so long...
I think that the plants are trying to tell us something... if we will only listen.

-AC
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Old 02-14-14, 01:43 AM   #17
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Just making sure I have the right orientation...

I'm assuming the 'street facing front door' is on the bottom left, entering into the living room?


And is this map properly oriented north? If so, does that mean the corner on the bottom left of the house (where the front door is) is facing due west?


This is assuming my assumptions above are correct: It looks like you have a pretty good passive design. I don't see a lot of windows on the west side of the building, meaning you won't have an overly hot living room in the summer.

Remember that on the south facing windows, you are going to want awnings that block the summer sun, but lets in the winter light. You'll have to do some research to determine what the best angle is for your awnings.

It's hard to tell in your design, but the windows on the North side you are going to want to be as big as possible (for natural light).

Being Georgia, do you have any plans for some sort of central or whole house dehumidifier?

If you are planning on putting a second story in the future, what are your plans for the solar array? You are going to want to decide now if you want to build "around" the solar modules or remove them and put them on the second story roof.

You will also want to determine the pitch of the roof. Both the angle degrees, but also the direction. If your house is not going to be due south, you will have to make decisions about how you want the solar modules to face, or design the roof in such a way that some of it is southward facing.

If it helps, you can do a little research on the Kirsch Center. It is the Environmental Studies building at my school. It is completely designed to be a completely passive solar building. It incorporates some of the things I mentioned about the sides of the house.

Good luck, have fun and keep us updated!
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Old 02-14-14, 01:35 PM   #18
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Hey Jeff, Yes, the front door is in the lower left in that drawing and the map orientation is North at the top, South at the bottom. There's a hallway running along the front, so the wall will get sunlight in the winter if I size my windows and overhang right.

I'm still working this out, but I figure if my windows are 3' from the floor, 5' tall, have 2 feet above(10' ceiling height) and my roof hangs over 5', the angles are right to get winter sun on that wall the whole time the sun is up, though the bedroom will get the morning sun until about 10am when it starts hitting the front of the house. I probably need to make my windows smaller accounting for those early hours when the larger window is not any benefit.

Again, this is just a sketch, so the details aren't exactly right. I don't know if the wall should be thicker and I don't know if white is better to reflect that light or if it should be dark to absorb as much as it can.



I haven't figured exactly what I'm going to do for a dehumidifier. Air conditioning is practically a must here, but that's with structures built with the idea that they can throw air conditioning at them. I'd love to build so that air conditioning wasn't needed.

I don't plan to add a second story, I'll add on the ground level. The first addition will be a garage on the west side. I might even go ahead and do it when I build the house. The problem with that is I'm trying to get into the house as fast as possible to get out of the rent race.

I'm not sure how I'll do the solar panels. I'm not opposed to having it on ground on a tracking system. In the beginning, I might have to connect to the power company.

I still have many things that aren't figured out.
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Old 02-15-14, 01:22 AM   #19
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Just for confirmation, are you going to have a wall between the living room and kitchen or is it going to be open? Personally, as a interior design enthusiast, I would put either a wall or at least an island (or similar) to break it up a little. If you like the openness, that's fine (I do to), but having something like an island to "anchor" the room will be visually appealing (and give you practicality).

Another practical design idea would be to put a closet somewhere close to the front door (maybe in that corner to the left of the front door). It will be beneficial to not have to walk across the house to put away your coats/hats/rain boots, etc.

I would make that south(ish) hallway wall as thick as possible. Obviously the exterior one as well, but the more the better on the interior. It will keep whatever heat that does make it into the house in the hallway instead of permeating into the kitchen. It will also help with sound reduction between the great room and your bedroom. Also, fish tank. You should put a fish tank in the wall so you can see it walking in and in the kitchen!

In the last design photo you have, you are going to want bigger north facing windows (on the other side of the great room) if you want to maximize the passive house design aesthetic. You might also consider some skylights, especially if you aren't going to do a second story (sorry I misunderstood that).

I would add the garage into the original build, just because it will help with the passive house (assuming you put it on the living room side). If so, you could utilize the "empty space" in that corner with the front door, garage door and maybe a closet (like above). You might be able to get it built at the same time as the rest of the house, but lower priority to the living space, so that you can move in as quickly as possible.

Also, hope you're a morning person. Your bedroom is going to be nice and bright to wake you up unless you put some serious black out curtains.

Do you have more interior/exterior rough pics?
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Old 02-15-14, 07:08 PM   #20
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I thought about an island. I might still. The problem is that the room measured from inside the kitchen cabinets to the north and west walls is only 14' x 17'. I can always add one that's free standing if I don't put any plumbing or electric in it. The software I was using for this had some glitches. You can see the top of the island floating in space in a couple of the pics(and the microwave/stove vent morphing into the oven and all the wood of various colors, ...furniture that moved). Glitches aside, it helped me picture some things.







A closet would be nice, but in this small of a house, I'm willing to trade a closet for more open space. I'm just going to use a hall tree.

My concern with north facing windows is that the summer morning sun will be hitting the back of the house. I want a back patio with some type of screening that will hopefully block that part of the day's sun. While more natural light is welcome, I'm trying to figure where I want to land in the window vs. insulation trade off.

I'm thinking the garage will have to wait. The money I'll save once I'm not renting will make easier to build the garage in year 2.

The last thing I need is a dark bedroom. I love sleep. I need something to boot me out of bed. And a bright bedroom is a cheery way to start the day.

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