Ideal home orientation Houston (West: renting, house, living)

[sugargenius]

The back of my house faces due west, and I now know that is the worst possible orientation. If you had your pick, which way would you want your house oriented?

[3shipguy]

North front.

[elnina]

^^^ yeah. This.
Here are more detailed hints:
The importance of building orientation
SmarterHomes.org.nz : Orientation
The Best Orientation When Building a Home | Home Guides | SF Gate

[cheryjohns]

I am OK with north or south.

House facing west is rough, also. Both on afternoon sun in windows and having to re-do the front door every so often.

[haudi]

Our front door faces South and the back yard is quite pleasant to be in all day. We have areas of shade on the patio all day long from sun up to sun set. It's great.

[Dopo]

Not West,
I had a house that faced West and the garage door was 1000 degrees everyday.

[buton]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Not West,
I had a house that faced West and the garage door was 1000 degrees everyday.

Yes... the garage will be really hot..

[Prey521]

Our home faces Northeast (back yard) by Southwest (front yard) and was built last year. Even in the dead of Summer, the garage and attic are very tolerable. This surprised me since the older home that we were renting before we moved up here, the attic was an absolute inferno and you'd be drenched within minutes of being up there in the Summer.

[baggiegenes]

I prefer facing whatever direction results in the most windows (especially for highly used rooms) to face north and south.

If you have a house with a two story living room that everyone loves to sit in during the afternoon and the windows for that room are on the side of the house, then it may be best if the front door faces west. You will be more comfortable and pay less to cool the large space even if your front door takes a beating from the sun.

[KathrynAragon]

I'd say it depends on the lot and the trees. Our house faces southeast and the back faces the northwest. Normally I wouldn't care for this orientation, but we have several large trees in the backyard and so does our neighbor, so the backyard is shaded in different spots throughout the day and our patio is shaded as the sun sets each evening. The porch overhangs so while we get light in through the living room windows (living room is on the backside of the house), that light is never harsh. There are no bedroom windows on that side of the house. The morning sun pours into the windows on the front of the house and personally I love that.


But I have owned a house where the back patio area faced due west and it was an inferno in the afternoons. The one tree in that backyard didn't shade the patio in the late afternoon so it was no help at all.