Last week I wrote about air movement to make outdoor living spaces more comfortable in the summer. Ah – but that is only half of the story. Protection from the western sun is also very critical – for both outdoor and indoor spaces.
And have you seen the forecast? According to The Weather Channel, temperatures are predicted to climb into the 100 for much of the country.
Yikes! Indoor and outdoor spaces could both benefit from blocking the harsh sun coming for the west.
And western sun is tricky – since as the sun gets low in the sky, the harsh rays drop below the extended horizontal cover of the back porch. It is then that a vertical solution is needed to add additional shade. One of our favorite dining places has a giant outdoor dining porch with stunning views of a golf course. But unfortunately, the capturing those views means facing the western sun. Not an issue in the early spring or fall – but brutal this time of the year. The solution is large roll-down motorized sunshades. It is blissful when they first roll down to block the sun. But equally just as delightful when they roll back up and allow the natural breezes to once again reach the porch.
Providing shade from the western sun is just as important for indoor spaces even if those spaces are air conditioned. As temperatures rise way above normal for much of this country, fighting both exterior air temperature and solar heat gain will be too much for many systems to handle. I recommend blocking the sun on the western side of the building before the sun has a chance to warm up the interior with the greenhouse effect. The UV rays of the sun coming through the glass heat up the interior, creating long-wave infrared rays which do not pass back through the glass.
The good news is there is an abundance of solar window film to cut down on the amount of solar radiation from passing through the glass – but that won’t be in time to help millions of folks this week. The films available can help control the heat as they block up to 70% of the solar heat passing through glass. Some UV window film can block 99% of the suns harmful rays which not only helps with heat reduction, but also prevents fading of indoor furnishing. While there are lots of options, don’t focus only on the Solar Heat Gain Coefficient for making your selection. The lowest solar heat gain coefficient may seem like the best option, but it will darken the interior.
My friends have a beautiful house on Lake Keowee. The design of their home maximizes the views of the lake from almost every room in the house. But this means exposing every room in the house to the harsh western sun. Often, the sun is reflecting off the water into the home, even before it dips low in the sky. So on top of paying a premium for the waterfront view, you now have to pay to block that view when the sun becomes too much. My friends have utilized a variety of solutions including solar window film and motorized shades.
They do get the benefits of awesome sunsets over the water – so the good outweighs the bad.
Homes on the St John’s River facing west deal with the same stunning-but-blazing sunsets and many utilize similar shades in order to avoid wearing sunglasses indoors.
Older homes, like the ones surrounding our townhome in San Marco, did not have advanced window tinting technology when they were built. And some may not even enjoy central heat and air conditioning since they were built in the 30’s and 40’s. Here’s where you will see a lot of after market adaptions that you may not find architecturally pleasing. Here, you will see exterior mounted awning that includes both fabric and aluminum.
And while colorful awnings look great in front of a sidewalk café and can add a whimsical touch to a home when done right, poorly maintained awnings accumulate dirt and mildew over time.
In a production home environment, we design houses to be placed on lots in a variety of solar orientations. During the design phase, we can’t anticipate how the house will be placed on the lot. We often do include cover and shade for large areas of glass, but as mentioned earlier, it may not be enough to block the western sun as it dips low in the sky. Do any of my builders offer upgraded UV filtering for the western facing windows?
Or is this up to the homeowner to solve once they move in with either window coverings (indoor or outdoor) or window film?
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