How aware are you of natural light in your house?

[MaryIsA]

Not sure if I’m getting a bit obsessed.

We are doing some renovations and I’m constantly trying to get more light in.

House faces north east so light in front only in the morning.

Very sunny at back, but there are no windows at the back...

Why are there no windows at the back?

How about the side windows? Can they get some westerly sun in?

Our house has kitchen/family room facing the north and it does seem a bit cold and gloomy.

I think you’re right to consider it.
Any potential for a skylight or a light tube thing? Are you in a back to back to have no windows at the back or is there any scope there?

It’s really important to me. Like double and triple aspect rooms, velux windows, skylights the whole shebang.

Makes a huge difference to mood and quality of life.

It’s a really thick walled house, where you’d expect southerly windows is a massive chimney

We are doing an extension with roof lights and sliding doors at the back that will give us somewhere to sit with a view of the back very sunny garden.

We are getting veluxes put in back and front...

There’s one westerly side window in a cupboard (!?) so we are going to see if we can get an internal window cut in.

I have one room that is flooded with sunlight for a few hours in the middle of the day, but not on either side of that period because of structures jutting out on either side of that window. I've replaced the light fitting in that room with a dimmable LED skylight panel, and you really cannot tell the difference between the natural light and the artificial light. (Except where the shadows fall, of course.) We fade down the ceiling light as the sun reaches the window, and fade it back up as the sun moves away from the window.

I love it.

@Dilbertian I looked at that ...lovely...how much did it cost you?

Our house is unbelievably boring and ordinary to look at , (like a 4 year olds picture of a square house with 4 windows) and the previous owners put a porch/small roof over the front door and kitchen window. The kitchen faces north and always feels dark despite having 2 windows. Even on a sunny day it has at least 1 set of lights on. There are 5 sets of lights in the kitchen and we usually have at least 4 of them on in the eve! (it's not a big kitchen).

Yes, I used to live in a mid-terrace which got virtually no direct light (front window opened onto a street so had a translucent blind, back window an obscured glass conservatory). We then moved to a detached house with a triple aspect lounge and huge windows and it was wonderful to have so much light and better views.

About £60 from Costco, IIRC.

Thats great. Just found an LED panel one for £2k and was thinking surely not....

It’s crucial to me. We ended up buying a house with north facing living room and garden. The sun never comes into the rooms although there are large windows. I absolutely hate it. The entrance hall is also very dark. Natural light and particularly sunlight matters a lot to me.

Maximum natural light is essential for me. It was a key part of the brief for the architects who designed our current home. I hate gloomy houses that require lights on during the day.

Look at the temperature of the light - sunlight is about 4000-5000K.

Ours is a flimsy thing, which doesn't really matter once it's fixed up. Although it is designed to sit almost flush with the ceiling, there is a bit of an uneven gap. If I was investing in replastering the ceiling, I would probably invest in a more expensive lamp, too. Possibly even have a recess in the ceiling to take the lamp. But then I'd worry that the replacement in several years' time might not fit. Or maybe I'm overthinking it!