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Original poster

To be put off dream home because of aspect

83 replies

Heygirlheyboy · 11/08/2017 21:25

House is lovely, larger than ours with a big garden. Price is good. About to make offer but as I flick excitedly through brochure I see it's west facing.. They mean back east facing then which means no light there in afternoon/evening, doesn't it? I think it's worse than North facing? Anyone more experienced have any opinion on it? Should it really effect decision?

OP posts:
GreenTulips · 11/08/2017 21:27

The back will her morning and late evening sun - how bigs the garden?

We have a north facing garden the house shadows the garden but we get morning sun in the morning till 11 and late evening sun where there's not shadow

mikado1 · 11/08/2017 22:02

Yes we're the same- north facing and morning and evening Sun but yes, a lot of shadows. Not sure about east facing.

Username1242546432 · 11/08/2017 22:08

From another view we have a south facing garden and I'd give for a few hours shade in the daytime. During the summer it's just far too hot for the kids to play out for any length of time

TinklyLittleLaugh · 11/08/2017 22:10

Well in the afternoon the back of your house will be in shadow but you may get some sun at the end of the garden out of the shadow of the house.

We lived in a house like this, it was fine. We had sun in our kitchen in the morning and sun in front sitting room in the evening. We built a patio at the end of our garden to get the late evening sun, but our garden got a decent amount of sun on a summer afternoon anyway.

BarbaraofSeville · 11/08/2017 22:15

Seems rather a trivial thing to be worried about in the great scheme of things. It may even be reflected in the price. Unless you plan to grow prize winning plants, I don't see the problem.

Our first house was a north facing back to back. We only saw the sun as a reflection in the windows of the houses opposite Grin.

Ours is now front facing west, back facing east obviously, so sounds just the same as the house you describe. I just sit in the front garden in the afternoon and evenings, but I understand that some people frown on common sense ways of dealing with such matters.

HipsterHunter · 11/08/2017 22:15

Depends on the garden width and length and what's around - houses trees whatever.

Tapandgo · 11/08/2017 22:18

We are south facing and it's always in Sun - but at least you can create shade, but you can't create light and we do benefit from the free solar heat coming in to the house (though this summer maybe we got a bit much of it).
Our last house was W/E - you had to chase the sun round the garden!
Depends how much you value natural light into the house - and how you use your garden.

Albertschair · 11/08/2017 22:29

pick a sunny day. Go view out in an evening. Think what you will actually be doing. Our house is south east facing. In summer the Sun comes in over our garage in the evening filling the patio with light. In the morning I get wonderful morning sunlight.

Works for me.

Might work for you

Albertschair · 11/08/2017 22:29

pick a sunny day. Go view out in an evening. Think what you will actually be doing. Our house is south east facing. In summer the Sun comes in over our garage in the evening filling the patio with light. In the morning I get wonderful morning sunlight.

Works for me.

Might work for you

9GreenBottles · 11/08/2017 22:38

Have you visited on a sunny day to see the shadows (and checked the exact direction it faces on a map as it might not be a true east)?

Personally, I wouldn't buy any house unless there was a part of the garden that would get at least a sliver of evening sun near to the house during the summer. I wouldn't want to rely on a bench in the front garden for an evening drinking in the summer.

There may be a price differential that you are benefitting from, but it may take longer to sell as a result. I used to live on a street like this with a west facing garden. The people on the other side had their houses up for sale regularly for over a year, on my side it was just a few weeks.

9GreenBottles · 11/08/2017 22:39

Sorry, got distracted and cross posted

Biffsboys · 11/08/2017 22:42

It all depends on what you want from a garden ?

GreenTulips · 11/08/2017 22:43

We had a house where there was no sun in the rear bedrooms - they were always damp and cold - wouldn't look at another

PollyFlint · 11/08/2017 22:43

My garden's east facing and it doesn't bother me at all really. The previous owners were keen gardeners and seem to have managed to grow plenty of nice flowering plants, and although the shadows do start to creep up the garden as the day goes on, we still get sun in the afternoon. On the rare days when it's sunny, anyway...

I think it also depends on the layout of the garden and what's around it; obviously if you've got trees or other buildings in certain spots, they will cast shadows and that can have more of an effect than the direction your garden faces really.

Meerkatonmywall · 11/08/2017 22:44

How high up on your priorities is a garden that is south facing, because if its top 5, it can't be your dream house can it?

user1494187262 · 11/08/2017 22:45

This never crossed my mind when I was house hunting!

LilaoftheGreenwood · 11/08/2017 22:45

It depends on your routine and where you like being through the day. My parents' place is east-facing at the back and their kitchen is beautifully sunny in the morning, they have breakfast outside in the summer. A lot depends on where nearby big trees and other buildings are. If the garden is big then some of it will always be in the sun.

mistlethrush · 11/08/2017 22:46

We have a west-facing house - perfect - sun on back of house in morning and front in evening - sun in garden until sunset (just further down the garden later on)

colacolaaddict · 11/08/2017 22:47

Our house faces west and the garden, east. We don't tend to spend evenings in the garden, we seem to spend most of the evening putting children to bed! We do lose direct sun past 5ish in the evening but it's nowhere near a dealbreaker for me. Kids have finished with the paddling pool by that time and we can still bbq/eat outside. Unless you need to sunbathe past 5pm, or you're a keen gardener, it's ok. The kitchen is at the back and glorious in the morning, and we get decent light and sun in different sides of the house morning and evening.

West facing rooms can get warm and take a long time to cool down on warm summer evenings, but with the summer we're having this year I'd put that firmly in nice problems to have. And if the garden faced south our main living room would face north. West facing living room is nicer, and we spend more time in living room than garden.

Beahun · 11/08/2017 22:47

Dh says west facing garden gets the sun in the afternoon.

Abra1d · 11/08/2017 22:49

Our garden faces east too.

In the heatwave it was a blessing by evening, but it is annoying on moderately warm days that we are in shade by dinner time. During the winter it is actually nice to have morning sun in the kitchen, which faces the back garden. In short winter days it's hardly here or there which way the house is oriented as it's dark early.

If you like the house this shouldn't be a dealbreaker. We get round it by having BBQs earlier in the he afternoon.

PickAChew · 11/08/2017 22:50

Well, if one side of a house is Est facing then it's always going to have a west facing side.

Our North facing lounge only gets sun on summer evenings. Fine for us, but not ideal for others. Conversely, the kitchen has it streaming in all year and is painful on a sunny winter day.

There is always a downside and, if you like the sunshine, then east-west is surely better?

WeAllHaveWings · 11/08/2017 22:51

We have a cold north facing swamp garden, and too hot bedrooms as windows at the front so you cook in the summer.

We were young went we bought and didn't consider the aspect. I don't get sun on my washing until mid summer (also not a consideration when young!)

AnnieAnoniMouse · 11/08/2017 22:52

Where and when a house gets sun & light is very important to me. I wouldn't buy a house where this wasn't right for me.

I wouldn't rely on plans or descriptions, I'd visit at different times of the day as various things can affect the light.

Judydreamsofhorses · 11/08/2017 22:59

I didn't even think about this when we were looking at houses! As it stands, we get the sun in the back garden on the patio until about 5, after that you have to creep up the lawn, which is fine.

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