Say you are building a house on a raw piece of land. You enjoy spending time in the backyard in the evening - year round. What's the ideal direction for the house to face?

North, west, south, east? Discuss...

Unless you have a lot of shade trees on the west side of the house. I wouldn't be on the west side in the summer. You might also consider the north wind blowing in the winter and the south wind blowing in the summer.

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lack of direct sun. Also limits landscaping

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IMO, it gives the homeowner the opportunity to plant shade/sun plants or turf as opposed to planting stuff that only flourishes in full sun.

Depends on where your shade is and where you spend time in the house as well. I live in a north facing house now and the back of the house is always warmer by about 5 degrees from the rest of the house. I don't like having my patio facing south. the sun is constant even in the winter. My preferences are for a west facing or south facing house.

My back yard is on the north side of the house and in the winter stays an effing mudhole because the shade from the house never allows it to dry out, and I have a dog. A very muddy fluffy dog.

My first house faced east and I'll never own another east or west facing house.

The house I had built and now live in faces NNW and I have no regrets on the orientation of front yard and backyard. In hindsight, I would have done a better job minimizing the number of west facing windows. Modern windows don't transfer much heat, but the light can be a nuisance in the summer.

The house we built is oriented to 330deg (i.e. NNW). It's great. We have a large back porch that is enclosed on two sides (north and east). It allows the summer breeze in from the S/SW and blocks the North/East cold winter winds.

We also placed the garage and a second floor walk-in attic on the west side of the house. They take the brunt of the hot summer evening sun as opposed to the living space. Of our western facing exterior wall, only about 20% of it is to living space.

If you live in the hill country point the back to optimize the sunset. 90% of the time you will be miserable but the 10% will more than make up for the suffering.

TxAg20 said:

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My first house faced east and I'll never own another east or west facing house.

The house I had built and now live in faces NNW and I have no regrets on the orientation of front yard and backyard. In hindsight, I would have done a better job minimizing the number of west facing windows. Modern windows don't transfer much heat, but the light can be a nuisance in the summer.

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Yep. My house in Phoenix faced due west. Summers were absolutely brutal in the garage - it would hit 140 at times in the garage in the afternoon before I insulated the door and put film on the windows.

kappmeyer said:

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IMO, there really isn't a debate to this.

You orient the porches N&S.

In the summer, you get the predominant south breeze. If the porch is deep enough, it shades you from the overhead sun.

In the winter, the home blocks the stiff north breeze from fronts. Sun is lower on the horizon, hits the main porch, warms it up.

Some might say its best to face east, having the sun behind you all day, but I prefer to embrace the winds in the summer, and block the winds with the winter fronts.

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This is how my house is laid out. I have porches on 3 sides to dodge the sun and winds.

Consider your window views?? The back of my house faces west and happens to also be our primary window wall for the open concept living and kitchen. Having the sunset views from inside are a plus.

Depends largely on house design. I have covered porches running the length of my house, both front and back. The front faces east. The back faces west. April to October, morning coffee is on the back porch and afternoon wine / toddy is enjoyed on the front porch where we also pick up a nice SE breeze. October to April, mornings are spent on a quickly warming front porch when temperature / weather allow, and afternoons are spent on a cozy, warm back porch with gorgeous sunsets.

I wouldn't trade that arrangement for any other.

My house faces NNW as well. Wish it was just a little more west.

Ideally, it faces south. Second best option is to have it face north. The harshest sun comes from the west, so that's the least desirable side to have windows on. To that end, there's a great reason why houses in the south historically have had large wrap around porches. They are one of the best ways to lower your electric bill in the summer, as they will keep the sun from pounding on the walls of whatever side they are on

Which direction is the deer feeder

That's an interesting topic. We went super nerd on this. We used an overlay of the wind rose to keep as much out of the back yard as possible.

We ended up rotating 32* to the NE. We are building an "L shaped" footprint to block the west and south sides of the yard. Producing good shade in the evenings and blocking the wind. With my shop we will only have the NE corner of the yard exposed. An East wind is atypical for this part of the country.

Front of house faces west. Great with the two story roof shading the pool by mid afternoon. Driveway on the southwest corner leading to porte cochere which attaches to the garage/shop. Large storage room above Porte cochere and garage raises roof line also.

Since this is TexAgs and OP didn't give a budget the correct answer is build four houses that face each direction. This way you live in whichever one you want based on the season.

Our house faces west. We are lucky to have a predominant southern breeze most summer evenings where we sit on our back patio and we enjoy the fire pit. As was stated before, we don't have a wind break from the blue northers the few times they occur.

Where are in the US and are you and are you trying to stay warm or cool? The upper midwest and South Texas have very different answers.

Go to a solar calculator site and enter your location. Then if wanting to stay cool put the outdoor living space opposite the idea solar direction. If wanting the stay warm put the outdoor living space on the best solar direction.

Personally, for outdoors year round in Texas I'd go with the ENE side to get some sun warmth in the morning during winter but be in the shade and open to southern breezes for summer afternoons/evenings.

Facing due west has been good for us. North Texas summers without shade trees; you're not outside during the summer without a patio. When you out that on the east side, you get relief by 10am and can enjoy days up to 90F out there, plus most every evening.

Add some drop shades and heaters and you don't have to worry about winter wind direction.