If you could not buy a house with a Southern exposure... (houses, quiet)

[alexis2005]

What would be the next best choice?

[Plain Jane 3953]

West - South is too hot especially with a conservatory.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by alexis2005

What would be the next best choice?

Get a house with a northern exposure - in Argentina.

Our driveway is on the north side - bad.

However, the entire south side of our house is windows. In the winter our home is like a greenhouse. Today it was four degrees when I woke up. The furnace is off and the inside of our home is 70 degrees due to all the sun that is radiating in here.

The west and east sides are windowless so in the summer we don't get a lot of annoying heat.

[formercalifornian]

West is pretty good, too. Stay away from houses facing north.

[Katiana]

North facing driveways are a pain. But I'd go north over west. East might be OK.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by alexis2005

What would be the next best choice?

Best choice depends on what your needs are. Where do you want the sun relative to the house and yard?

If you need max sun on back yard or a deck on the back of a house, get a house facing north or northeast.

Its true that south facing driveways (usually in front of a house) will melt out small snows, saving you a need to shovel, thats not such a big deal for most people. The big deal is your lifestyle and how you want to use the property.

Equally or more important is drainage, both your own lot and those around you, but that's another thread, sometime.

s/mike

[vfrpilot]

A neighbor told me over Thanksgiving dinner about the snow they got in '97. She opened her front door to a wall of snow with a perfect impression of her door. Her door faces northeast, but that was an exception not normal. While not a show-stopper, it makes life easier in the winter if your front and garage door open to the south. When we open our back door(north) the wind and snow blow in like crazy. During storms, there's no way we go out that way. At the same time the front and garage doors are usually pretty quiet. The snow amount on our driveway is usually a lot less than the folks across the street. And the snow drifts up against their garage doors making access nearly impossible.

Equally or more important is drainage, both your own lot and those around you, but that's another thread, sometime.

Last year, a lot of neighbors had flooded basements during the spring thaw, agravated by the amount of snow that accumulated. It's a huge pain in the rear.

[alexis2005]

spend most of your time out on the deck we should probably go South/Southwest on the back and just plow or blow out the drive. Good point, Mike. I did not even cosider that option.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by alexis2005

spend most of your time out on the deck we should probably go South/Southwest on the back and just plow or blow out the drive. Good point, Mike. I did not even cosider that option.

Now, there is an even better solution....

If the back and deck face south, usually the front faces north - BUT that gets direct snow/wind as noted by VFRPilot.

SOOOO, get a "side loader" garage, i.e., garage doors are NOT on the front of the house - cars load from the east or west.

With a side loader, the north wind that brings deep blizzards will blow ACROSS such a driveway, and scour it clean. Trust me. We had blizzards here last year and my house faces south. The winds came from the north. As soon as the wind passed over the house, it dumped snow on my south facing driveway, shoulder deep. But my north facing lawn got the wind straight on and so help me, it was BARE of snow. Here's a picture of my south facing driveway on/about 21 or 22 Dec 2006. STOP LAUGHING!


South facing driveway - Yes, AFTER shoveling it out it stayed clear. I call this photo "Surfs Up"


North facing lawn - scoured CLEAR by north wind. East and west sides also scoured clean. Note 8-foot drift at back wall.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Attachment 10707
North facing lawn - scoured CLEAR by north wind. Note the 8-foot drift at back wall.

It looks like your backyard fence served as a snow fence. I'm still debating sticking one up. They won't let me stick up an el cheapo orange plastic fence so I have to spring for the wooden (more expensive) ones.