Does anyone have a Northeast or West Backyard?

[LJSquishy]

We've finally saved enough money to start the process of building a new house!

The lots that are in our budget face either Southwest or East, so they will either have a Northeast or West backyard. I can't seem to decide on which one is best...I keep changing my mind.

If you have a backyard that faces Northeast, do you like it? What about those of you with a due West facing backyard?

The family room, kitchen, informal dining and master bedroom will be at the back of the house. In the front will be the office, formal living/dining flex room, upstairs loft and guest room.

My concerns are that a west backyard will have too much direct sun with a glare in the summer so I'll have to keep a lot of the blinds closed and have a really hot deck or patio, but that a Northeast yard might be kind of gloomy in the afternoon. What do you all think?

 

[FINFAN]

We've finally saved enough money to start the process of building a new house!

The lots that are in our budget face either Southwest or East, so they will either have a Northeast or West backyard. I can't seem to decide on which one is best...I keep changing my mind.

If you have a backyard that faces Northeast, do you like it? What about those of you with a due West facing backyard?

The family room, kitchen, informal dining and master bedroom will be at the back of the house. In the front will be the office, formal living/dining flex room, upstairs loft and guest room.

My concerns are that a west backyard will have too much direct sun with a glare in the summer so I'll have to keep a lot of the blinds closed and have a really hot deck or patio, but that a Northeast yard might be kind of gloomy in the afternoon. What do you all think?

Congrat's on building your new home! We have lived in 3: first was a condo on a golf course, backyard facing S, then a tri-level backyard facing W, and now a boring 2 story backyard facing N. Our back of the house is the kitchen, powder, laundry and family room...and I wish EVERY DAY that I could flip our house around. My Mom warned me not to have those rooms facing N, especially in IL where it is grey any months of the year. I would for sure, lean toward the NW back yard and have that glorious sun as much as you can, unless you will be in AZ. I don't do gloom very well lol.

 

[mom2rtk]

Our back yard faces west. Do you plan on having a patio or deck? It's brutal trying to grill or do anything out there late afternoon/early evening. Blinds can be closed. That doesn't bother me. But I would consider the patio issue unless you intend to build a cover of some sort.

 

[DisneyOma]

OP, where are planning on building? Alaska? The equator? It really depends on what part of the world you are building on - in North America, in the northern states, having your kitchen and other heavily used rooms on the sunny side of the house makes the most sense. Summers are short, winters are long. More info about where you plan to build may help us help you?

 

[POOHsie]

Our last house had a backyard facing West. It was brutally bright and hot. So much so that we didn't want to grill and hang out there in the afternoon. We swore to never have a West-facing backyard ever again.

Suggest you hang out at the Southwest-facing lot in the mid-to-late afternoon and get a feel for it. Your concerns are valid. Your informal meals will constantly be in a hot room. An afternoon nap in your bedroom will be hard to do with the hot sun beating on the windows. The patio surface will be hot, as well as outdoor furniture. Perhaps reconsider a Southern exposure for the backyard. Is the $$ difference that much for a home you'll own for years?

 

[diznygirl]

West here. Same as the others we have trouble grilling with the sun beating down.

The rising sun through our bedroom facing east is no picnic either.

The back is nice in the morning, the front is nice in the afternoon/evening.

Have fun building your home!

 

[NFLDERS]

West, and we too built the house with that in mind. The sunsets are magnificent over our pond, and tree line.

We have the sunrises from our LR windows, and our 2 spare bdrms which were our son's growing up so.. We had no teens sleeping in.

We wanted less window exposure from the south as it can be too AC cost prohibitive even though we live with 4 mos. of winter, and cool springs. Our friends built with a lot of large south windows, and use curtains, blinds, and sometimes "Foil" I kid you not to keep that sun heat at bay. They found this a larger problem when the police dept. came calling thinking perhaps the house was a marijuana grow op!

 

[HM]

My backyard faces north/north-east. It's great in the warm months. We can use our screen porch many months out of the year due to it being mostly shaded by the house. Our across the street neighbor's back yards get too hot to use their porches or decks in the summer months.

 

[Minnesota!]

West facing and never an issue with the sun/heat. Love that I can watch the sunset from my patio!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I think the direction of the backyard wouldn't even enter into the discussion of whether or not I like a house.

 

[Hrhpd]

We've finally saved enough money to start the process of building a new house!

The lots that are in our budget face either Southwest or East, so they will either have a Northeast or West backyard. I can't seem to decide on which one is best...I keep changing my mind.

If you have a backyard that faces Northeast, do you like it? What about those of you with a due West facing backyard?

The family room, kitchen, informal dining and master bedroom will be at the back of the house. In the front will be the office, formal living/dining flex room, upstairs loft and guest room.

My concerns are that a west backyard will have too much direct sun with a glare in the summer so I'll have to keep a lot of the blinds closed and have a really hot deck or patio, but that a Northeast yard might be kind of gloomy in the afternoon. What do you all think?

We have a very large southwest facing backyard and the entire back of our house is a bank of windows and skylights. We never had a problem as we just had tinting put on the windows. In the summer it takes care of the bright sun and in the winter, it lets enough sun in to keep it cozy rather than dim and dreary. I hate how dark the front of our house is, the part that faces northeast. For the backyard, we have a covered porch that allows for grilling and enjoying the backyard without being scorched. For the master bedroom, blackout blinds work perfectly.

That said, I am jealous every winter of the houses across the street, the ones where the front yards face south west. We live in a snowy area and the houses on my side of the street always have to shovel while the houses on the other side of the street can wait till afternoon and the sun often just melts everything away. Going up our street on a snowy day is always funny. The southwest facing driveways are down to concrete while the northeast facing driveways all have ice and snow on them. But I will take occasional shoveling of snow over a darker backyard, especially in the winter. I love sun, so like the most used part of the my house the sunniest.

 

[CPanther95]

I think the direction of the backyard wouldn't even enter into the discussion of whether or not I like a house.

For most people it doesn't when they're picking houses.

That's a discussion that usually happens well after they've moved in, when they're sitting on their deck, having a drink, and wondering what the largest diameter of patio umbrella is manufactured that can block the sun that is frying their foreheads.

 

[puffkin]

Our back yard faces East/North East. We purposely built on that side of the street. My husband thought I was crazy when I was trying to pick out a lot. In the summer, our patio and backyard is mostly shaded by the house from about 3pm on. Its awesome for picnics, eating/grilling outside, playing, etc. The sun just beats on the front of the house and it is miserable up there. I try to tend to my flower beds and do any front yard work in the AM if possible. The sun shining in during the morning isn't much of an issue as we are usually up by 7am most days anyways.

Our neighbors behind us have often told us how jealous they are. They are slightly up a hill and so the sun hits them full on. Their decks/patios are barely used.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

Go with northeast! We have a backyard facing Northeast. The Backyard is sunny all day but the deck is always half shaded/ half sun because the house blocks it.

My sister's backyard faces directly west and she has to have huge sun screens on her back covered porch you have to lower until the sun goes past the trees. It's hot and the sun is right in your eyes. Her patio also has 4 umbrellas on it. We don't need any umbrellas or sun shading on our deck.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Our back yard faces west. Do you plan on having a patio or deck? It's brutal trying to grill or do anything out there late afternoon/early evening. Blinds can be closed. That doesn't bother me. But I would consider the patio issue unless you intend to build a cover of some sort.

This is us although 1/2 of our deck is covered. But, it doesn't provide as much shade as one would assume. We planted a soft maple (fast growing) for some additional shade.

 

[Wishing on a star]

We have been looking at properties, too!
Right now, I am lucky and our home faces pretty close to due West, so the back of the house, windows to greatroom, covered deck, etc face East.
Love it!

Sunshine in the mornings...
No extra heat in the dining area or on our nice covered deck.
Afternoon sun for the front of the house in the evenings. But, a couple of good shade trees help with that on my covered front porch.

We are thinking of retiring to Florida. (Maybe the panhandle)
Many of the properties we see are facing North/South.. so the sun would move sideways and not right in the front and back windows.
I wouldn't see that sunshine coming in my windows.
At first I wondered about that, and then I thought that maybe in FL, that might be a good thing!

 

[jdb in AZ]

We live in the desert(!) and our house faces southwest. HOWEVER, the smallest windows in the house are at the front, and the large family room and living room windows face northeast, as does the master bedroom windows. There are no windows on the west -- solid wall with a fireplace on that end, and the garage.

 

[diznygirl]

I think the direction of the backyard wouldn't even enter into the discussion of whether or not I like a house.

Normally, but there is no house. Only property.

We've finally saved enough money to start the process of building a new house!

The lots that are in our budget face either Southwest or East, so they will either have a Northeast or West backyard. I can't seem to decide on which one is best...I keep changing my mind.

If you have a backyard that faces Northeast, do you like it? What about those of you with a due West facing backyard?

The family room, kitchen, informal dining and master bedroom will be at the back of the house. In the front will be the office, formal living/dining flex room, upstairs loft and guest room.

My concerns are that a west backyard will have too much direct sun with a glare in the summer so I'll have to keep a lot of the blinds closed and have a really hot deck or patio, but that a Northeast yard might be kind of gloomy in the afternoon. What do you all think?

 

[holden]

For most people it doesn't when they're picking houses.

That's a discussion that usually happens well after they've moved in, when they're sitting on their deck, having a drink, and wondering what the largest diameter of patio umbrella is manufactured that can block the sun that is frying their foreheads.

This would be one of the first things I consider when buying a house (either an existing building or building new).

Keep in mind that the sun is different winter/summer. Our house faces NW, so the backyard is SE. I love that our patio is in the shade later in the day so we can eat outside without the need for a roof/awning.

 

[LJSquishy]

Sorry everyone! I forgot to include where we live...we live in Spokane, WA. It gets very hot (90-100 degrees) in the peak of the summer. The hottest part of the day in summer is around 1-6pm and it doesn't cool down much overnight in the summer. It cools down but not enough to be refreshing. By 7am the next morning it will already be 70+ degrees.

Our old house faced North and had a South backyard now that I think of it and it was HOT on the deck and the handle to the back door was hot from the sun pounding on it all day. The north side of the house was dark but we had a covered porch in the front and the house didn't have many windows so it's difficult to use that house as a reference.

I'm leaning toward the SW facing lot (NE back) and adding windows on two sides of rooms when possible. We like grilling outside and like to use the patio/deck a lot so if that faced West I would be a little worried about the sun. We won't have a covered deck or large overhang on the back.

There is one lot that faces due West (east backyard) but it seemed like that was least desirable where you get both extremes of light and no stable light.