Let the Sun Shine In

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As Meatloaf would say, “Two out of three ain’t bad.”

Northeast corner of the house. What a beaut!

Solar gain is a major driver for this project and represents a significant amount of the financial outlay. Although we have decided against double-glazing for reasons that will be explained in another post, cutting windows into walls is made expensive because all framing, bracing and flashing details must meet the New Zealand building code. This is in addition to the cost of the glazing.

Current wall = future french doors.

We are adding one window and French double-doors to the northeast corner of the house. (Remember we are in the southern hemisphere, and the sun is to our north.) The window will provide morning rays to the breakfast (i.e. coffee) nook, and the doors will flood the dining room with afternoon sun. My next two posts will explain how we plan to absorb (thermal mass) and retain (insulation) those lovely, free photons.

Enjoying a cuppa in the sunny coffee nook.

For the window we went with second-hand, but the new doors have just been ordered from the local aluminium (that’s right, we now us the extra ‘I’) joinery at a cost of $1,300. Our holistic design approach to gain, absorb and retain the sun’s heat will allow us to recoup the investment in the form of energy savings for years to come. This is the heart of what is called ‘passive solar’ building.

-M.C. Estwing