At the opposite season of the year, that is, in midwinter, your house,
still faced directly east, will have the first sun between 7 and 8
o’clock in the morning on the east and south sides. At noon, the east
side will be deserted for the west, and from then on the south and
west sides of the house will have the sun until its setting between 4
and 5 o’clock. Thus, in the winter, the north side of your house will
get no sun at all. This would hardly be a good place for the kitchen,
though it would be well enough in the summer, as the sun would be out
of it by 8 o’clock in the morning and not return until 4 o’clock in the
afternoon when its rays are shorn of much of their midday strength. You
know, of course, that during the changing seasons or the changing hours
of the day, the sun’s warmth depends largely on the slant of its rays.
In the summer, the north side would be a good place for a shady porch
most of the day. However, the east side of the house would give you a
shady porch from noon till sunset. But a porch around the northeast
corner would give you shade from 8 o’clock in the morning clear through
the day until sunset.
By turning your house one way or another from this direct east and
west position, you can see what modifications of sun and shade you
get. Suppose you turn it northeast, almost facing the morning sun on
midsummer day. The front of the house would directly get the rising
sun between 4 and 5 o’clock in the morning. At 6 o’clock, the south
front would come into the sunlight. At half-past 10 o’clock, the east
front would fall into shade for the rest of the day, while the west
front would begin to catch the sun. By 2:30 o’clock in the afternoon,
the south side would be in the shade for the rest of the day and the
north side would get the sun from then on till sunset, between 7 and 8
o’clock. A porch on the east front of this house would be in the shade
all the summer day after half-past 10 o’clock. But, in the winter, it
would not be so fortunate as the house faced to the cardinal points,
for, as just indicated, it would get the sun only on two sides all day
long; and yet the summer advantages might more than compensate. Try
slighter turns than those suggested, and you may get just the result
you want for a given room or porch.
The placing of your house for the sun is really a problem of settling
on the rooms or porches you want favored, and then letting the other
portions of the house take care of themselves. In determining these
questions of sun and shade on your house, due consideration must be
given to neighboring structures, trees, or portions of the house that
might otherwise get the sun if it were not for certain extensions,
such as bays, porches, L’s, and the like. Of course, nearby hills or
mountains would have a marked effect on just when you got the sun in
the morning or lose it in the evening, no matter where or when the sun
really rose and set.
[Illustration: