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| I like the idea of having a covered porch on the south side of the house off of the living room. I'd love to have a two-story, stacked porch on that side of the house like you see in Charleston. Does anyone have experience with stacked porches and any advice to pass along? My concern with a covered porch, whether two-story or not, is that it will make the interior too dark. I have another thread where I'm working on my floorplan, and I think I'll have two walls of windows in the living room (south and east), so maybe that solves the problem.
Another consideration is the solar gain issue from the south...but we are in Eastern Tennessee where cooling is typically more important than heating. Does anyone have input on that? The goal of the porch areas is to take advantage of a view to the south and the pleasant breezes that come off of the lake (also to the south). |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by athensmomof3 (My Page) on Thu, Aug 11, 11 at 20:55
| It will definitely darken the room. I was shocked when they put the roof on my screened porch (off my breakfast room) at how much the room darkened even though we have two single french doors on one side (on either side of the screened porch fireplace) and a double french door on another side of the room. It makes a huge difference, even with light on both sides of the room. You should have good sun through the east facing window though. We have the reverse situation. Our north facing french doors (two of them) don't get tons of light and the west facing french doors go out into the screened porch. It is pretty dark . . . we don't have any electricity yet though and that will help make it feel not dark and I think the fact you have windows on both sides will also give that feel, even if the bulk of the real light comes from electricity! |
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| Love mine! We get daylight vs direct sunlight, plus we have plenty of lighting inside and outside. We live in a hot, humid climate, so it works well for us. |
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- Posted by sombreuil_mongrel (My Page) on Fri, Aug 12, 11 at 9:38
| If designed properly, with consideration given to the summer/winter sun angles, a southern two story porch is valuable for passive solar benefits. In summer, the heat will be kept almost entirely off the south side, and in winter the light will stream through the windows. Our forefathers understood this. There are guidelines with sun tables on the net that will help you design the right proportions for depth/height to achieve the most effective layout. The greatest effect is witnessed on south-facing facades. Casey |
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