How can I tell if we'll get enough sun

12 years ago

We are in the process of looking for a new house in Massachusetts and we'd like to be able to add a pool, since we are leaving the one we built and love behind. We have found a house but are having some difficulty determining if it will get enough sun. We know we will have to take down a number of trees to clear a space, but given it is winter, it is difficult to determine what the sun will be like in the summer. The pool will be placed on the north-east corner of the house, far enough away so the shadow won't cover it. In the morning, it appears the line of trees casts a shadow, then as the sun moves west the house casts a shadow at the end of the day. Are there any websites that can help to determine how much sun a property will get? I have the coordinates if there are any "map experts" out there who might have thoughts and want to play this game with me. Thanks for your thoughts.

Here is a link that might be useful: Coordinates for 42.1265907287598 -71.3487319946289

Comments (3)

poolguynj
12 years ago
How will you know? The water will be cold and you will need to augment the heat either with solar or a gas heater. You are too far north for a heat pump, IMHO, to make financial sense. And the solar has other gating factors too.

Scott
careers4u
Original Author
12 years ago
Scott, That I get. As I mentioned, we have a pool currently and understand how the sun has kept it warm throughout the summer. This is a house we are looking to buy and are interested in seeing if we can determine how much sun the lot might get during the summer. Just wondered if anyone had any neat internet tools or tricks that might help out.
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cmanley33
12 years ago
I took a look around the internet and didn't find much but I did find a couple of different apps for the Ipad. The one that seemed like it would be the most helpful is Sun Scout by Benjohn Barnes for $9.99. I am just reading the description of the app because I don't need to download it but you might want to check it out. I searched the terms Sun Position and few different options came up.
I know that before we chose a spot to buid our pool we noted the suns position in our yard for a few days in order to pick just the right spot and take down any trees if necessary. Good luck!