North facing glass options - what would you advise?

[WWilts]

Novice here.

Context: Quite a lot of glass on rear (north facing, partly west facing - about 35 degree off due north). Large openings desirable owing to attractive mature trees in rear garden. Likely to have to move from area in a few years, hence not wanting to go over the top for luxury/costs. Economy of build desired, but not penny wise pound foolish economies (5 year horizon).

 

What advice would you give?

What are cost-effective options specifically for glass? (assume ok insulation, thermal bridges etc) Would you cut down on size of openings at the rear? Or specify more modest glass options and keep the large openings?

Other approaches?

 

Pics: one shows probable details, other (coloured) shows only position and size but not accurate details of windows/doors

 

 

[SimonD]

FWIW WWilts, I think it depends on your priorities and perhaps whether you're building a 'development' house or house for yourself to live in. I think that will probably drive some of the decisions.

 

Personally, I would try to retain as much glazed area as possbile rather than reduce the open areas - nothing worse than finding it a little dark on those winter days. And northerly light has a really nice quality to it, apparently it's the best kind of light for artists to paint with. Take advantage of the views as that will help when you do come to sell. If you stick to standard window sizes, that will save you some money compared to bespoke sizes too.

 

The other thing to perhaps consider is to put a draft window schedule together to go and get some comparative quotations for the various options such as upvc, timber and aluminium together with their various whole of window u-values. You'll then be in a much better position to make an informed decision.

 

And if you're worried about the amount of glazing you've got facing to the north, here's my window schedule, almost exactly to the north. We did go for 3g.

 

Edited November 11, 2020 by SimonD

[WWilts]

Thank you!

[Bozza]

One mistake I made with my build is I’ve put small windows on my north side.  Too small.

[Benjseb]

In our barn conversion we have 8 external doors downstairs, of which 6 are north facing. 
 

These are single doors but very large glazed areas. They make a big difference to the amount of light we get inside. 

 

We’re going to replace them as the 2g glazing is very low profile and they have single thickness timber cladding at the bottom. So we’ll be going 3g and probably converting some doors to non-opening fully glazed windows so we get the light without the reduction in U value than openings bring.