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The Word on Windows
You can greatly improve the comfort of your home by using solar gain from the sun to heat the interior of your home. But you have to place the windows carefully in order to achieve the proper solar gain. Too many windows on the South or East side of the home can overheat the interior of the home on sunny days. Too many windows on the North side can allow too much heat loss at night or on overcast days.
In order to optimize window size for solar gain, architects and builders should follow the ratios in the chart below, expressed as the square footage of total window area to percentage of the total floor area. For example, a 100 square-foot room on the west side of the house should have no more than 2 square-feet of total window area on the west wall.
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Window Location |
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Total Floor Area |
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North
South
East
West
Skylights
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4%
7%
4%
2%
2% |
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