The location of windows significantly affects the level of comfort in the interior, so it is necessary to follow several recommendations that will help create optimal conditions for living, studying and working. Ideally, you need to select an apartment or build a house taking into account the advice, but in practice, most people use real estate that has already been put into operation, in which there is no possibility to change the location of the openings. In this case, you need to order a set of windows depending on which side of the world they face, and how exactly the room where they will subsequently be installed will be used. This article provides practical recommendations to help you correctly determine the purpose of rooms depending on the location of window openings, and to avoid mistakes when building a house or buying an apartment, as well as ordering windows.
General architectural standards
Before the construction of any residential building, authorized services carry out calculations of insolation (natural lighting) of the interior premises. According to current standards, regardless of the location of the openings, they must be illuminated by direct sunlight for at least 2 hours a day. At the same time, it is allowed to orient windows to the north only in cases where the apartment or house also has openings facing other sides of the world. As for the time of direct insolation, it does not depend on the region.
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Ideal location of windows when building a house
The ability to provide the maximum level of comfort and optimal illumination is ensured by individual design of the house, thanks to which the most suitable arrangement of rooms is selected:
1. South, southwest and southeast
- the lightest and warmest directions, which, however, cannot be considered optimal for many rooms. Due to prolonged exposure to direct sunlight, overheating is possible, so such premises are not suitable for arranging children's and playrooms, kitchens and work rooms. It is best to designate such rooms as a living room or dining room, but you need to carefully consider the ventilation system and methods for darkening the windows.
2. East and northeast
– these directions are considered optimal for placing a bedroom. However, for those who do not like to get up early, windows facing strictly east are not suitable - in the summer months, direct sunlight begins to disturb sleep too early. At the same time, the bedroom should still face the sunny side so that you can quickly wake up in the morning.
3. West
– the side where the sun will only shine in the afternoon, so it is recommended to allocate these areas to the office and kitchen. Sometimes some property owners prefer to make a living room in such rooms, but in this case it is necessary to take into account that in the summer evening hours it will be extremely hot in such a room.
4. North
- the darkest and coldest zone in the house, so it is reserved for plumbing rooms, hallway, pantry, kitchen and sometimes a work or study room. The lack of natural light and heat today can be easily eliminated with the help of modern building technologies.
At the same time, the correct location of windows in the house in itself does not guarantee absolute comfort, since it is necessary to take a number of additional measures and choose the right ones:
- double glazed windows;
- accessories;
- auxiliary systems.
Read about how to do this correctly in special thematic articles on OknaTrade. The modern construction market today is able to offer models for all occasions, so even a not entirely successful location of windows in the house can be compensated for by the correct selection of components.
How to choose
Frame material
- Which windows are better for a country house or apartment - wooden, plastic or aluminum??
In terms of the ratio of cost and functionality, plastic ones are the undisputed leader. They are durable, require minimal maintenance and have stable dimensions and geometry regardless of weather conditions.
How are competing solutions inferior to them?
Aluminum has high thermal conductivity. Each aluminum frame is a cold bridge, allowing heat to escape and becoming covered with frost in extreme cold. Warm aluminum frames are noticeably inferior to plastic ones in cost.
Aluminum window frames are more suitable for cold balconies.
The costs of modern wooden frames with sealed double-glazed windows will be completely prohibitive compared to plastic: even if cheap coniferous wood is used for the manufacture of frames, the window will cost one and a half times more than its PVC counterpart. If noble wood was used in the production of the frame, the price tag can be safely doubled.
If necessary, plastic frames are painted in an arbitrary color throughout the entire volume of the profile or covered with a textured film that very reliably imitates the texture and appearance of wood.
Plastic frames are covered with textured wood-like film.
Manufacturer and profile type
- Is it worth it to overpay for the name of the profile manufacturer when purchasing plastic windows for your home??
In my opinion, no. With a small window area, you will not notice the difference between an inexpensive Chinese or Russian profile on the one hand and an expensive German one on the other. In the case of panoramic glazing, the owner will benefit from the somewhat greater rigidity of the KBE, VEKA and Rehau profiles: they better withstand significant wind loads.
The glazing of my attic was made using a very affordable Chinese Hauteck profile. The glazing can withstand the strong winter winds characteristic of the Black Sea coast without incident.
On the other hand, Rehau and KBE profiles are now produced in the Russian Federation, which has allowed companies to significantly reduce prices due to lower production costs and the absence of customs duties. Therefore, the difference in prices with domestic products has decreased to 20 - 30%, which, compared to the total cost of the window, does not look so scary.
KBE and Rehau profiles are produced not only abroad, but also in Russia.
- What gives a large number of air chambers in the profile?
Improved thermal insulation. The chambers limit air convection inside the profile, which transfers heat between its inner and outer walls. Accordingly, by overpaying for the profile, you can save on heating.
Six-chamber metal-plastic profile: cross-sectional view.
Selection of accessories
- Which fittings are best?
Regarding how to choose, the recommendations are quite clear: buy fittings from manufacturers who have created a name for themselves in the relevant market sector. There are only four of them: Mako, Winkhaus, Roto and Siegenia.
It is the fittings that determine how soon you will have to worry about window repairs. By saving a small amount when purchasing it, you risk providing yourself with a fair headache in the near future.
In addition to the manufacturer, pay attention to the functionality of the fittings.
The shutters must not only turn on their hinges, but also recline in transom mode. In this case, you will be able to ventilate the room in heavy rain without flooding the window sill and floor with streams of water.
Metal-plastic window with tilt-and-turn fittings.
The presence of microventilation is welcome. This is the name of the function that allows you to leave the sash slightly open in transom mode by a few millimeters. Micro-ventilation will allow you to ventilate rooms in winter without fear of icy drafts.
The micro-ventilation system can be replaced with a window clamp installed on the frame and opening sash. The photo shows a simple comb retainer.
If the sash is more than 70 - 75 centimeters wide, it will need a microlift - a simple device that lifts the edge of the sash when closing.
The sash should be pressed in the closed position not only by the central locking tongue, but also by several rollers around the perimeter. Otherwise, cracks will quickly appear at the top and bottom due to deformation of the profile, into which cold air from the street will begin to flow.
It is desirable that the rollers be eccentric (fittings with summer-winter modes). Rotating such a roller changes the pressing force of the sash, compensating for changes in the dimensions of the profile and seal during seasonal fluctuations in street temperature.
Pressure eccentric roller in neutral position.
Selecting a double-glazed window
- What is it - a multi-chamber double-glazed window? How many cameras should a country house have windows? ?
The chamber is an air gap between two adjacent glasses in a sealed double-glazed window. The number of cameras is one less than the number of glasses.
The same pattern works here as in the case of the frame profile: the more cameras, the warmer the window. Each glass reduces heat transfer due to convection, but increases the cost of the window and the load on the fittings and profile.
In most of Russia, double-glazed windows with three glazing threads are in use. However, there are exceptions:
- In warm southern regions (in particular, in Crimea and Krasnodar Territory)
single-chamber double-glazed windows lead in popularity;
A budget solution for warm regions is a single-chamber double-glazed window.
- In the coldest regions (Chukotka, Yakutia), three-chamber packages with 4-strand glazing are in use. Such glazing often requires an increased profile width - 70 mm instead of 60, which is considered the standard in the budget sector of the market.
And this is a solution for particularly cold areas with winter temperatures below 40-50 degrees below zero.
- What does energy-saving glazing provide?
Reducing heat loss due to infrared radiation. It is achieved by applying a thin multilayer coating of titanium and silver oxides to one of the glass units. The modern market is dominated by glass with soft coating; they have a translucency of up to 90% versus 70 for older hard-coated glass, but require protection from mechanical influences.
Protection is provided by installing i-glass by spraying inside the package.
The radiant heat reflective coating is contained within a sealed glass unit.
Energy-saving coating works, so to speak, in both directions: in winter, when the temperature in the house is higher than outside, it reduces the transfer of heat from inside to outside, and in summer it limits the heating of the room by the sun's rays.
A single-chamber package with one energy-saving glass transmits a quarter less heat than a two-chamber double-glazed window made from conventional glass.
The space between the glasses is often filled with inert argon - more viscous and less thermally conductive compared to air, which further reduces losses.
Single-chamber package with energy-saving glass and filling the single chamber with argon.
A two-chamber package with two i-glasses in terms of thermal insulation capacity approximately corresponds to 70 centimeters of brickwork. At the same time, the second i-glass provides an increase in heat transfer resistance by only 2-3%.
I will allow myself to share my own experience in using energy-saving glazing. With its area of 26 m2 and the attic area of 60 m2, the power of a single inverter air conditioner with a capacity of 12,000 BTU is enough to heat it even in the rare frosts in Crimea (at -20 outside).
- What other functions can a double-glazed window perform??
It can protect the room from excess light. Light-protective glasses transmit from 30 to 70% of visible light due to limited transparent metal coating. It also provides a kind of mirror effect: from the bright sunlit street, the dimly lit interior of the house is not visible from the word “at all.”
Light-protective glass will protect you not only from the sun, but also from indiscreet glances from the street.
A double-glazed window can also protect your home from noise. For noise protection, glass of different thicknesses (4 and 6 mm) are assembled into one package. The chambers are also made in different widths; as a result, each element of the package dampens noise in its part of the acoustic spectrum, and all of them reduce its volume by 25-40 decibels.
Installation of noise-proof double-glazed windows.
Choosing a room for a children's room
Finding the perfect room for a nursery is not an easy task. On the one hand, the room should be as bright as possible, but on the other, the child must be protected from overheating during the daytime. Children should not be awakened too early by the rays of the rising sun, but at the same time they need to wake up quickly. Most often, when choosing a place for a nursery, parents give preference to rooms with windows facing northeast or southwest. Moreover, in the first case, the room must be well insulated and sources of artificial lighting must be added for comfort in the evening hours, and in the second, care must be taken about ventilation and air conditioning of the room.
Where to buy panoramic windows in Moscow?
Have you decided to order floor-to-ceiling window designs and are looking for a reliable company? By contacting plasokna, everyone can not only purchase quality products at affordable prices, but also order professional installation, as well as receive excellent service and an extended warranty for any type of purchased product.
Our company carries out strict quality control of its products, made from certified components. In addition, installation specialists undergo special training at the Rehau Academy before work. More information about installation, certificates and reviews about the company can be found by clicking on the links below:
What you need to pay attention to when buying an apartment
Many buyers, when searching for an apartment, are more concerned with the view from the window than with other equally important characteristics. At the same time, experienced realtors try to show real estate at an “advantageous time.” That is, an apartment with windows facing south will not be shown during the daytime, but will attract buyers in the morning or evening, and, conversely, apartments with windows facing north will be shown during the daylight hours. This factor must be taken into account and when inspecting real estate, attention must be paid to such points as the location of windows in the room and the apartment as a whole. Recommendations for selecting the best option are identical to the advice that relates to the construction of private houses.
How can you increase the burglary resistance of windows?
Ensuring that windows are burglar-resistant is a complex undertaking. To do this, it is necessary to install double-glazed windows with triplex or reinforced glass (the first option is preferable for residential premises), use special anti-burglary elements of window fittings and strengthen the profile systems with reinforcing liners. Thanks to the measures taken, it will be much more difficult for intruders to enter the interior through the windows - the first floor will become as inaccessible to them as the third, fourth or fifth.
To neutralize anti-burglary fittings, you will need a special tool and time. In dense urban areas, burglars try not to take risks by opening such windows, but experts still recommend using external protection.
Where should windows go according to Feng Shui?
Some real estate buyers take into account not only the recommendations of builders and architects. Feng Shui is taken seriously by many people today, so the following information will be useful for those interested in this teaching:
- areas on the north side are considered an area of knowledge, so it is recommended to arrange workrooms and study rooms there;
- rooms with windows facing east are the best option for bedrooms and rooms where the whole family will gather;
- the western direction is a suitable place for a playroom or children's room.
Despite the popularity of this teaching, when considering all options, it is better to pay attention first of all to recommendations that are based on scientific and practical experience. If all the advice, including the teachings of Feng Shui, coincides with the opinion and desire of the property owner, then this is the ideal housing option.
How do windows for the first floors differ from conventional models?
It is through these openings that most thefts occur if the property owner has not taken care of security in advance. To avoid unpleasant situations, you must ensure:
- burglary resistance;
- confidentiality;
- restricting access to the window opening.
The most effective protection system can be considered to be one that consists of all of the listed components. In some cases, customers neglect to ensure confidentiality, which leads to dire consequences. After all, an experienced thief who sees valuable things knows how to overcome the defense, so you should not provoke him into predictable actions.
Today, windows on the second and last floors also require additional protection. Only in these cases can you ignore the requirements for ensuring confidentiality and limit yourself to increasing the level of burglary resistance and installing roller shutters.
Manufacturers rating
The rating of window companies in Moscow in 2021 will allow you to understand whose profile is the most reliable. There are several main manufacturers that consumers consistently trust:
- Rehau. A German company that has been producing profiles for over 50 years. Creates many design options - from budget ones to the most expensive multi-chamber ones with high insulating properties. The thickness of the profile systems is from 60 to 70 mm.
- KBE. Another German manufacturer of models with system depths from 58 to 70 mm. The level of insulating qualities is high.
- VEKA. One of the largest window concerns in Germany, Rehau's main competitor in the international market. The windows are of high quality, using our own innovative technologies.
- Salamander. Product made in Germany. Less known in Russia, but distinguished by quality and environmental friendliness. PVC is reinforced using a special technology, which makes windows especially in demand in the private sector, where shrinkage of the house is likely. The installation depth ranges from 60 to 76 cm.
- Trocal. A brand with a strong focus on sustainability. Greenline technology is used. It guarantees that the plastic contains no harmful impurities.
- Proplex. The Russian manufacturer is ready to offer profiles up to 127 mm thick. The advantage is that when developing solutions, climatic conditions were initially taken into account. This made it possible to increase the service life and insulation characteristics.
Our company is included in the rating of companies installing plastic windows. When a client contacts us, we will select the best solution for him and answer all questions regarding characteristics, installation features and other parameters. To call a surveyor, leave a request on the website or call us at the indicated numbers. We provide official guarantees, perform quick installation, provide service, modernization and repair.
Curtains of different lengths
Experiment.
To create a stylish and unusual interior, experts recommend hanging curtains in a non-standard way. An example is this image, where you can see that they are arranged in a pirouette shape. If your room is decorated in a traditional style, decorations such as fringe and tassels will look very organic.
