The place I chose to talk about is my house. It was built in the 80’s and has had improvements since my parents moved in. The house does not really take advantage of natural light. The front of the house faces south and there are windows on all four sides. The east and west side do not have as many windows as the north and south sides. Natural light does enter the home but not like we say in the Gable House. My bedroom has the most natural light in the evening because it is on the west side and the kitchen receives the most light in the morning because it is on the east side. Skylights and adding more windows on the east and west sides could help take advantage of the natural light.

 

My house manages temperature fairly well. During the spring and summer, there is a nice breeze that cools down the house except when it is one hundred degrees. In the fall and winter, the house is relatively warm. My house use to be shaded a lot better than it is today. There was a huge pine tree that covered half my house throughout the seasons, but it was cut down because we could not see out the bay window. I also had a cheery tree that covered another quarter of the house. This was replaced by a smaller tree that does not cover any of the house now. The only cover that my house has now is from a red maple tree that covers the garage. The house is very well insulated. It has the rolled up or batted insulation and also has blown in insulation. The only place where there is a draft is the laundry room. This is the room that has the oldest window in the house. This window does not do a very good job at keeping the wind out.

 

Heating my house is not a difficult thing to do. My mom likes to cook a lot so the stove is a very good generator of heat. This allows for our bedrooms to become warm because the kitchen in below the bedrooms. The house also keeps heat inside; so we do not really turn the heat on that much. We only turn the heat on until the house warms up to about 73 and then we turn it back off. The house usually stays warm unless someone leaves the door open or allows cold air in.