Good evening everyone!
We are currently about to submit the building notification in Bovenden, just north of the city boundary of Göttingen (Lower Saxony), and we just had our architectural meeting with the architect from our home builder FIBAV.
During the meeting, the topic of roller shutters briefly came up, and we said that we do not want any.
The response was that we should or must consider an alternative type of sun protection.
For us, the issue was settled: we currently live in a rental apartment owned by a Göttingen housing cooperative, first occupied in 10/2014, without roller shutters.
However, afterwards I felt somewhat concerned and asked by email.
The very quick reply was:
“Summer heat protection according to DIN 4108 Part 2 is mandatory and is calculated by [...].
This shows which rooms must be equipped with shading.
Provisions for possible later shading systems can be integrated into the façade either before or after construction.
Please discuss this with your construction manager. He can then coordinate it with the trades.”
It’s good to know that summer heat protection according to the standard is mandatory—also to prevent the majority of people from retrofitting energy-intensive air conditioning later, no question.
But is summer heat protection also a legal or otherwise mandatory requirement, or can we omit it without facing any sanctions—worst case, a forced retrofit?
If summer heat protection is somehow a sanctionable obligation: does it have to be an external shading system?
My wife cannot live without curtains, so we already have some form of interior sun protection—of course less effective than external shading, but present.
We will not install an air conditioning system later...
Regardless of whether it is mandatory: What are the most cost-effective options for reasonably effective heat protection?
Or is that already provided by curtains?
Best regards,
Christian
We are currently about to submit the building notification in Bovenden, just north of the city boundary of Göttingen (Lower Saxony), and we just had our architectural meeting with the architect from our home builder FIBAV.
During the meeting, the topic of roller shutters briefly came up, and we said that we do not want any.
The response was that we should or must consider an alternative type of sun protection.
For us, the issue was settled: we currently live in a rental apartment owned by a Göttingen housing cooperative, first occupied in 10/2014, without roller shutters.
However, afterwards I felt somewhat concerned and asked by email.
The very quick reply was:
“Summer heat protection according to DIN 4108 Part 2 is mandatory and is calculated by [...].
This shows which rooms must be equipped with shading.
Provisions for possible later shading systems can be integrated into the façade either before or after construction.
Please discuss this with your construction manager. He can then coordinate it with the trades.”
It’s good to know that summer heat protection according to the standard is mandatory—also to prevent the majority of people from retrofitting energy-intensive air conditioning later, no question.
But is summer heat protection also a legal or otherwise mandatory requirement, or can we omit it without facing any sanctions—worst case, a forced retrofit?
If summer heat protection is somehow a sanctionable obligation: does it have to be an external shading system?
My wife cannot live without curtains, so we already have some form of interior sun protection—of course less effective than external shading, but present.
We will not install an air conditioning system later...
Regardless of whether it is mandatory: What are the most cost-effective options for reasonably effective heat protection?
Or is that already provided by curtains?
Best regards,
Christian
H
HilfeHilfe22 Jun 2019 10:09Muc1985 schrieb:
In addition, roller shutters create a much more comfortable living environment. When needed, they provide privacy, and the kids will probably appreciate having a nice dark room when they have to go to bed during the summer months.
You have protection and maybe a better peace of mind while you're on vacation, right?That's true, I also like to walk around naked in the living area sometimes.Exactly, it’s good to board up for vacation so that everyone knows nobody is home.
Thermal insulation is an important topic in new construction. Do something about it! It should be electric and serviceable from the outside as a standard. Belt drives are from 1970; leave those out of new builds.
Thermal insulation is an important topic in new construction. Do something about it! It should be electric and serviceable from the outside as a standard. Belt drives are from 1970; leave those out of new builds.
guckuck2 schrieb:
XY should be standard. AB dates back to 1970, so leave that out for new builds.The main reason why building has become so ridiculously expensive.
Winniefred22 Jun 2019 10:26Definitely install them, really! We have a well-insulated older building with large east-facing windows (sunlight until about 1–2 p.m.) and, unfortunately, no exterior blinds so far. The interior blackout blinds and curtains help only a little. Thankfully, we don’t have any south-facing windows, so compared to other houses it’s still bearable. But we will definitely add them later.
Wooden shutters were mentioned here. How effective are they? Roller shutters are not very appealing to us visually because of the older building style, but I could quite like wooden shutters.
Wooden shutters were mentioned here. How effective are they? Roller shutters are not very appealing to us visually because of the older building style, but I could quite like wooden shutters.
Our roller shutter boxes are easily accessible from the inside. You only need to remove a white plastic cover to have direct access to the roller shutter, allowing you to replace it or perform maintenance. No wallpaper interferes, as nothing has been applied over it or painted.
Best regards,
Sabine
Best regards,
Sabine
crion schrieb:
Thank you all four of you for your answers and recommendations!
Currently, as briefly described above, we live in a new build, first occupied in 10/2014, but it is not KfW 55 standard and does not have a controlled residential ventilation system—just the minimum standard according to the energy saving ordinance—and we do not have major problems with the heat.
At least, as long as my wife keeps the bedroom windows closed during the day, which unfortunately is not always the case.
The children have also managed so far without serious issues; in summer it is just really hot on a few days, and that’s how it is.
I don’t want roller blinds, because I know about the manually operated Venetian blinds from my parents’ house, where either the strap is now terribly worn (tattered) or the blinds get stuck or break in some other way after a while. I don’t want any more maintenance-heavy devices in or on the house—and especially with internally mounted and plastered or wallpapered roller shutter boxes, fixing a defect in the strap, motor, remote receiver, shutter, or anywhere else would be a huge hassle and enormous effort—with 19 or at least 14 windows involved…
If I consider the costs of roller shutters and add up a reasonably priced motorized option, the total for 19 windows is at least €3,000 (around $3,300) extra—probably much more in reality. I don’t even want to think about KNX or similar smart home systems; I once roughly checked the prices and almost felt sick, as you quickly end up in the five-figure range.
I am an IT specialist and currently think that my network sockets (and the wiring converging in the utility room) in the rooms are more than enough.
The only thing I did consider was a system that alerts when a window is opened (an electronic window contact?), but I couldn’t find reliable pricing for it and expect it to cost a fortune ;-(
I would prefer to avoid retrofitting shutters because I am afraid of damaging the external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS, also known as EIFS / insulated render system) and would possibly have the shutter fittings included during the building phase.
However, my wife could warm up to shutters, which—although I fear in red—could also be a design element.
I will also take a closer look at external venetian blinds (raffstoren), maybe they are significantly cheaper...
But back to the main question: Is sun protection a legal requirement? In other words, can we be held accountable if we omit it, or even be forced to retrofit it later? Or would we be violating building regulations or something similar? In our region, shutters are mounted directly on the window frame and not on the wall or the insulated facade system.
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