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
hampshire schrieb:
Cooling is definitely important, but I find some alternatives to shading more appealing.Right – sitting in the dark is no fun. Maybe Venetian blinds tilted open or those great louvered shutters (probably expensive)....
Apart from that, I’m more of a Scandinavian type than a southern Spain type.
H
HilfeHilfe25 Jun 2019 07:35hampshire schrieb:
This discussion can only be subjective. Blinds, Venetian blinds, or roller shutters are certainly not absolutely necessary.
Subjectively: I love the atmosphere when a sultry heat at midday brings a touch of lethargy to the usual daily rush. When people find it too exhausting to get upset over every little thing. When evenings on the terrace can be long and/or the early warm mornings promise a great day ahead and you’ve already "accomplished something" before breakfast. That’s when I don’t want to sit in a dark house but open all the windows and enjoy the atmospheric warmth.
Cooling should of course be ensured, but I find some alternatives to shading more appealing. Yes, that’s true, but especially when it comes to insulation, once you have heat inside the house, it is difficult to cool the house down.
A lot has already been written about this, but I’d like to contribute my experience as well.
We have roller shutters on all our windows, operated by a crank. The question of crank or strap didn’t even come up with our general contractor, so I was initially surprised when the windows were installed with crank-operated shutters. This was one detail we hadn’t really thought about.
For me, the advantage of the crank is that I can raise or lower the shutters on the large windows, which are 2.4m (8 feet) wide, without exerting much force. My neighbors, who have similarly wide shutters with straps, have to pull much harder to raise them, or sometimes just let them fall back down. Their straps have broken several times as a result. Another point is that straps tend to get dirty quite quickly—even when hands are clean. I can quickly wipe down my crank handles, but straps are much harder to clean.
Overall, I couldn’t do without shutters. Just this morning, for example, I closed the shutters on the east side of the house and partly on the north side, then on the south side. We still have plenty of natural light inside.
We have roller shutters on all our windows, operated by a crank. The question of crank or strap didn’t even come up with our general contractor, so I was initially surprised when the windows were installed with crank-operated shutters. This was one detail we hadn’t really thought about.
For me, the advantage of the crank is that I can raise or lower the shutters on the large windows, which are 2.4m (8 feet) wide, without exerting much force. My neighbors, who have similarly wide shutters with straps, have to pull much harder to raise them, or sometimes just let them fall back down. Their straps have broken several times as a result. Another point is that straps tend to get dirty quite quickly—even when hands are clean. I can quickly wipe down my crank handles, but straps are much harder to clean.
Overall, I couldn’t do without shutters. Just this morning, for example, I closed the shutters on the east side of the house and partly on the north side, then on the south side. We still have plenty of natural light inside.
B
Buchweizen25 Jun 2019 15:19Why do your straps get so dirty? My parents retrofitted roller shutters with straps in their very old house from 1880 sometime in the 1980s. Over the years, one or another strap was replaced. Naturally, none of them are as bright and clean as when first installed, but they are still nowhere near dirty or grimy.
We have no thermal or sun protection on our house. The builders simply didn’t include any (built in 2005). After moving in, we equipped the south-facing windows and patio doors with pleated blinds. They are visually unobtrusive, flexible, and easy to adjust. For us, that is completely sufficient. Inside, with these temperatures, it is even cooler than in the new apartment with electric roller shutters where we lived before.
We have no thermal or sun protection on our house. The builders simply didn’t include any (built in 2005). After moving in, we equipped the south-facing windows and patio doors with pleated blinds. They are visually unobtrusive, flexible, and easy to adjust. For us, that is completely sufficient. Inside, with these temperatures, it is even cooler than in the new apartment with electric roller shutters where we lived before.
I have three relatively small windows facing south (each about 1.5m² (16 ft²)) that are not shaded. So far, I haven’t noticed the house heating up significantly. The upper floor is very comfortable, especially compared to the single-family house I used to live in... that was like an oven in comparison. At the moment, I am feeling quite optimistic about the summers.
Overall, the house is very slow to heat up, in my impression.
Overall, the house is very slow to heat up, in my impression.
Similar topics