East Facing House Pros And Cons: What Are The Benefits?

If you’ve found an east-facing house, which means it has a west-facing garden, you’ll be trying to decide about whether you should buy it. This list of east-facing houses pros and cons should help. But before I list these pros and cons, what is an east facing house?

What is an east facing house?

If you stand in front of an east-facing house with your back to the front door, the direction you will be facing is east. In other words, when you leave an east-facing house you’ll be exiting to the east.

Side note: This article is written for those living in the northern hemisphere. This includes the UK, North America and Europe. But if you live in the southern Hemisphere, like Australia and New Zealand, substitute south for north. In the southern hemisphere the sun still rises in the east. But the sun tracts around the sky to the north instead of to the south.

On the basis you live in the Northern Hemisphere and if you are considering an east-facing house, what are the east-facing house pros and cons?

East-facing houses benefit from west-facing gardens, and if you love sunlight you will love how much sun you get in the afternoon and into the evening. But the downside of an east-facing house is how hot the back garden will get in the summer, which some will argue is too hot.

Please also read this article to discover how you could save over £70,000 on your next mortgage if you sell your house and rent before buying again. Even I was amazed when I did the calculations!

As with anything, there are always pros and cons to consider. As far as buying a house which is east-facing, the pros and cons include.

East facing house pros and cons

What are the pros of an east-facing house?

1. Early morning sunlight: The windows at the front of the house and face east will receive the early morning sun, as the sun rises in the east.
2. West-facing garden: If the house faces east it will have a west-facing garden. West facing gardens are great for afternoon sun and sunsets. To find out more about buying a house with a west-facing garden, please read “Should You Buy A House With A West Facing Garden?“, in which you’ll discover if west is best. The article also includes a west-facing garden sun diagram together with details of a great sun-app to help you with how the sun will affect an east-facing house.
3. Morning sun in the front garden: East-facing gardens enjoy early morning to midday sunshine. But will also enjoy the afternoon sunshine in the summer months to around 4:30pm, depending on the height of the house.
4. East facing rooms are bright in the mornings: The rooms at the front of the house (i.e. east-facing) will be bright first thing in the morning. This is an advantage if you like to wake up to bright natural sunlight.
5. Cool rooms at the front of the house in the afternoon: The rooms at the front of the house that are facing east won’t get too hot as the midday sun will be at the right side (i.e. south side) of the house. These front rooms will be cool for the rest of the afternoon.
6. Front of house kitchens will be bright in the morning: If your kitchen is at the front of the house with the window facing east, you’ll have a lovely bright kitchen in the morning.
7. Front garden plants that like shade will like facing east: Plants that like partial shade and need shelter from strong sunlight will thrive in an east facing front garden. The afternoon shade will protect plants from the sun at its hottest.
8. Front of the house will be in the shade in the afternoon: If you like afternoon shade, the front of the house will be in shade from 1-2pm.
9. Bright rear of house rooms in the afternoon: The rooms at the back of the house, which will be facing west, will be bight and sunny in the afternoon and evening.
10. Great evening sunsets: You’ll enjoy lovely back garden sunsets with an east-facing house, as the sun sets in the west.
11. If you’re an early bird: Early birds who like to wake up to morning sunlight, and if your bedroom is at the front of an east-facing house, will love the morning sun.

What are the cons of an east facing house?

1. Loss of afternoon sunshine at the front: The east-facing front garden will lose the sunshine in the afternoon.
2. Front of house will be in the shade in the afternoon: The front of the house will be in shade from early afternoon onwards. This will be worse in the winter months when the sun is lower in the sky.
3. Dark rooms at the front of the property in the afternoon: The rooms at the front of the house which are east-facing will be dark and devoid of light in the afternoon.
4. Very hot back garden: If you don’t like it too hot, you may not like how hot the back garden gets with an east-facing house.
5. Hot conservatories: Back garden conservatories in east facing houses get very hot, as the sun when it’s at the hottest time of day will be to the side of the house and will move towards the rear of the house.
6. No shade for kids in the afternoon: East-facing houses have west-facing gardens which don’t get much shade in the afternoon.
7. Rear rooms get hot: The rooms at the back of a house with a west-facing garden can get very hot in the afternoon in the summer.
8. Shady morning back garden: The back garden will be in the shade in the morning.
9. Bright rooms at front of house: The rooms at the front of a house will be extremely bright first thing in the morning, which is not for everyone.
10. Obstacles to the south will block the sun: Tall obstacles to the right of the house (i.e. to the south) may block the afternoon sun. This is especially the case in the winter months.
11. Not good for fair-skinned people: If you’re fair-skinned you may not like a west-facing garden due to how much sunlight it gets in the afternoon.
12. Evening glare at the rear of the house: As the sun sets to the west, this will get very bright and create glare, which is not for everyone.

Is east facing house hot?

The back of an east-facing house and it’s garden and back patio will get very hot in the summer months, as the back garden will bear the brunt of the afternoon sun. Rooms at the back of an east-facing house also get very hot, which means you may need to invest in blinds or screens to block the sun.

Do east facing houses get sun?

The front of an east facing house gets the sun in the morning, as the sun rises in the east, whilst the back of an east-facing house and the back garden gets the sun in the afternoon. It could therefore be argued that you get the best of both worlds with an east-facing house if you love the sun.

Is it better for a house to face east or west? If you want to know if it’s better for a house to face east or west, please take a read of this article “Is It Better To Have Your House Face East Or West“.

Final thoughts on east facing house pros and cons

If you sleep in the rooms at the front of an east-facing house, every morning you will be able to watch beautiful sunrises out the front windows, and then every evening you can watch the sun set from the back windows.

Please don’t forget to read this before you leave…

Please don’t forget to also read this article to discover how you could save over £70,000 on your next mortgage if you sell your house and rent before buying again. As I said earlier, even I was amazed when I did the calculations!

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