https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhbDfi7Ee7k
Seriously - where'd they go?Links 'n' stuff:Technology Connections on Mastodon:https://mas.to/@TechConnectifyTechnology Connections on Bluesky:https://bsky.a...
Some people decided awnings are unattractive so now every HOA and rental bans them. And the rest of us have to suffer because the pretty people who can afford to pay that A/C bill run our entire society.
This is the entirety of what's wrong with the US in a microcosm. The majority being forced to live under rules made by people that aren't affected by them.
Im lucky as im right below the roof so I get the effect but nobody on the other floors get that shade except for the balcony getting it from the balcony above.
Eccentric midwestern home owner has strong opinions about home designs, news at 11. I love his channel, did you see his trilogy about oil lamps?
Are you guys playing a bit or is someone gonna link the youtuber for those interested?
edit: I'm an idiot, ignore me
Make them better looking and push-button retractable from inside, and people will want them.
EDIT
At 16:40 he suggests high tech awnings that automatically unfurl and retract to provide the ideal amount of shade on each day of the year. Seems like a nearly perfect solution to me
I haven't watched the video yet, but vernacular architecture back in the day commonly set shading elements like awnings at the right height/angle such that during midday in the winter, sunlight would still directly go through windows and hit interior floors and walls. During summer, the angle of the sun would be high enough that direct sunlight could not reach windows.
You can get pretty far with just those passive designs. There are tools to help you find the dimensions you'd need based on where you live without having to do any calculations yourself.
While that may be true, it doesn't make people want them any more than they currently do. People want to have their full window view available whenever they want it. This means it needs to be retractable and extendable at the push of a button. And once you have that, it's easy and helpful for it to also be automated
Shade doesn't have to block any of the view. Many very modern houses with giant windows use these principles.
View includes being able to see the sky. These permanently block some of the view of the sky.
Speak for yourself, I'd rather not have the sun baking me. We don't have central A/C where I live and we're not allowed awnings of any kind. So it's super heavy curtains. I'd jump for any kind of awnings in a second.
People want to have their full window view available whenever they want it.
damn, too bad you can't just like, go outside, or something.
you should try going outside. Might reduce your chances of getting shot from going outside.
Better quality of living (in the long run even living longer) and less energy consumption on the AC may change that calculation.
This is the real reason they disappeared - awnings cost money and don't increase square footage. That's also why every modern building is a boring box.
We didn't forget about them, it's still covered in architecture school. You can even make them look really cool. But they cost money, and that's a hard barrier to cross.
You can buy them off the shelf and then put them up yourself. Of course then you have to calculate the amount of pain it'll be to put them up and the fact that it'll never be as good as getting it done by professional. Plus in my case they'll be a lot less blood involved.
10 grand does seem like a lot of money though. How large are your windows?
I'm Suprised people don't just paint everything white in really hot countries. I've always felt that would probably help a lot.
True it would probably look bad a lot quicker.
If I could find it and it was as durable as regular paint, I would paint everything that white that converts visible light into infrared that isn't blocked by the atmosphere. Yeet that heat right the fuck back into space damnit!
That reminds me of the barium sulfate paint that was discovered a couple years ago. It's so incredibly good at reflecting/moving heat that it could even cool whatever it's painted on. I'll have to find a source on this again...
Oh they do. It's just the hot areas in developed countries that pretend they shouldn't be using white paint.
always been confused why roofing in the NA area is often black, or close to black, it simply doesn't help anybody.
I don’t know for sure but I assume of it is because light roofs require more maintenance to look as nice. Nothing shows up on a dark brown or black roof. A white or light grey would show dirt and debris. I don’t want to waste my time washing my roof because my HOA doesn’t like the way it looks.
i guess so? But a dark grey roof is already literally made from asphalt. It can't look much worse that proto road material.
Even then you could easily do a brighter grey color. Doesn't have to be white, but nearly every roof i ever see is either black, some variant of a dark color. Not a lighter grey or red, those are lot less common.
Also, the color doesn’t make that much of a difference. Like a percentage you can count on one hand. Much more significant gains can be had from ridge vents and other ways of getting the heat out of the attic, and insulation to keep that heat from going into the house.
At least according to my acquaintance in the roofing industry, and obvs this is regarding typical US/Canada SFHs
i could see the utility in it providing natural drafting for ventilation, but honestly, with the advent of modern homes moving towards insulated attics and loft spaces, that's definitely the correct choice.
That combined with building materials, where I live we build out of Adobe and my house stays warm in winter and cool in summer, the outside looks like mud smeared on the walls.
our house was built in the early 2000s. It has an awning.
Why were they forgotten? Probably because manual awnings suck, and once extended if it's windy, it's a rather fun time having it out.
Other than that, they're pretty good. I actually plan to experiment with passive building cooling using a similar technique, instead of an awning, it'll be a diffusion sheet of light fabric to block direct sunlight exposure to the walls, hopefully providing a decent bit of cooling, but naturally, i have to get around to testing it in the first place.
Awnings don't have to be a piece of fabric flapping in the wind. Wood, metal, extended roof overhangs, a deciduous tree, really anything that provides exterior shade to a window will be quite effective at reducing interior heating.
If you want one that retracts then fabric is probably the best option. I guess you could have a hard material that's made if panels that slide over each other, but that'd likely be a lot more expensive without much benefit. Alternatively you can have the vertical metal covers that extend and retract.
it's meant to be temporary and easily replaceable, the idea is to put it up during the summer so it blocks most radiate heating of the building, and then take it down throughout the rest of the year so you can still get a good view out the window.
I could also do dedicated window awnings, or retractable ones, but that's not my style. But yeah you have a good point. I was thinking about a different kind of awning initially lol.
Unless the feature of the view is nearly straight up from the window, properly designed awnings don't block the view at all.
Unless the feature of the view is nearly straight up from the window, properly designed awnings don’t block the view at all.
that's true, not my style though, if it isn't clearly autistic i generally don't vibe with it.
Florida used to build houses with metal awning you would fold down over the window for hurricanes. We did away with those because hurricanes got stronger and would rip them off turning them to flying projectiles. Now we have panels and no awnings. Because of hurricane codes
Can't you just take them off? I've never lived in a part of the world that has hurricanes but I have lived in properties with shutters and you can take them off, you tend to do so in the winter because they're just pointless for half the year.
The stronger hurricanes myth: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerpielke/2019/11/15/no-hurricanes-are-not-bigger-stronger-and-more-dangerous/
This article is from 2019 and argues against the methods laid out in research article published at the same time. It does not provide adequate evidence to support your claim that thid is a myth. I Will do some more research later today, but this author writes for a think tank. I'd advise some due dillignece before reading this guys material. Forbes is also right leaning so will have some level of bias here.
Not bigger and stronger... But more frequent and on average skewing toward the stronger end of the cat 1 to 5 scale.
I was watching this earlier and got about halfway through before the power went out. I spent the next 90 minutes before it came back on trying to imagine a style of these that would look good on the south side of my house.
I didn't come up with anything that my wife would let me install so I guess I'm going to stick with my plan of automated shades or drapes.
Interior shades aren't nearly as effective as exterior. Once that sun gets through the window, it's already giving that next interior surface quite a bit of heat.
There are many styles of awning or other shading elements. You can have metal slats or what looks like a wood box that comes out horizontally over the window. I'm sure something could fit your house's aesthetic. And perhaps ask your wife what value she'd put on thermal comfort.
Looking for shading elements or shading strategies might get broader results than simply sheet metal or fabric awnings.
I just got awnings installed two months ago on the windows that get sun for most of the day. It dropped the temps in those rooms by almost 8 degrees Celsius on hot days. The AC even runs less during the day now.
They're simple retractable awnings that a local guy installed for me. I used to hate the idea of awnings, but the thought about IR heat getting trapped clicked with me recently and suddenly the idea of awnings seemed brilliant.
I've got a large plate glass door in the side of my house, and I'm thinking of installing a pergola outside it. Grow something on it that gets nice and leafy in the summer and bare in the winter.
I live on a street corner, and the house across the street from me fronts onto the road we don't share, if that make sense. It's like my house points ^ and his house points <. So my house faces his side yard, and he's let it kind of go native, complete with these gorgeous wild muscadine vines. They're native to the area and they thrive with no attention at all; I have it on good authority those vines have been there for 60 years. That's my plan.
Since the video's point is that awnings are too unattractive for people to use them, then hot damn is that so much worse. Solid metal gates - for when you want your house to look like a convenience store in a bad neighborhood when riots are about to start.
These are soooo common on old houses in Melbourne. I've never met anyone who lives in one, but they're often closed all year which is insane to me (are these people sitting in the dark in their living rooms??)
The most common ones are made out of very thin plastic. There's also older ones out of wood. The most common ones are out of aluminum, so not strictly protective. Steel shutters are rather rare on houses and more something stores would use.
Kind of looks like a body of water off to the left. If this is in a hurricane area those are kind of practical for a different reason.
...Have you never watched Technology Connections before? None of his videos are clickbait. Quite the opposite, the entire video is about whatever is in the title.
No. And I literally see two fat arrows in the thumbnail. That'd be an instant block if that would land on my YT page.
You shouldn't judge a channel purely by thumbnail. Everyone else in this thread can attest to the high quality of his videos.
I just generally have an aversion towards clickbait of any kind to the point where I can't stand any video / channel using it. It's cheap and manipulative and everyone supporting such shady tactics is someone I don't want to associate with in any form.
The two big arrows pointing to the awnings, the things the video are about and that are in the title? Huh?
So? It's still a clickbait tactic, same with the idiotically capitalized words a lot of channels use, or the shocked faces. Just because you are unaware of the psychological manipulation of clickbait tactics, does not mean this goes for everyone.
I dunno what to tell you it's by definition not clickbait. You could argue that it's teasing or engagement baiting I guess but it isn't clickbait.
I am getting more of a chuckle out of the person's "I have made up my mind based on nonsense and no amount of real information will change it!!"
That is a wild stance.
Our house has a pretty big roof overhang, and it definitely does keep things cooler.
The downside is that the house is pretty dim.
I don't think the look good.
And literally never thought about it more than that.
So people may not really know what they're for, just that they're "old-fashioned". Not sure how to make them trendy but that seems to be a deciding factor in how people invest in their homes. Maybe sell them with "live laugh love" printed on the front with wine bottles dangling from the corners?
Just start doing it and brag about your electric bill going down. Eventually others will do the same for the same reason. Then it becomes a trend for being a thing people are doing.
That which is old is new again.
Make them out of eco friendly bamboo slats and 36-in long sections of galvanized square steel, sell it flat packed on Amazon and people will go crazy for it
They definitely make a house look dated. I doubt this would pass the wife test for most people. I know my wife wouldn't like them, and we're all about saving energy.
Same here. But make it with like jute and bamboo with a thin gold trim and she would buy 2
it wouldn't pass the wife test, but a cooler home and less expensive electricity bill would likely pass the wife test.
As a guy who does concrete. Trees close to your house love to drive roots through your foundation. Trees are great but can really do some damage. Especially where I live. Ground water is about 80' or deeper. The tree roots here stay shallow and spread out everywhere.
one of our neighbors has a 60-ish foot tall spruce about 14' from his house. There's a betting pool on whether it'll squish his place or one of his neighbors in the next big wind storm.
Honestly, I kinda hate the big tree in our front yard. It has these tiny leaves and every fall we have to clean the roof and gutters repeatedly until it finally drops everything, because those stupid leaves stick to everything and clog not just the gutters but the downpipes. This tree has caused our basement to flood during fall because one storm can simultaneously blow off a ton of leaves, instantly clogging the gutter, and then pour rain down the front of the house. We spent hundreds of dollars last year on a new gutter solution for 6ft of gutter. You read that right. Six feet of gutter cost us about $450, and they STILL wouldn't guarantee it would fix the problem because of the stupid tree.
We keep the tree trimmed and healthy, but every time the trimmers come out I dream about telling him to cut the stupid thing down. Awnings would be easier -_-
https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/using-trees-and-vegetation-reduce-heat-islands
https://news.wisc.edu/study-suggests-trees-are-crucial-to-the-future-of-our-cities/
Trees create a cooling effect past shading the area. It's a combination of shade and evaporative cooling.
Those links discuss cooling outdoor spaces. They don't compete with awnings for keeping sunlight from warming up your house unless you plant them close enough to do so and come with a ton of downsides (roof damage, leaves clogging gutters, roots breaking pipes and foundation)...not to mention how long it takes a tree to grow tall enough to provide that sort of shade
Trees will shade far more surface area than just a window. I've got 9 around my house. They block direct sun through the windows all summer. While not blocking any light in the winter. They also keep the siding and sections of the roof cool.
while i don't disagree, we should probably stop building suburbia as that would solve our problem. Suburbs completely decimate everything in the way and require replanting of the entire foliage, often leading to really shitty growth.
Is it not enough that trees look better?
IDK why you have to choose one or the other, though.
Why would that be enough when we're talking keeping a house cool?
I am VERY pro-tree. A lack of trees is why I moved (and why I decided against buying a few homes).... But trees are not a "better idea" for this purpose so it was a useless statement to make
trees near buildings are a nightmare, they can often grow weirdly due to lack of sun, and often make maintenance and clean up on the tree itself a nightmare, if it grows to close to your house you need to do something about it. They are also generally liabilities during storms, especially if they hang directly over your house.
Like a previous commenter said, they can be problematic for foundations and driveways and things like that. It seems fairly common that surface level root structures will expose themselves and start to pop through the top layer of dirt, primarily due to soil erosion and compaction i imagine, but that's another problem for grounds keeping as well.
Speaking of grounds keeping, trees make grass grow really inconsistently, and also generally provide "dead spots" where the grass will get almost no sun, and almost certainly die. Also mowing under them is hard. Trees don't really grow at human accessible heights all that often. And when they do, they're not as good for providing shade.
I live in Chicago. So does Alec. Stop the video at 5:44. All the trees are doing far more cooling and shading to the entire area than shitty old window awnings blocking single windows.
i live in the midwest also. Suburbs around here hate planting trees next to houses, and when they do, they're often too close to the house, or too close to other trees, or like i previously mentioned, cause other issues.
I’ve been planning for the last year some eco home upgrades, and awnings on the south facing windows are high on the list. With so many possible upgrades and so little money it’s difficult to know what to do first.
do the cheapest and most simple things you can do first, even if minor, it provides a small window for you to royally fuck up and gives you some room grow into
Awnings would likely be a pretty cheap and impactful one.
I’ve put 500mm of insulation in the loft, plenty of mistakes made there.
Just managed to get an electric awning to go over the lounge window for £140, fingers crossed it all goes well and if so I’ll do the upstairs windows too.
15 more things on the list though.
don't worry, the list will grow shortly enough :)
There is always something new to be doing unfortunately.
In my house in North Carolina, I put up radiant barrier foil in the attic. It was cheap and made a huge difference in the upstairs temperature. I stapled it to the joysts so there was an air gap on both sides of the foil, and so that the hot air would rise out of the roof vents.
Maybe, in the future, we'll have rapid up/rapid down trees? With AI. Maybe they'll get the ability to walk, too, so they can stand where they provide the most shade.
Oh, AI Tree Ents? That's the future we're going for? I mean, I'm in, but I didn't realize that was even on the table!
We make the table, so we get to decide what's on it. But don't make the table from trees, the ents get mad.
It sure why you’re being downvoted, it’s is unfortunately true. Makes your house look like a diner most of the time…
These things are technologically obsolete imo. The same result can be achieved with glass coatings, without requiring the extra work to install/maintain or replace these appendages.
These awnings work against losing heat to the night sky, the same effect of which can be achieved with anti emissive coatings that reflect heat radiation back inside.
The awnings also work against the sun when it's high in the sky, for which there are now anti solar coatings which will reflect more light from certain angles.
Nostalgia is nice, but the modern solution is easier + cheaper to install and maintain.
A tldr image: https://www.agc-glass.eu/sites/default/files/styles/max_1300x1300/public/2024-05/diagram-coatings%20leaflet.JPG?itok=s97bN-aV
Longer promotional article: https://www.agc-glass.eu/en/sustainability/glass-sustainable-architecture/energy-saving-glass
I'm afraid to admit that I have not, will do it this evening but until then I will remain ignorant.
Edit: Just skimmed through it because I couldn't wait and the video did not change my opinion at all.
The presenter seems to be unaware that there exist glasses which reflect different amounts of light depending on the angle. Up north, where he lives, the angle of the sun is much lower in winter than in summer. There exists glass that is designed for that.
A large awning to create extra seasonal living space outside, sure, those are still great. Small window awnings like ik the thumbnail picture, definitely not, those are a waste of time and money.
I was also disappointed by how dismissive the presenter was of scientifically based findings that did not align with his feelings. Curtains work great.
There's literally a whole section on glass coatings. But he makes the point fairly reasonably that in large parts of the world the climate is extremely seasonal and so you don't necessarily want glass coatings because they affect the glass all year round. Is a good point really perhaps you live in a temperate climate and so are not as cognizant of this.
The curtains bit is especially stupid because obviously curtains heat up and then radiate that heat back into the room so no they don't block heat they block light. If you want it to be dark then you have curtains if you want it to be cool they don't do anything.
Well, I hate to disappoint you, but curtains work for energy savings. If you are open to changing your mind, here's an explanation: https://www.thermal-engineering.org/thermal-curtains-material-home-energy-saving/
You always want glass coatings on outside window glass, no matter the climate. Depending on where you live, you want different coatings obviously, but coatings are essential in modern glass panes.
And since you seem to be entirely unaware of what already exists in the construction industry, here's another article with a bit more explanation: https://en.aaglas.nl/producten/warmtewerend-glas. A low zta will stop a good portion of the summer sun, while a high lta will still allow through a lot of light from low angles (including from the weak winter sun). Select glass that has a high lta/zta factor and you have glass that is good both in winter and in summer in northern Europe. The Netherlands is at lattitude of about 52°, while most Canadians live a few degrees south of that, so these same solutions would work there as well.
I need to put up some windows in the Hague, you seem to know your shit, care to pm me your company or contractor?
I would ask the window system producers for contractors near you, try: https://www.schueco.com/nl/particulieren/raamsystemen And/or https://www.reynaers.nl/
Lol, you're bothered by him not watching the video, and now you're not reading his comments XD. He already said in the previous comment there are glass coatings that work dependent on the angle of the sun, so coatings that will have different effects in different seasons, so he already addressed the possible issue of glass coatings working all year round, and said that according to him it's not an issue if you choose the right coating.
I am reading these comments they're just uninformed and he's pushing this view that he has which is fine but he's not watched the videos why the hell is he commenting about it.
And why do you care so much, I just feel that in a sub-related to videos, people should possibly watch the videos before commenting and making irrelevant comments that are already addressed in the video, but you go ahead and be a dick
Yeah, and on a discussion space it's probably also best that you actually read the comments you're replying to. He felt that the video wouldn't teach him anything since he's considers himself already knowing a lot about the subject.
I just pointed out the irony of you being bothered about him not watching a clickbait video about a topic he believes he already knows more about that such a video can teach. And you then tell him the video makes points he already dismissed.
He might be a bit abrasive how he entered the discussion, but if he works in the industry and knows why awnings are no longer a thing, and already dismisses the points the video made against more modern technologies since he seems to know what modern technologies are actually like.. that does seem actually useful to this discussion. I get him not wanting to waste 20 minutes...
I'm no expert on this subject at all, i'm not pro or contra awnings, i just felt bad for someone going into deeper detail on modern techologies getting downvoted for not agreeing with the video because he works in the industry, while making good points (and having his points ignored)
If you have a situation were awnings worked really well, and are cheaper than modern alternatives, awesome, well done :)
Hey, thanks for sticking up for me. Noone else seems to dare go against the bandwagon.
Personally I don't get people, I provide sources and am open to alternate viewpoints, but most people just want to blindly believe whatever last video they watched unfortunately.
No problem :)
Keep posting useful info on topics like this, we need more factcheckers on clickbait videos about how centuries old technology would still be the best.
