On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 21:37:45 GMT, Cheryl Isaak
wrote:

On 11/17/03 4:31 PM, in article ,
"kevins_news" wrote:

My backyard faces southwest and is quite long. Nothing around for
shade. Consequently, that southwest wall gets BAKED all day by the
sun. It is brick and manages to hold a whole lot of heat. Well into
the evening darkness you can still feel quite a lot of heat radiating
off it if you stand outside by it. I don't want to put in trees.

I'm trying to find a good way to cut down on this heatsink. Being
energy conscious I try to run the air conditioning as little as
possible. At the time the house was built I didn't think of asking to
have extra insulation put in (higher than whatever building code
specifices) but I wish I had. Now i'm looking for alternatives. I
could install one of those backyard house awnings that are easily
retractable but i don't want anything like that. My thoughts were
that if i had a nice layer of leafy vines all over that brick wall,
they'd be an extremely effective sun shield and do the trick.

Some people seem to say that vines are bad and can damage walls.
Others seem to love them. I'm really not sure.

I know that any vine solution will probably take 5 years or more
before they're thick and large enough to be effective but this house
is a long term plan so that doesn't matter. Is this a good idea? And
are there any particular plants i should be looking for? I don't even
know where i would start looking. I assume the nursery where i buy
tomato plants in the spring would be somewhere to look.

House built new in 2002.
Waterloo Ontario (Southern Ontario. Canada. Near Toronto)

Any thoughts appreciated

Kevin

Actually, have you considered annual vines? Some like Scarlet Runner Beans
or the ilk? You then get the advantage of the heat sink in the winter!

I know nothing about vines/flowers. I just assumed that nothing would
grow tall enough in a single season to be effective so i was just
assuming a permanent type of vine. I grow snow peas in my garden but
they don't get much higher than my 6 foot trellis thing. And the
house is a two stories. Maybe these scarlet runner beans grow fast
enough to be effective? I'm open to any type of suggestion as long as
it might help do what i want.

And if i got a perennial vine, do they keep their leaves in the
winter? I thought they would drop their leaves allowing the brick to
absorb sunlight in the winter. But i admit i really have no idea.

OR (I have a passive solar house) extend the eaves to shield out the sun on
that side over the summer when the sun is high in the sky.

I've only been in the house for one year. Don't want to think about
major rennovations yet :-) If i could go back to when construction
started i'd put in extra insulation, buy a higher efficiency furnace
instead of the default 'builder model', put in a whole house air
exchanger, and not fall down the stairs. But i can't.

Kevin