The benefits of natural light.
In this market insight we summarise the benefits of natural light in your home and offer some tips to maximise it all year round.
There are a lot of advantages how increased natural light can help the presentation of your home and your health and well being.
Improved health
Increasing the natural light in your home has a number of health benefits to you. Getting some sunlight can in fact increase your vitamin B & D levels. These are proven to help keep good overall health and well being. Many will appreciate that the natural light can also work as an alarm clock. As the morning sun rises, you’ll naturally wake up to commence your day. As the sunsets into twilight mode, your body will start to switch off, lighting your mood and preparing you for a good nights sleep.
The sunshine is also noted to help your digestion, endorphins and immune system. All of these things enhance your overall health. In winter, the extra natural light in your home should be a warm welcoming.
A more sustainable home
As we try to become more environmentally responsible, increasing the natural light into your home can really help your home become more sustainable. During the day, having more windows can help warm your home during winter, while openable windows can help release an unwanted heat in the home during the summer. If you can maintain a more natural temperature inside the home, you won’t heavily rely on cooling or heating systems.
Reduced energy bills
It is widely acknowledged that our household expenses are always increasing. Our home energy bills (gas and electricity) have seen a significant rise over the last decade. As mentioned in the previous point, gaining more natural light will not only improve the sustainability of your home, it will also lower your energy bills. This is assuming you don’t need to use them as regulalry or as long to keep your home comfortable.
Prevent mould and mildew
Mould and mildew can be a silent assassin.
Mould and mildew are a form of fungi. They thrive and grow with built up moisture. Overtime a property may get damp, dark and poorly ventilated. This often occurs in wet areas of a home including kitchens, bathrooms and laundries. Other areas can also be on walls, flooring (such as under carpets), behind furniture or on internal roofing areas.
Gaining more sunlight, is a form of natural repellent that can effective kill the bacteria.
How to maximise more natural light
Now that we have summarised some of the advantages to increased natural light, lets explore some ideas on maximising it within your home.
Understanding the aspect/direction of where the sun rises and sets
North or south facing homes are most popular as they generally capture a little more light consistently throughout the year. Understanding which directing it moves will enable you to design your home to suit. Taking consideration to what bedroom you want, what area you want your home office situated in or how you design your open floor plan are just some of the ideas you should think about.
Skylights, Windows and Doors
If you are building a brand new home, you can really design and structure where you want the windows to be located. Large windows and doors are a really added benefit to maximising more natural light. There are great window solutions that can open in various ways, while many entry doors or sliding doors can offer more windows to the home.
Even ceiling skylights can add a substantial more light. These are often used in bathrooms to reduce the mould and mildew build up. Some have these on the upper level of their home. Keep in mind, skylights are great in winter, but they can bring a lot of heat in the summer.
Window furnishings
More the merrier… sometimes! In winter, having more windows will be a blessing to bring in some more heat and light. This can play the opposite in summer. In the evenings, the winter nights can get very cold. If you have a lot of windows, they can subtlety bring an air flow in. Good modern windows have improved security and sealing, but a great solution for many homes is to install good window furnishings. This will allow you to dictate if you want more natural light or not. There are a variety of different window furnishings to suit your home too.
What to do next?
Before buying your next home, maybe consider the idea of building a new property. At Crest Property Investments, we specialise in sourcing brand new and off the plan properties for buyers. We also offer a free service to do this. If you’d like to learn more, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We would welcome the opportunity to help with location, property type and much more.
Our YouTube channel and Market Insights also provide a wealth of information to assist you with many areas relating to property.
While we have taken care to ensure the information above is true and correct at the time of publication, changes in circumstances and legislation after the displayed date may impact the accuracy of this article. If you want to learn more, please contact us. We welcome the opportunity to assist you.
August 2023
