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mentioned earlier, special care must be taken to assure that the sun can get to themass. A masonry floor covered wi th carpets and furniture is obviously not aseffective a thermal mass as masonry sitting in direct sunlight.Once the sun goes down, the same windows that collected heat all day begin toreradiate heat to the outdoors. To minimize nighttime losses and ma ximize comfort(the human body also radiates heat to a cool surface), you may want to includemovable window insulation in your design or investigate some of the new high techglazings now commercially availableDesign GuidelinesRegardless of the design strategy you choose, t<strong>here</strong> are some other criteria that areimportant to consider. Much of the following information is taken from TheSunspace Primer: A Guide to Passive Solar Heating, by Robert W. Jones and RobertD. McFarland, (Van Nostrand Reinhold Co ., New York, New York, 1984).Glazing:The ideal orientation for the glazing in your sunspace is due solar south, although anorientation within 30° east or west of due south is acceptable. For maximum solargain, the glass should be tilted 50 -60° from the horizon. Many designers, dependingon their design strategy, prefer vertical glazing, or a combination of vertical andsloped glazing.Vertical south-facing glass has advantages over angled glazing in not having to besealed against water leakage and in its capacity to reflect unwanted (high angle)summer sun, but its winter performance is 10-30% lower that tilted glass of thesame area. (Vertically glazed space, can be used like most other rooms in the house,w<strong>here</strong>as tilted glazing results in head height problems sometimes). The efficiency ofa sunspace that combines vertical and some angled roof glazing will be higher thanthe vertically glazed sunspace, while retaining the advantages of vertical glazing. Rainand snow will clean the outdside of the tilted glass pretty well, w<strong>here</strong>as vertical glasshas the same maintenance problems as house windows. A two-to -three foot wideedging of pea gravel below sunspace glazing that is close to the ground, will preventsoil from splashing onto the glass, which can reduce efficiency.335

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