How to find out if house is north or south facing?

What direction does my house face?

The simplest way to find out the direction that your home is facing is by using a compass on your smartphone. All Apple iPhones come with a built in compass app installed. Android users will find an array of free compasses in the Google Play Store to choose from.


Once you’ve found the compass app or downloaded one, follow these steps to measure the direction your home faces. You can also use a physical compass if you want an accurate measurement.

• Go to the front door of your home and open the compass app.
• With your phone facing forward, read the direction that the compass is measuring (this should be shown in °). The compass may also show the basic directions like North, East West and South.
• If the reading is between 270° and 90°, your house is north-facing. If it’s between 90° and 270° then your house is south-facing.

How to check the direction of my house online

If you want to find the direction of your house online, this can be done simply in Google Maps. This is also a great way to find out which direction a potential property you want to rent or buy is facing.


Go to Google Maps.

• Enter the address you want to search in the ‘Search Google Maps’ taskbar and press enter. In the bottom-left-hand corner of the screen, you should see a box that says ‘Satellite’. Click this to switch to satellite view. You should now see a satellite picture of the area.
• You should now see a compass-needle icon in the bottom-right-hand corner of the screen. The red end shows north, while the white end shows south.

• Press Ctrl and use your mouse or touchpad to rotate the map. Turn the map to roughly face the direction of the property you want to measure. If the red needle is now still on top, the property is north-facing, if the white needle is now on stop, the property is south facing.

Which way does my garden face

You can follow the same procedure to find the procedure for your garden. If your front garden is north-facing, then your back garden will be south-facing (and vice versa).