[masraum]

Originally Posted by techman1

Yep.
No AC? a house stays cooler if the overhangs protect the east and west side of the house.

Don't you mean south and west (unless you're in the southern hemisphere, then it would be north and west).

Unless you're practically at the equator, the side of the house facing the equator is going to be the hot side. The other hot side is going to be the side facing the setting sun.

So you'd want a porch with an overhang to face south and west to block the hottest sun (mid day and afternoon). The morning has sun coming in low, but that's generally the coolest part of the day.

Back on topic. The Chinese have been around a loooooong time. The Chinese have had an advanced society for a long time. I'm not going to denounce any widely held Chinese beliefs. That's not to say that I think they are all completely valid either.

I've also seen some New Age mumbo jumbo used by folks where when watching and listening and thinking about what was happening, I easily saw "how they are explaining this, like it's magic, is total crap, but what they are doing seems completely valid and is likely to have the desired effect." It'd be like being a caveman and telling another caveman "if you rub these two sticks together, you'll call the fire god into the sticks and he'll make fire for you." It doesn't have anything to do with a fire god, but you know those guys are having BBQ tonight.

If it was cheap or included, I might be willing to listen to some Feng Shui ideas (or maybe read a book), but I don't think I'd pay an extra grand or two to have someone come Feng Shui my house.