Sunlight is essential not only to plants that die very quickly without it. People are a little less dependent on lighting, but also do not live too long without sunlight. Of course, you can live under electric lighting, but a variety of diseases will be your companions throughout life. It was not for nothing that for many decades consumption was considered an incurable disease - it was provoked by the living conditions in rooms with insufficient lighting, in which most of a person’s life passed.
Why do we need light
Consumption (it is tuberculosis) is not the only disease that a person lacks in light threatens. The list of diseases that begin to "bloom" with a lack of sun includes: rickets - especially dangerous for young children; scurvy - a forgotten disease that is caused not only by a lack of vitamins, but also by a lack of lighting; osteoporosis - according to new medical data, also provoked by a deficiency of life-giving sunlight. What can I say, even diabetes mellitus occurs in a milder form if a person lives in normal lighting. So we can say that insolation is the key to the survival of mankind. And if you are going to buy a home, ask first of all whether your future apartment is well lit.
Justification of the requirements for the quantity and quality of light
We will deal with the terms. Insolation is the degree of illumination of any room during the day. And do not think that the more sun - the cooler and more wonderful. Those who have an apartment with windows to the south are fenced off in the summer from burning and blinding light by a variety of methods. Excess lighting is just as harmful as its lack. Insolation is just an accurate calculation, balancing between two equally useless extremes.
The standard calculation of insolation always depends on the geography. If we focus on 55 degrees north latitude, then the main attention for calculating what kind of building insolation is needed is given to the time starting from March 22 to September 22. In other latitudes, the vital period of coverage, of course, is shifting.
There is another factor on which insolation depends. This is the room of the apartment. If the number of rooms is up to three, then at least one of them should be lit; if there are four or more, at least two should be covered.
Lighting duration
This issue was resolved and recorded back in the 60s of the twentieth century. It was categorically established that to maintain the health of people living in the apartment, one and a half to two hours a day, housing should be well lit by the sun. If the sun “stays” in the room longer - this is a plus, but its excess, as already mentioned, is not a useful factor. Even a three-hour intensive illumination actually stimulates the explosive proliferation of microbes and bacteria - and most of them are pathogenic. So, city planners are trying to expand the buildings so that the windows of the houses do not go strictly south. Honestly, insolation of residential buildings is a science.
Special cases
The northern and central zones have some exemptions in terms of insolation - it can be reduced by 10 minutes if at least two rooms are lit in the apartment.
If we consider a multi-story building (a skyscraper with more than 9 floors), as well as areas of the city where crowding of houses and dense development of the area are observed , the insolation of buildings also undergoes some changes. First of all, intermittent insolation is allowed, in some cases it can be repeated. True, while the total insolation time should be increased by half an hour.
Let us pay attention to the details of the building, where “relaxation” of the insolation regime is possible. The main and most justified case is the so-called meridional buildings, in which almost all rooms are illuminated. Of course, insolation standards are respected here in any case. The second option is reconstruction. If a person himself wants to limit himself in coverage and does not violate the rights of neighbors - this is his own business, wants to risk his health, let him take risks. But the third option ...
Rights violation
There is a very streamlined wording that even experienced lawyers are unlikely to explain. It sounds like "particularly difficult urban conditions." There is no exact definition of “complexity”, but anything can be attributed to it. This point is used by unscrupulous officials or entrepreneurs building a shopping center that looks into the windows of apartment buildings. If there is no desire - leave everything as it is. But remember: insolation of the room is very significant, a lack of light affects badly both the physical and mental health of a person. This is especially evident in children and the elderly. If you don’t want to treat your descendants or bury your ancestors ahead of time (and fight the ailments that will soon come to you) - insist on your right to have a vital “sip” of light.