West facing house in the USA: a Vastu reading

A west door is not a defect in the traditional 8-direction school. That school rates north, north-east and east entrances good, rates the south-west avoid (4 of 5) and the south and south-east avoid (2 of 5), and has no rule for a west entrance [1]. The door reads as neutral.

The 16-zone school splits the west side into three zones of 22.5 degrees. A door in WSW or W is neutral. A door in WNW is rated avoid, 3 of 5 [1]. So the question for a west facing vastu house is not "is west bad" but "which of the three zones is the door in, with North corrected".

The classical texts do not treat west as a bad side either. The Mayamata lists the Puspadanta square on the west among the auspicious door squares (30.44-47), and the Manasara names the Pushpadanta quarter among four quarters for the main doors of houses (XXXVI.66-67) [6][7].

A compass points to magnetic North. Declination is the angle between magnetic and true North, positive when magnetic North lies east of true North [3]. NOAA's World Magnetic Model 2025 gives these values, which Vastu16 publishes and checked on 2 October 2026 [2]:

Our post on magnetic North and true North explains why the two differ. In Seattle, a door your compass puts at 270 degrees sits at about 285 degrees true. That is WNW, rated 3 of 5. In New York the same compass reading is about 257 degrees true, which is WSW and neutral.

Local steel can add more error. NOAA notes that local magnetic anomalies of 3 to 4 degrees are not uncommon [4]. Phones can show true North only when they apply a model correction: Android computes declination from the World Magnetic Model, and iOS needs your location to report a true heading [5][8].

Bearings are measured clockwise from true North, from the centre of the home [1].

Two bands show the schools disagreeing. Between 236.25 and 247.5 degrees the 8-direction school reads the door as south-west and rates it 4 of 5, while the 16-zone school calls it neutral. Between 281.25 and 303.75 degrees the 16-zone school rates it 3 of 5 and the 8-direction school is neutral. Our general page on west facing house readings shows the same zones without the US correction.

Your home may have two doors in daily use: a formal front door and a door from the garage. Vastu16's check reads whichever door you tag as the main entrance [1]. Tag the door the house was designed to be entered by. If your family really comes and goes through the garage, run the check twice, once with each door tagged, and compare the two readings.

Garages, laundry rooms and mudrooms are not in our rule table and are not scored. In an open kitchen, tag the cooking area as the kitchen, since the stove is what the kitchen rules are about. Our page on Vastu for homes in the USA covers basements, several bathrooms and two-storey plans.

The facing is one input among many. Where the kitchen, toilets and master bedroom fall usually moves the score more than the door does. Our page on main door readings by zone lists every entrance rule.

If the corrected bearing puts the door in W or WSW, there is nothing to correct under either school. If it lands in WNW, or in the south-west band of the 8-direction school, these steps come from Vastu16's remedy library, cheapest first [1].

Free. Keep the entrance clean, bright and clear of shoes, bins and stored items. Make sure the door opens fully and does not stick or creak.

Low cost. Add a bright light outside and inside the door. Repair or repaint a worn door and threshold.

While the home is still being built. Ask whether the door can shift along the same wall into the neighbouring zone. On a west wall, a move of a few feet from WNW towards W can change the 16-zone reading from avoid to neutral.

We do not suggest pyramids, metal strips, yantras or any purchase.

Tradition

• West door squares among the auspicious ones: Mayamata 30.44-47 [6]; Manasara XXXVI.66-67 [7].
• Results of a door vary square by square, with no single best side: Brihat Samhita 53.71-75 [9].
• Zone ratings and severities: Vastu16's rule table, a draft pending consultant review [1].

Physical fact

• Declination is the angle between magnetic and true North: NOAA [3].
• US city declinations from the World Magnetic Model 2025: NOAA, via Vastu16's table [2].
• Local anomalies of 3 to 4 degrees are not uncommon: NOAA [4].
• A true heading on iOS needs the device location: Apple [8].

Our free tool lets you check your US floor plan under both schools. You match the plan on a satellite map, which sets true North, tag the main door and rooms, and the report gives each room's zone and both readings. It does not score garages, it does not correct a phone compass for declination yet, and it does not use astrology.