sky lights

Has anyone on this forum considering installing sky lights?

I am building my home and thinking of installing a skylight (aprox. 900mm long). I will appreciate if anyone on this forum can share with me their experiences (pros and cons).

Should I consider having it done by the builder or should I consider doing it later?

Hope you're in Sydney... top quality, double glazed... with instructions: -

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Double-Glazed-op ... 240%3A1318

I had a skylight years ago in my kitchen that was in the centre of the house - so many people would comment on how light and bright my kitchen was... very popular and would consider another one in the new home if the budget caters for it!

We had no problems with them, although you do have to get up and clean them every 6mths or so, moths and dust seems to collect on the screen a bit...

Go for it..

Annie

Is it easiest to get a skylight installed while building, or after?

Judie

I think you will find that unless your builder supplies the skylight (as he has to guarantee it), then you will have to have it installed after handover. If your builder supplies/fits it, he will charge probably double the cost you could arrange it for ($600 by you). So probably better to do it after handover and save the money, up to you!

I installed 2 round skylights to my converted garage tiled roof, just regular ones from Bunnings. If you're going to install them yourself, note the following:

- check that the light tube will fit between ceiling trusses before cutting the ceiling hole
- check for electrical wiring in the ceiling before cutting the hole
- carefully hammer down the sealing strip (I also sealed with weatherproof sealant)
- give it a good check after the first heavy rain!
- wear a safety rope on the roof
- take all the tools you'll need in a big tool bag (getting up and down because you've forgotten wire cutters or something is a pain)
- clip that tool bag to something on the roof so it doesn't slide off

A reasonably handy person can easily manage them. I'm not a tradie, just a home handyman.

They make a huge difference to the light in the room, though they also funnel a fair bit of heat (they're on the north slope of the roof). If I had a choice, I would have mounted them on the south slope so they got all the light without the direct sun.

If you are building it will definitely affect your energy rating - so don't assume that you can have one - something will have to change.


If you still want one you will need something that is energy rated. As large as 900mm it would liekey need to be double glazed - as it's on the roof, ideally with Low-E glass.


Ed

I don't know anything about skylights in new houses, our new house doesn't have any dark areas so doesn't need any, but we installed 2 in our old home, one in a kitchen which had a small south faceing window covered by a carport, skylight made an amazing difference, and then later we installed one in a dining room which had no natural window following house extention, it had an open archway to lounge room with 2 windows and appeared to be well lit but it was mostly from the skylight.
Both the ones we had installed were long rectangular ones, I think the small round ones are more for small rooms like bathrooms, toilets etc.
I guess they make the room warmer but cant say we noticed this.
We had them for many years, about once a year, take down from the inside (simple job by standing on a table and prising out by hand) dust and clean with window cleaner.

With skylights does double glazing and/or good design completely prevent the heat transfer ?. I am thinking about a skylight for my butlers pantry as it's windowless but I don't want to add heat to the room.

I would have thought it depends a lot on the type of skylight? If you have a super clear one with a large area then it probably makes a bit of difference. If you had dome collector passing through a hazy (pearl) outlet then I would think it would make very little difference.

Yes - double glazing and Low-E glass will make a big difference.