Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Apr 30, 2009 7:07 pm We're building a new house and there's one area that we suspect will be a little dark. We like the plan, the living areas face north etc. but the centre of the house has a few walls placed in such a way that we think will reduce the natural light. We've seen and heard a lot about solatubes, the skylight in a tube, but can't find any info about a ballpark cost. We also can't find anything about the ballpark cost of a standard skylight. Has anyone installed either a solatube or similar skylight, or a traditional skylight and could tell me how much it cost? Cheers, Brigid Building Emperor Q2 with Henley in Featherbrook stage 13, Point Cook. Slab laid - Building has begun! Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 2Apr 30, 2009 7:49 pm Oh yes, I love skylights for dark areas - we installed 2 in our old house - one in the kitchen, had one small window over the sink which faced south onto a covered carport and one in the dining room, formerly the lounge room when we extended and that room then had no natural light. From memory, they were about $400 installed - this was on a fairly flat roof and was about 10 years ago. Just plain traditional rectangular ones. Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 3Apr 30, 2009 8:04 pm Good old Bunnings sell a "Abey" "Xtralight" Skylight in 300mm dia for $99, and the 400mm variety for $154. To get a tradie to install it would cost you around $400 supply and install. There is heaps on the market to choose from Make sure whoever installs it has done them before, and is reputable.....as you don't want water issues at a later stage. Ben LEADING THE WAY IN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION BUILDERSEDGE PTY LTD Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 4Apr 30, 2009 8:08 pm hi, we saw the solartube at the home show (melb) and had a quick look as we are going to put skylights in our new home. THey said the solortubey thing was $600ish and a normal one was $400ish - installed. I can't remember the company name but it might be on the home show website! Annie A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 5Apr 30, 2009 8:12 pm We have both in our current house and the skylight far outweighs the solartube in price and value. I will be having skylights in my new house as we will have a few dark areas too and our bathroom is in the middle of the house so it doesn't have a window. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 6Apr 30, 2009 8:46 pm thanks guys, that's much cheaper than i thought and very affordable. i guess i'll have someone come in when the time comes and discuss whether normal or solatube will be best for us - but it's good to know we can definately afford to do something about the dark part of the house - now if i can just magically double or treble the size of my backyard i'll be a happy girl! Building Emperor Q2 with Henley in Featherbrook stage 13, Point Cook. Slab laid - Building has begun! Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 7Apr 30, 2009 9:05 pm Beebie now if i can just magically double or treble the size of my backyard i'll be a happy girl! ah yes, the wee little yards! A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 8Apr 30, 2009 9:20 pm Annietom Beebie now if i can just magically double or treble the size of my backyard i'll be a happy girl! ah yes, the wee little yards! we got the biggest land we could afford in the area we wanted and the smallest house with the space we needed, and we still only have 8m to the back fence (not including an alfresco) but at least it's 18m wide, is 144m2 enough for kids??? there are many backyard threads.... no one can agree! Building Emperor Q2 with Henley in Featherbrook stage 13, Point Cook. Slab laid - Building has begun! Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 9May 01, 2009 9:35 am Hels We have both in our current house and the skylight far outweighs the solartube in price and value. I will be having skylights in my new house as we will have a few dark areas too and our bathroom is in the middle of the house so it doesn't have a window. That's in the illora too.. I think the home designers at PD have a fetish for dark bathrooms... Hels - Is your skylight included in the house plan? ---------------------------------------- Building the PD Lisbon 24 http://www.porterdavis.com.au/#homeviewer/lisbon/24 Blog of our progress. http://lisbon24.blogspot.com/ Homeone build thread https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28665 Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 10May 06, 2009 1:35 am Beebie is 144m2 enough for kids??? there are many backyard threads.... no one can agree! Give each of the kids a computer to use and 144 square metres will be more than ample! Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 11May 06, 2009 8:47 pm Fiffaro Beebie is 144m2 enough for kids??? there are many backyard threads.... no one can agree! Give each of the kids a computer to use and 144 square metres will be more than ample! that's what I'm afraid of! Building Emperor Q2 with Henley in Featherbrook stage 13, Point Cook. Slab laid - Building has begun! Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 12May 06, 2009 10:08 pm TimmyDunlop Hels We have both in our current house and the skylight far outweighs the solartube in price and value. I will be having skylights in my new house as we will have a few dark areas too and our bathroom is in the middle of the house so it doesn't have a window. That's in the illora too.. I think the home designers at PD have a fetish for dark bathrooms... Hels - Is your skylight included in the house plan? No, we're not getting the builder to do it... too expensive. I will call in the same mob who did our current house as we were very impressed. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 13May 07, 2009 6:55 pm Beebie We've seen and heard a lot about solatubes, the skylight in a tube, but can't find any info about a ballpark cost. We also can't find anything about the ballpark cost of a standard skylight. Has anyone installed either a solatube or similar skylight, or a traditional skylight and could tell me how much it cost? I don't understand why you can't get any info on the cost. Why don't you phone Solatube and ask them??? I phoned them several months ago and it was $505 without installation and $650 with installation (Solatube have approved installers). Phone them and ask them for the prices for your area: http://www.solatube.com.au/homeowner/index.php Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 14May 08, 2009 8:31 am GinaUK Beebie We've seen and heard a lot about solatubes, the skylight in a tube, but can't find any info about a ballpark cost. We also can't find anything about the ballpark cost of a standard skylight. Has anyone installed either a solatube or similar skylight, or a traditional skylight and could tell me how much it cost? I don't understand why you can't get any info on the cost. Why don't you phone Solatube and ask them??? I phoned them several months ago and it was $505 without installation and $650 with installation (Solatube have approved installers). Phone them and ask them for the prices for your area: http://www.solatube.com.au/homeowner/index.php i didn't phone them because the conversation would go like this: "i'd like to know how much a solatube costs" "in what part of your house?" "I don't know" "What kind of roof do you have?" "i don't know" "what is your address?" "i don't know" "Do you know anything about the house you'll be putting this sola tube into?" "no" I figured you can't really asdk for a quote for something to go into a house that doesn't even have it's land pegged out yet!! plus, salespeople quotes are not always realistic, that's why this forum is great. really people who've really used it can give me a better idea than a salesperson will.. obviously when the time comes I'll ring and get a real quote, but I just wanted to get an idea of if it was something we could easily afford. Not to mention that I'm too busy/lazy to ring people when i can just type type type, go away, come back later and see lovely people have given me my answers! Building Emperor Q2 with Henley in Featherbrook stage 13, Point Cook. Slab laid - Building has begun! Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 15May 08, 2009 9:36 am We are getting 2 solar tubes in our house, installed by the builder. I think it set us back about $1100 for the 2. One in the bathroom and the other in the laundry (no windows). Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 16May 10, 2009 12:12 pm Beebie I figured you can't really asdk for a quote for something to go into a house that doesn't even have it's land pegged out yet!! plus, salespeople quotes are not always realistic If you phone them, you'll find out that the Solatube comes in two sizes: ordinary, or with an extension (if the roof is higher). If you don't know which one you might need at this stage, they'll happily give you the price with and without installation for both. As for not knowing your future address: Solatube need to just have an idea which major city you are in or whether you live rural. As for salespeople's quotes not being realistic: If you phone Solatube, they'll give you the price per their catalogue. I can't see how that could be unrealistic. It'll be a lot more realistic than the price given to you by forum users who had their installation some time ago. Ask the forum users whether they've had good/bad experiences with their Solatube and wth Solatube's installers. But for prices: I'd prefer to get them straight from the horse's mouth ... Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 17May 10, 2009 2:44 pm GinaUK Beebie I figured you can't really asdk for a quote for something to go into a house that doesn't even have it's land pegged out yet!! plus, salespeople quotes are not always realistic If you phone them, you'll find out that the Solatube comes in two sizes: ordinary, or with an extension (if the roof is higher). If you don't know which one you might need at this stage, they'll happily give you the price with and without installation for both. As for not knowing your future address: Solatube need to just have an idea which major city you are in or whether you live rural. As for salespeople's quotes not being realistic: If you phone Solatube, they'll give you the price per their catalogue. I can't see how that could be unrealistic. It'll be a lot more realistic than the price given to you by forum users who had their installation some time ago. Ask the forum users whether they've had good/bad experiences with their Solatube and wth Solatube's installers. But for prices: I'd prefer to get them straight from the horse's mouth ... do you work for solatube? Building Emperor Q2 with Henley in Featherbrook stage 13, Point Cook. Slab laid - Building has begun! Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 18May 11, 2009 9:27 am Hels TimmyDunlop Hels We have both in our current house and the skylight far outweighs the solartube in price and value. I will be having skylights in my new house as we will have a few dark areas too and our bathroom is in the middle of the house so it doesn't have a window. That's in the illora too.. I think the home designers at PD have a fetish for dark bathrooms... Hels - Is your skylight included in the house plan? No, we're not getting the builder to do it... too expensive. I will call in the same mob who did our current house as we were very impressed. Can we get the skylight installed after the handover /will Pd allow us to get someone else to do them while the roof is being done? Sorry if i sound silly... Cheers Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 19May 11, 2009 6:18 pm In Sydney, Solatubes (290mm) with a chrome surround and flush mounting cost about $1500 (each) installed for a 2.2m tube. These models are their current models with the brighter (more reflective) tubes, not the old models. A Skydome tube is slightly cheaper but much less brighter. I don't know where people are getting the much cheaper prices, but I've had a couple of quotes and they are all in the same ballpark. Perhaps we're not comparing apples to apples? Re: Has anyone installed a solatube or similar skylight? 20May 11, 2009 6:31 pm jamiet In Sydney, Solatubes (290mm) with a chrome surround and flush mounting cost about $1500 (each) installed for a 2.2m tube. These models are their current models with the brighter (more reflective) tubes, not the old models. A Skydome tube is slightly cheaper but much less brighter. I don't know where people are getting the much cheaper prices, but I've had a couple of quotes and they are all in the same ballpark. Perhaps we're not comparing apples to apples? maybe it's the difference between solatube brand and 'almost-the-same-as-solatube-but-not-so-much-the-same-as-to-amount-to-a-copyright-infringement brand' i was wondering if there might be such a difference perhaps 'ginaUK' from solatube can enlighten us? Building Emperor Q2 with Henley in Featherbrook stage 13, Point Cook. Slab laid - Building has begun! It might be a bit darker in the mornings but the light is still light, so you should be getting it. Similar to what you see from your western windows 3 19987 The unit normally clips into a metal plate screwed to the wall, either plate is not flush, or unit not hooked in and could be hanging from the pipes partly, either might… 2 15791 Hi All, we are starting to think of building with Masterpiece Builders in Victoria, has anyone had any feedback or experience with them 0 13588 |