Skylights
Let Natural Light into your Home with the
use of Skylights
By Mark J. Donovan
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One of the most important
aspects to consider when designing a home or home addition is
lighting. There are two basic types of lighting to choose from,
electrical appliance lighting and natural lighting. Whenever possible
the use of both is preferable, except possibly in the case of a home
theater design.
Though appliance lighting
can provide aesthetics and night lighting benefits to a home design,
natural lighting should be integrated into the design wherever
possible.
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Natural lighting inherently involves the use of strategically placed windows
to best address the needs of a home or room.
One type of window that especially addresses natural lighting is skylights.
Skylights allow sun rays to both brighten and warm a room. When installed in
vaulted ceilings such as possibly in an attic, skylights can also provide
landscape views and cooling. Skylights also can make a room feel larger by
letting in the natural surroundings, and of course, skylights also provide
nighttime views of the stars and heavens.
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Besides supplying natural light,
skylights also help with home energy bills. During hot summer months ventilated
skylights can vent warm air out of the home keeping the house more comfortable.
In the wintertime skylights can provide warmth to your home by letting in low
angled southwest sunlight.
Skylight Window
Options
Skylight options are quite diverse
today. Skylights are available in many materials, sizes and styles and can be
operational or fixed. Some also come with integrated screens to provide shade
during the day if desired. |
Originally skylight windows were only
available in single pane glasses. Today skylights are available in
multi-pane Low-E glasses and tinted coatings to reflect ultra-violet radiation
back into the atmosphere, thus keeping the home cooler.
Ventilated skylights are operational.
Via hand cranks, switch controlled motors, or even automatically temperature
sense controlled motors they can open up to allow warm air to be vented out of a
room. They also are available with insect screens.
Like all windows, skylights come in a
variety of ultra-violet ratings (U-values) and insulation R-value options.
Typically better quality skylights have higher U-values and R-values and
consequently higher price tags. However they are worth the investment due to
their inherent home energy savings.
Skylights come in many shapes and
sizes. Some are designed to fit between 16 and 24 inch roof rafter spacing’s.
Others sizes may require the modification of roof rafter construction if the
skylights are being retro-fitted into a home.
Skylights are a great natural
lighting option, and accent piece, to a new home or home addition design. They can
also be easily retrofitted into a home. So when considering home lighting take a
closer look at skylight windows. They can save you money on home energy bills and
provide aesthetics to a home that are hard to match.
For more information on
Installing a New Window, see the
Installing a New Window Ebook from
HomeAdditionPlus.com. The Installing a New Window Ebook provides easy to
understand, step-by-step instructions, on how to remove an old window and
install a new one. Pictures are included for every key step in the process.
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