After making the decision to install a skylight, one of the important considerations to make is just what size skylight will work for your home. Read on to learn about sizing mistakes and how to plan for the perfect skylight.

Too Small

Cutting a hole in your roof can be overwhelming, which is why a lot of homeowners opt for a smaller size skylight. Small seems manageable, and less intrusive. But before choosing a too small size skylight, be sure to remember the reason for installing a skylight in the first place.

Skylights let in sunlight. This adds a welcoming, natural source of light that can act as a substitute for lamps. Not only is natural light more pleasing to the eye, it is also a lot less expensive than using electricity.

Skylights can also act to warm the house in the winter. This cuts down on heating costs and again, provides a comforting atmosphere to the home.

If you have a too small size skylight, then you won’t be able to benefit from either natural light or natural heat. Instead, you will have a hole in your roof that you may end up regretting.

Too big

Opposite to a too small skylight is a too big size skylight. The phrase ‘go big or go home’ doesn’t necessarily apply when looking to install a skylight.

With regards to light, too much is not always a good thing. If your skylight is in the bedroom, think about if you like waking up in with the sunrise or not. This is especially important to consider during the summer months, when it can become light out by 5 am. A too big size skylight will let more light in, which may disrupt your sleeping patterns.

As for heat, a skylight that is too big may allow too much heat in the summer, and could even let too much heat out in the winter. If one of your reasons for installing a skylight is temperature control, then be sure to pay attention to the size of it.

Just right

Before any installation happens, be sure to talk to a skylight expert. It’s ok, and even encouraged, to come into a meeting with your own thoughts and plans. This is your house, and you know your needs better than anyone else. But an expert can guide you through a sizing chart. They can talk to you about lighting and temperature.

Most importantly, a skylight expert can talk about the mechanics around the installation. Not every roof can be cut through. And not every roof can hold the weight attached to a skylight. An expert will talk to you, look at your plans, and come to your house before any demolition happens. Often you will need to go through a few draft ideas until everyone is comfortable with the end result. Your home is precious to you, and it pays to take a bit of extra time to ensure that everything is done right.

So, you’ve decided to install a skylight in your home or business. This is great! You are ready to enjoy all of the benefits that come with a skylight- natural light, boosted moods, and lower energy costs. Now that you have decided to install a skylight, you’re ready to move on to the next step in the process, picking a style.

There are so many styles to choose from. Flat, domed, pyramid, single panel, and so on, are all possible options for your home or business. Two popular choices among consumers are flat and dome skylights. We went ahead and broke down the highlights for both types!

Dome

Dome skylights are an eye-catching way to incorporate natural light in a room. These curved skylights were a huge trend back in the day, and are still fairly popular today.

More Light

The main reason people invest in skylights is to add more natural light to their home or business. Dome skylights typically add more light to a room compared to flat skylights. The curvature in the dome’s design allows it to bend the light from the sun and add just a little extra light to the room.

Weather-Durable

One thing that can put a damper on your mood is to watch your skylight fill up with rain or snow. Dome skylights don’t have this issue. The curve of the design allows for rain and snow to easily slide off of your skylight. This ensures that, no matter the weather outside, you can enjoy clarity through your skylight.

Extra Options for Efficiency

One of the great things about dome skylights is the option to make them even more energy efficient. Typically, dome skylights are made from acrylic. Acrylic is long-lasting and durable, but also more lightweight than glass.

If you choose an acrylic skylight, you have the option to have it ‘double’ or ‘triple’ layered. The layers refer to how many layers of acrylic you want on your dome skylight. A double layer is typical, but a third layer adds extra insulation, making it more energy efficient.

Flat

While dome skylights were a big hit about twenty years ago, flat skylights have become increasingly popular in recent times. The design of a flat skylight allows it to easily align with your roof, giving it a seamless flow. Flat skylights add more of a modern feel to a home or business, all while offering practically the same benefits of a dome skylight.

Choices of Material

One of the biggest advantages of a flat skylight is having the option between glass or acrylic as your material. While acrylic is extremely durable, and has the option for additional layering, glass is extremely energy efficient. Unlike acrylic, glass units can be completely sealed, and are therefore more effective at keeping the heat in during the winter, and keeping the heat out during the summer.

It is important to speak with a professional before deciding on the type of skylight you would like. There are many other factors that play into your skylight options, like the type of roof you have. The pros at Aluplex can help guide you through your questions and lead you to the perfect skylight!

Owning a home costs a lot of money. In addition to mortgage payments, property taxes, and general maintenance, there is also the dreaded monthly electricity bill. Using electricity is unavoidable, but how much you use, can be modified. Here are some important ways that a skylight can save you money on your electricity bill.

Better than a window

Instead of turning on lamp, we use windows as a natural source of light. However, even better than a window is a skylight. Windows are hampered by their brightness by both external and internal elements. Outside, there are trees, fences, and even other houses that can block light from coming in through windows. Inside, there are blinds and curtains that block light. However, a skylight doesn’t have to contend with these issues. Instead, it can let in a maximum amount of natural light. With a skylight, you won’t need to turn on as many lights inside your house.

Tinted glass

Skylights are more than just panes of glass. In fact, many skylights have the option of having tinted glass. This is especially a good idea if you live in southern areas that have brighter sun exposure. Tinted glass in a skylight still lets in natural light. However, it reduces the amount of heat that enters your house. If you have to run the air conditioning as a result of a skylight, then that negates any electrical bill savings you might have discovered. Instead, look into the option of tinted glass so that a skylight can save you money year-round.

Low-emissivity

Further to tinted glass on a skylight, look into low-emissivity or low-e coatings. These coatings actually use a very thin layer of metal on the glass. As a result, non-solar heat is prevented from entering the home. The coating cannot be seen by a human eye, so it won’t affect the aesthetics of a skylight. As a bonus to how the low-e skylight can save you money, many electrical companies offer rebates if such coatings are applied in a home.

Location

Where you place your skylight will greatly affect how much money you save. This is where skylight experts come into play. Before a skylight is installed, they will ensure that the proper location is chosen. For the most part, skylights that are built on south facing roofs are the best for saving you money. This is because it will filter in heat during the winter months, while keeping heat out in the summer months. If your skylight can brighten your house while also warming or cooling it, then you will see a direct correlation in your electricity bill.

There are many factors to consider before installing a skylight, so be sure to have a thorough discussion with your skylight provider. They will probably have a lot of suggestions that you might not even have considered before.

 

In the past flat roofs were sort of like your dysfunctional uncle. He was always around but nobody wanted to talk about him. Like your uncle there just wasn’t a lot that could be done with a flat roof and so it was left to its own devices. In recent years however architects and interior designers have discovered the benefits of installing skylights in flat roofs. Those benefits range from the environmental to the aesthetic to the downright practical and, as a result, the flat roof has become the new frontier of commercial design and development.

The Best Commercial Skylights for Your Flat Roof

While most everyone agrees that flat roof skylights are an idea whose time has come not everyone is aware of which type of commercial skylights are best for their flat roof. Below we’re going to take a look at the issue and provide some guidance you’ll hopefully find helpful.

Flat Roof Skylights: Basic Considerations

Flat roof skylights have gained favour because of their ability to exploit the wide open spaces of the roof to deliver natural light into commercial enterprises. Some commercial skylights are fixed, (they cannot be opened and closed) while others are retractable and still others are made of reinforced glass that can actually be walked on. So which type is right for your business? To find an answer to that question consider the following:

• Drainage – Perhaps the most crucial difference between the sloped roof skylight and the flat roof skylight is drainage. This is an issue that needs to be addressed not only in the way the roof is designed, but in the type of skylight you install. In most (not all) cases domed skylights are recommended for flat roofs because they do a better job of dispersing rainwater than other skylights.

• Size – While it may be tempting to put the largest flat roof skylight ever created on your roof to let in as much light as possible, it’s not always a matter of ‘bigger is better’ when it comes to skylights. Some roofs are simply not designed to have enormous openings carved into them and huge heavy commercial skylights dumped into those openings. As such you need to keep structural considerations up front when you are planning to install flat roof skylights.

• Surroundings – Even if you determine that your roof is perfectly capable of supporting as many large domed skylights as you want to install the fact is the surrounding environment may call for a more restrained deployment of roof skylights. That is, if yours is a relatively low building and there are numerous trees in the surrounding area you’ll want to consider whether falling branches from those trees represent a clear and present danger to your skylight plans. If they do you may want to cut back on the number and size of your roof skylights or install skylights with the type of reinforced glass we mentioned earlier.

To learn more about flat roof skylights or to discuss any aspect of commercial skylights with one of our experts, give us a call today on (416) 665-4482.

Skylights are often seen as a kind of architectural indulgence but that narrow assessment doesn’t give them their due as a green home improvement; which they certainly are. Today’s skylights are every bit as energy efficient as the best double pane vinyl windows and the natural light they let in can result in lower costs for heating and lighting as well as a more welcoming environment for plants. Not convinced? Let’s take a look then at how residential skylights fare against other green home improvements.

Residential Skylights: Are They Really Green?

Residential skylights are not just beautiful they also compare favourably to other common environmentally responsible enhancements like:

• Dual Pane Windows – Standard dual pane windows – the kind you install in your kitchen and living room – provide effective insulation against heat loss in the winter and heat gain in the summer. As such they help you save energy and money. Most of today’s skylights are also dual pane and as such need to be considered on par with the rest of your energy saving windows.
• Tankless water heater – Tankless water heaters heat only the water you need when you need it. They free you from having to have 50 gallons or more of hot water constantly sitting around gobbling up energy. Today’s home skylights also provide you what you need on demand. They let the warm sunshine in on those frigid cold days and open to allow heat to vent from the house on those blistering hot afternoons.
• The Programmable Thermostat – The programmable thermostat can adjust the temperature in your home automatically, eliminating the chance that you’ll forget to turn the temp down before you go to work or sleep. Likewise, you can install motorized shades over your skylights that are programmed to close during those times of the day when direct sunlight might cause your home to overheat.

The Many Green Benefits of Skylights

Few green home improvements can stand side by side with home skylights when it comes to:

• Reducing energy consumption – Skylights can reduce your dependency on artificial lighting thereby generating substantial savings on your monthly electric bill.
• Creating a healthier environment – Skylights bring natural light into long forgotten areas and natural light brings with it a reduction in the amount of potentially dangerous mold and bacteria that propagate in the dark, dank places of the home.
• Lifting the atmosphere – Numerous studies have concluded that people not only perform better, they feel better when the live and work in spaces that are flooded with natural light. As such skylights in the home can lift everyone’s spirits and make it a more upbeat, inviting place.

Residential skylights will not only enhance the curb appeal of your home they’ll make it a far more energy efficient, healthy and welcoming place for everyone. To learn more about the many green benefits of skylights and how they can transform the interior of your home talk to the skylight experts at Aluplex on (416) 665-4482.