Skylights

They are pretty pointless really.

Portals to ghostly realms.

Leakage could be an issue.

They always leak

I like mine. It is a manual egress, i.e. it is fully hinged and I can get on to the roof if necessary. Never leaked. Roofer 'accidently' broke it when he came to pick up his tools after I fired him, I replaced it with another from the same manufacturer whose name I cannot recall, the new one has never leaked. It all comes down to the quality of the installation.

God, my life is pathetic!

We have two. Like ‘em.

"You'll never see skylights at an insurance adjuster's home. They always leak. Maybe not right away, but give it time."

Those were the exact words said by my insurance adjuster to me when he was at my home to inspect it for a home insurance price quote when he saw my skylights. Indeed, I'm having them removed (they're small) within the next month because they're leaking and water is staining my indoor ceiling.

I live in Wisconsin so between rain and snow it makes sense not to have them. Dry climates may be fine for them.

I have three. They really heat the place up in the summer.

OP, my suggestion is therefore, to buy a skylight that doesn’t allow too much light or heat through, it if this is applicable.

It's much more affordable to do multiple smaller skylights that fit in between the roof rafters, rather than pay big bucks for a large skylight and have to have a large opening framed and all. We did a 4ft x 4 ft skylight and it ended up being thousands of dollars more than it would have if multiple standard skylights were used.

R10, I have seen the multiple skylight design before and wondered why they didn’t just make one big skylight.

But what you said makes perfect sense.

R8, doesn’t cutting down on the light negate (or diminish) the purpose of the skylight?

Don’t they sometimes come with some kind of rolling screen for when the sun is too hot?

Great infographic!

I have two smallish ones over the bathroom tub. They leak. Someone thought ahead.

This guy explains pros and cons of solar tubes quite well.

He should’ve shown the interiors, however.

^ Forgot link!

Skylight......

My parents have them. They've never had a problem with them leaking that they mentioned but they had a reputable contractor do their roofing work and he checked them.

This video shows the before/after natural lighting with the solar tubes or solar tunnels.

I have two in my house. They really help bring the light in, and have never leaked (knock wood). I enjoy having them and I feel good knowing they cut down on electricity usage.

I have one skylight and two solar tubes. I particularly like the solar tubes. Both are in rooms with no windows. Many times I think I've left the light on.

They've been in two years and no signs of leakage. I watched them closely during our very wet California winter.

They can be difficult to clean. And can get dirtier than Windows since they are not vertical.

We have skylights in or bath because it is a half floor with 30" high walls. They are over 15 years old and have never leaked. As with anything else, they are only as good as the person that installed them.

Skylights are lovely. Until they start leaking. Then you can never get them to stop leaking. Even using a reputable contractor/repair person, they're fine for a season or two, and then they start leaking again.

I knew a beautiful and rich (and hung) Juilliard student who lived in his grandparent's 5th Ave apartment building but he had the servants quarters which were on the room under a long glass greenhouse roof. It was incredible. Also, they are picturesque and necessary in Parisian and Viennese artist garrets. Make the dick hard.

I have them and they really brighten an area of the house that doesn't get a lot of light through the windows. The new ones today don't leak. You want to think about whether the skylight glass should be clear or opaque. The opaque allows light but blocks the heat. Also consider whether they should be operable, allowing you to open them to vent the space. There's drawbacks to that however (rain, leaves, squirrels, etc.) Skylights in the bedroom or TV room can be problematic unless you have a way to block the light when you want the room darkened.

Do you have to climb up on the roof to clean them?

“I don’t do windows” never sounded more justifiable.

[quote] R11: [R8], doesn’t cutting down on the light negate (or diminish) the purpose of the skylight? ... Don’t they sometimes come with some kind of rolling screen for when the sun is too hot?

The problem I have is that I have the top two floors in a 5 story building. Heat rises, so I get heat from the floors below. In addition, the three skylights really heat things up. At first, I made curtains to block the direct light from coming in. They worked reasonably well. Then I bought replacement skylights with the frosted or clouded glass. They looked better than the curtains. And worked out well.

One skylight is under my roof deck. I installed walkable glass above a clear skylight, there. I thought the coke-bottle colored walkable glass would be enough to block excessive light/heat with a clear skylight below it, but it was still too bright/hot. I found I couldn’t use the sink because the skylight was reflecting light directly into my face. So, I covered the inside of the skylight with a filtering film and that seems to be working.

I am hesitant to think about the “purpose” of a skylight in this case, since my regular windows already provide enough light. There’s no light coming in at night, and I manage fine, so it’s not as if I need the light. Also, one might think you’d want to see outside, but in practice, I never think to look “up” when I have windows on the sides of the building that I can use.

If I had to do it again, I’d use a darker version of the walkable glass, and a clear skylight below it. I’d replace the other two skylights with ones that are a little cloudier, and I’d pay. Loser attention to the heat/light rating, to make sure it was the best at blocking heat transference.

A funny aside: I live near the Hancock skyscraper in Boston. In the morning, I get direct light coming in from the east windows as the sun rises, and I also get direct light coming in from the west windows, because the Hancock reflects the light in. So, when I’m in the living room, I have two shadows. It’s discombobulating.