To bring more natural light into the house, installing skylights is a perfect solution. Not only will they not take up any space in your home, but they might also help you save on electricity.
Skylights can help keep your home at a pleasant temperature during the summer by circulating cool air, while they can also let in the warmth of the sun’s rays during winter. A skylight is perfect for aiding with your environmental needs; not only do you get a great view of the sky, but your space as well.
There are many ways you can add skylights to your own home & help light a darker area. Check it out!
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Things To Keep In Mind Before Adding A Skylight
Natural sunlight has many benefits, all of which can be enjoyed in your home by installing a skylight. Regardless of the size of your home, some skylights will suit your needs. There are a few considerations to make before installing a skylight, such as:
Direction
When positioning your skylight, please take into account the direction it faces. If you want morning sun in your living area, a skylight facing east is the best option. If afternoon light offers more warmth and comfort to you, west-facing skylights will provide that quality—research before deciding on placement for the skylight.
Features
Do you want the ability to open and close your skylight as needed manually? Would you like it to be able to close when it rains automatically? There are many options available, so they need to be considered during the quote and installation process.
Laminated glass
If you reside in a prone to hail or storms place, the best way to continue enjoying the sunshine and using your skylight yearlong would be to install laminated glass.
Consultation with professionals
Skylights need to be sized accordingly for your needs. Oversized skylights can let in too much heat, leaving you worse off than before. Hire a professional installer who will know all of the maximum/minimum sizes required and how often it needs to be maintained.
Skylight types
There are three main subsets of skylights: fixed, tubular, and vented. All these types have different functions; finding which one will fit your living area is personal. They can also be custom-made; brands differ by the small differences in style or size.
Fixed Skylights
Fixed skylights are typically designed for hard-to-reach spaces or high ceilings like cathedrals and usually square, rectangular, or circular.
You may have dark spaces that require more light, but you don’t want to turn up the heat with electric lights. A fixed skylight can be installed in your home to provide ample light without adding electricity costs.
Fixed skylights are typically installed to create a better, brighter light within the room. They are also fitted with lenses that minimize or alter the natural view of the sky outside.
Tubular Skylights
For those with less ceiling space, tubular skylights can be a great option. Additionally, they are often used in small areas such as hallways and pantries.
Tubular skylights are cylindrical shape options that place on a roof through to the ceiling and provide natural light.
Compared to fixed and vented skylights, tubular skylights are smaller. However, these can still be styled in many ways - a range of different options, including running multiple lights down a hallway or adding pantry and cupboard lights.
Vented Skylights
A vented skylight is similar to a fixed one but also can be opened and closed. Venting skylights offer a bonus is they have built-in ventilation and can be manually operated or controlled with a remote.
Stuffy spaces, or rooms with few windows, may benefit from a vented skylight. This ensures that more air circulates through the home and more natural light can reach all room areas.
Skylight ventilation is also an easy and effective way to provide dry environments with little risk of mold growth and reduce condensation in moisture-prone spaces like the bathroom.
List Of Skylight Ideas
Stained Glass Skylights Ideas
If you are going for the artsy look, convert your skylights into stained glass windows. A stained-glass skylight can bring a peaceful, ethereal elegance to any space when they are done well.
Circular skylights Shape Ideas.
Ignore that the house utilizes natural light in every possible manner and focus on the fact that it has a circular skylight. This is a subtle variant of your average square skylight, but it tilts all the way back to give your room and its sunroof a totally new look.
Dining Room Ceiling Skylight
The ceiling skylight in this dining room is complementary to the design and lighting of its fixtures. The skylight enhances a wooden table and chairs set, which has a brown finish, is also quite noticeable.
Vented Dining Room Skylights
When looking to enhance the natural lighting in a room, installing a skylight can be an effective way of doing so. The owner of this home can harness sunny days thanks to the large skylights on their ceilings. Plus, they were smart enough not to darken any walls or furniture with extra curtains by illuminating the whole space.
Long Side Skylights
One downside of homes with no natural light is the limited options for installing windows. When it comes to building new houses and adding windows, there is one factor that must be considered above all else: the neighbors’ privacy. This is just one way skylights can help you with your home - they can also illuminate it beautifully.
From my experience, skylights that are long and narrow can be installed so as not to disturb your neighbors and still get great natural light. One of the best solutions for adding skylights to your home is installing them in family rooms, bedrooms, dining areas, and even kitchens. A 5kW solar system skylight can help save money on energy consumption too. Calculate the size of the opening to estimate what size will work best.
Yellow Bedroom With Sloped Skylight
If you want as much fun in this bedroom, raise your hand! Drew McGukin, the designer of this room, is not afraid to mix bold colors and prints. The geometric motifs are all intentional with an emphasis on angular skylights that make everything well-coordinated.
Living Room With Fixed Skylight
A crosswise skylight in a meeting point of a vaulted ceiling draws attention to balance, symmetry, and height while also taking down the scale. This space by Toledo Geller has an example of fine lighting that connects everything around it.
Frosted Glass For Kitchen Skylight
Frosted glass skylights can help maintain privacy while still allowing plenty of natural light into your space, resulting in a nice glow. Additionally, if they cross most of the ceiling, more light will be let in.
For example, this kitchen, designed by Anik Pearson, features a nook that holds all of the busy workspaces. This design lets natural light in and makes it look less cramped.
Curb-Mounted Skylight For Bedroom
This mountain home features a bedroom that doubles as an office with a private zone next to the window. To perk up your mood and productivity, install a skylight over your desk. Even at night, you will be inspired to look up at the stars in the sky. When looking for a replacement, it is best to purchase a curb-mounted skylight that prevents leaks.
Minimalist Bathroom With Ventilation Skylight
If your bathroom has no windows, it can feel cramped and have poor air circulation (not ideal in a wet environment). However, clever window placement is also significant for privacy reasons. That’s why a skylight makes sense. Better yet, bathing in natural light can make “me time” feel as sacred as it is, illustrated best by Studio Griffiths.
Skylight Installation Let The Light Into Your Hallways
Hallways are the darkest areas of your home, and this can be bothersome and even pose a safety concern. Furthermore, hallways are usually very narrow. Adding light sources can take up a lot of space and make the area look cluttered and unpleasant. Skylight installation is typically something that helps alleviate this problem.
When choosing a skylight, you may want to consider the size and shape of your hallway. It’s sometimes enough to add a skylight over the front door, but if your home can support it, you have all the freedom in the world for exploring ceilings. For every room in your home, not just the hallway, adding warmth to skylight solutions can be achieved by combining them with wood ceiling beams.
Skylight Porch Ideas
This is one of the most popular uses for skylights. It allows you to enjoy nature and engage in activities with a wonderful view while avoiding exposure to the elements.
For a porch, the combination of windows and skylights generally works well. You can install frosted glass along the roofline to add sun protection without losing any natural light. Skylights are a solution to brighten up any space that requires an upgrade, like on the outside of a porch or inside your patio.
Breakfast Room With Sloped Window Skylight
The designer of this room is Tamsin Johnson Interiors. They has maximized their use of natural light with the floor-to-ceiling window that mimics a roof line. If you are interested in having a skylight but worry about the space, this one is a great inspiration to follow.
Modern Game Room With Skylights
Floor-to-ceiling windows, steel and glass doors make this contemporary Romanek Design Studio game room a light-filled space. The modern and minimalistic interior design allows the emphasis to remain on the beautiful landscaping throughout.
Skylights Ideas For Shower Room
Skylights are not only great in houses without windows, such as bedrooms. This is clear from the photographic example of a skylight in Romanek Design Studio’s bathroom design - it helps increase ventilation when desired.
Mudroom With Skylights
Skylights can help transition spaces that straddle the line between indoors and outdoors, such as gardens and mudrooms. A pyramid skylight like the picture above is much more eye-catching in design than a flat roof or other options. It can be customized based on your pitch and slope needs.
Bathroom Skylight Ideas
Natural light creates an airy and spacious feeling in your bathroom. Your goal should be to have a feel of large without having many windows in the room.
Home Office Or Study Skylight Ideas
More and more people are working from home, so the study is being used more than ever. To make the office a happier place for all to work in, it’s important that it’s clean, healthy-looking, and welcoming.
Skylights produce natural light that reduces eye strain has been shown to help people be more productive and reduce stress. This boosts concentration for workers and students and mental health – if you can take a quick break by looking outside when resting your eyes from your computer or book.
If you have a large enough space, skylight ventilation also encourages fresh airflow, which is important for staying productive at work and healthy.
Bedroom Skylight Ideas
One of the most popular ideas for skylights in bedrooms is a vented one. A bedroom with high ceilings can have this type of vent on occasion, and it can both add light to your space and provide airflow. If you live in a warmer climate, then a vent like this could be beneficial because the breezes it provides can cool the room.
If you live in a region with relatively cool temperatures, installing a fixed skylight can help add warmth. Many skylights these days are equipped with sun tracking technology that moves the reflective panels throughout the day to follow the sun. This increases sunlight and helps keep your home warmer.
Skylights offer significant amounts of natural light, even on overcast days. This can save you money through less use of artificial lights, heaters, and/or cooling appliances.
Bedroom skylights can offer the calm of watching clouds or the night sky, both of which are more restful and beneficial than looking at your phone before bed.
Kitchen Skylight Ideas
A skylight in the kitchen is a fantastic idea for modern families. A kitchen is a central family hub in modern homes, but dark or cluttered kitchens are imperfect. Adding a skylight to the kitchen can brighten up your space and make it seem larger than it otherwise would. This is especially important if you love cooking or spend most of your time in the kitchen.
The type of skylight you have available to install in your kitchen depends on the kitchen style. Sloped skylights work well for larger kitchens to add light like the picture above, but Tubular skylights can provide extra natural light in smaller kitchens. This is a useful way to create more airy, homely spaces and be an easy way to grow kitchen herbs.
Luxurious Skylight For Luxurious Kitchen
Kitchen skylights are an elegant addition to your kitchen. If you’ve never had one before, but would still like a luxurious look without the price tag that comes with a luxury-level kitchen, then you should consider installing a skylight.
The skylights on your kitchen ceiling will be fantastic and appealing. The symmetrical arrangement of a skylight installed correctly in the ceiling creates an attractive visual effect in your luxurious kitchen.
Skylight With Cottage Kitchen
A cottage-themed kitchen will need a perfect skylight for it to create a supernatural and trendy feel. These types of kitchens offer dramatic and soothing dark colors for a very aesthetically pleasing kitchen.
Glass Skylight Dining Room Ideas
Although there are many DIY projects for skylight shades online, you can find the above ideas quite outstanding. Creating a skylight in your dining room is one idea that will help you brighten up the area and make it more cheerful. Installing a skylight in the dining room will make it feel like an attractive part of your garden.
Ceiling Skylight Shades Ideas
If you have been looking for a way to give your dining room a gorgeous look, then this skylight shades idea could be all that you need.
Dining Room Skylight Wall Design
This dining room is perfectly gorgeous. The skylight wall design brings a real sense of natural scenery into your space, making this room more entertaining and refreshing.
Modern Dining Room Skylights
This retractable roof skylight can bring sunshine and fresh air into your dining room, making it a perfect way to experience both indoors and outdoors simultaneously.
Stylized Grid Skylight Ideas
If you like the look of a glass ceiling overhead but think it can leave you open to harsh elements, try breaking the expanse with deep dividers. A grid ceiling (that looks about 6 feet deep) gives all the benefits of a glass ceiling while providing surprising coverage.
Skylight Ideas FAQs
What are the Standard Skylight Sizes?
For starters, there is no standardized size for skylights. They will vary in size based on the manufacturer, so it’s worth checking their online storefront for specific details about sizing.
Generally, a ventilating skylight will range in length from 16 inches to 96 inches, and widths can range between 14 and 72. Fixed skylights range in length from 19 to 40 inches and widths from 19 to 119 inches. The average size for a tubular skylight is 14 1/2″ - 22″ in diameter so that it can easily fit between ceiling joists and typically do not exceed 22 inches in diameter.
Do Skylights Add Value To A Home?
There is no exact dollar amount for how much skylights can add to a home, but they definitely provide some value. Realtors often highly recommend them because they make an instant impression on prospective customers. The relatively inexpensive price tag makes this among the most frequently recommended home improvement projects when homeowners prepare their houses for sale.
What Is Skylight Cladding?
Skylight cladding is an extra layer of protection for your roof’s window. It provides weather resistance and insulation. Skylights are often clad with aluminum panels to protect them around the opening.
What Is A Deck-mounted Skylight?
Deck-mounted skylights are typically mounted on the rafters of a roof. Curb-mounted options require additional framing, which can be an inconvenience for homeowners. Although you’ll need to install a standard size window opening for products installed on the deck, they do come with built-in frames and curbs, so installing them is easier.
How Long Do Skylights Last?
The lifespan of a skylight depends on many factors, including the company who made it, how much attention was put into the construction, and what climate zone it is in. Areas with changing temperatures and frequent periods during which rain falls may see more frequent degradation in the product.
In Conclusion,
When looking for a skylight to install in your house, the most important thing to do is buy from a good or popular manufacturer. It’s also crucial not to confuse yourself with all of the different kinds that are out there! Choose one that suits your style; go big when you can, and choose one that lets in more light.