Skylights

[oosik]

I built my Panabode cedar home here in 1982. It was designed to have many skylights. Previously, I had seen problems with skylights. Leaking, difficult to keep clean, condensation, replacement........ I choose to not have skylights. I'm glad I went that way.

 

[GeneV]

This thread makes me feel better about not having skylights. We have an open concept living/dining/kitchen area that's a bit of a cave...men and the wife always saying to each other, gee wish we had skylights here! Reading about all the problems with them, no thanks.

 

[Oaktree]

This thread makes me feel better about not having skylights.

Same here. My wife (love her dearly, but she has no clue what's involved with a lot of the renovations she thinks would be nice) bugs me from time to time about them. Yeah, our upstairs can be dark (windows only on the ends of the 2nd story), but to me the downsides outweigh any gain.

As Thomas noted, they were an 80s fad that fortunately has mostly gone out of style.

 

[spitter]

40 years of carpentry found out one thing sky lights leak . If they don't now they will eventualy.:drink:

 

[EddieWalker]

40 years of carpentry found out one thing sky lights leak . If they don't now they will eventualy.:drink:

I agree with this 100%.

I consider a skylight to be the same thing has having a hole in the hull of a boat.

80 to 90 percent of your energy is lost through the attic, which is why the R value standard where I live has gone from R30 up to R60. Having the maximum R value in attic insulation is where you get the most return on your money. Putting a path through the your attic insulation creates a massive path for warm air to escape in winter and cold air to heat up in summer. With modern LED lights, there is absolutely no validity to the argument that you save money by having them because you don't have to turn on the lights during the day.

 

[TnAndy]

This thread makes me feel better about not having skylights. We have an open concept living/dining/kitchen area that's a bit of a cave...men and the wife always saying to each other, gee wish we had skylights here! Reading about all the problems with them, no thanks.

Well, personally I like them. Lot of problems come from cheap skylights. I made the mistake of putting one of those plastic bubble kind in our house in 1985 in one place, and very small, openable type Velux in another. The bubble type leaked within a few years and I had to replace it....used a Velux this time, and never had a problem since. Never had a problem with the small Velux, it was in an upstairs bath room that had no other way to put a window in due to the roof slope. I did go back couple years ago when we remodeled that bath, took out the little skylight and put in a BIG Velux (46x46) that makes all the difference in the world in that room.

The plastic bubble one was over our stairwell to the 2nd floor, that one I replaced with a openable type somewhere in the early 90's

A good skylight, like Velux brand, will outlast the typical roofing material on a house IMHO....they use an extremely good flashing system that if installed correctly is leak proof. Could the glass part or some other part eventually go bad ? Sure....nothing is forever....I have a couple of Andersen casement windows on the west side of the house I'm replacing after 37 years because the constant exposure to the afternoon sun has simply worn on them to the point I'm replacing.....nothing is forever.....including roofs.

As for insulation value, again, no argument from me.....skylights don't come anywhere close to a well insulated cavity....but using that as a reason to not have them would also negate having windows in a side wall.....because windows are a big thermal hole in the wall, but sure are nice to look out of !

 

[Oaktree]

As for insulation value, again, no argument from me.....skylights don't come anywhere close to a well insulated cavity....but using that as a reason to not have them would also negate having windows in a side wall.....because windows are a big thermal hole in the wall, but sure are nice to look out of !

I suppose a lot of that depends on where you live. Doesn't really get all that cold in Tenn, so maybe you can get away with the additional heat loss thru a skylight.

I would imagine they also affect the structural integrity of the roof somewhat, in where you need to cut and bridge rafters to accommodate them.

 

[fruitcakesa]

I suppose a lot of that depends on where you live. Doesn't really get all that cold in Tenn, so maybe you can get away with the additional heat loss thru a skylight.

I would imagine they also affect the structural integrity of the roof somewhat, in where you need to cut and bridge rafters to accommodate them.

They can be really problematic in snow country.
You do have to reframe accordingly.

 

[BoylermanCT]

I just put a new roof on my house and removed all 6 skylights. Best decision. House stayed much warmer this winter, especially the bathroom which had an 8' sheetrock "chimney" up to the skylight. You could feel the cold air coming down that chimney in winter. Half of the sky lights were starting to leak, so they had to go.

 

[bunyip]

Have had skylights and heat was always an issue, about 3 years ago we put in a LED skylight which of course is not a true skylight but comes on gradually as the sun comes up, they come in different sizes and ours is about 18" square, mounts on the ceiling and is a flat panel, one small hole for the wire to the panel on the roof.