Skylights can be a beautiful feature of your home, providing additional light and a whole new dimension to a room. There are also a couple of things to consider about the added maintenance of a skylight and how to ensure they’re installed correctly.
Below are some helpful things to know and consider about having a skylight installed in your home’s roof.
Positioning
Where you choose to install a skylight should be considered thoroughly beforehand. In order to get the most out of your skylight, you first need to make note of the sun’s path over your home.
Roofs facing the north won’t provide a significant amount of extra light as it’s not within the sun’s path, but it can offer consistent light throughout the year. Roofs to the east will typically provide a lot of extra light early in the morning when the sun first rises, but not much more throughout the day. South and west facing skylights bring in the most direct sunlight and will be sure to brighten up any room.
It’s also good to consider the function of the room in which you’re installing a skylight, because during certain hours of the day they can become sun traps. This may be exactly what you’re looking for, or this might disrupt your use of the room. This is why it’s important to put a lot of thought into exactly where you would like your skylight before you have it installed.
How to Control Your Skylight
It’s important to understand that a skylight can make it harder to control the temperature of your home. A professional can install your skylight at just the right slope that you can retain control over the temperature in your home. Having it at a precise angle will mean that in the summer you aren’t overwhelmed with heat streaming in, and in the winter you can retain the heat generated in your room while still allowing the sun to shine through.
Another measure of manual control over the temperature and light exposure from your skylight is to have blinds or shades fitted. This allows you the freedom to choose what kind of light exposure and heat from the sun you would like in your home at any given time.
You can also opt for a ventilating skylight which can be opened at any time to allow hot air in the room to escape.
The Benefits of Hiring a Professional
There are many other factors to take into consideration about installing your skylight before you proceed, all of which can be made much simpler by hiring a professional.
A professional can help you to select the perfect glass specification for your home to balance the light and heat exposure. Depending on the angle of your roof, they can advise you on the best size for your skylight to meet your needs—a low sloping roof will normally require a taller window than a high sloping roof.
It’s important to ensure that your skylight is installed properly, both for structural integrity and to avoid any leaks in your roof. A professional will make sure that all joints are tightly sealed so that no moisture or debris can make its way into your home through the skylight.
Here at Peach State Roofing we install skylights and replace roofs that have them, so don’t hesitate to give us a call!