Conserve Energy And Beautify Your House With Skylights
Written by Ned Dagostino   
Saturday, 07 November 2009 09:06
Skylights are becoming more popular as the energy crunch increases and the energy costs climb. House owners, especially those of large houses, are able to save quite a lot on their daytime energy bills by installing skylights.
by NedDagostino


Skylights are becoming more popular as the energy crunch increases and the energy costs climb. House owners, especially those of large houses, are able to save quite a lot on their daytime energy bills by installing skylights.

Skylights are installed in the roof of the house to let the sunlight shine into the interior areas of the house. This saves the electricity that you use for daytime lighting in these areas.

The amount of light that comes in through a skylight is much more than the light that comes through an equivalent window. The natural heat that accompanies the sunlight raises the ambient temperature, leading to a reduction in your daytime heating bill.

Natural sunlight opens up closed spaces, making them appear airy and spacious. The smaller rooms of the house, like the kitchen and the living room benefit greatly from this treatment. A skylight for the bathroom is a great way to increase privacy and to make bathing a pleasure in cold weather.

Indoor plants are popular ways of giving the interior areas a bit of the outdoors. But the cost of providing artificial lighting for the plants is sometimes prohibitive. Skylights let you grow plants right inside the house at no cost at all!

If you're planning on installing, or already have, skylights in your house, you should also plan for skylight blinds. You don't want to let the sun's heat in during warm weather or in summer! That will be counter-productive, and will increase cooling costs. If blinds are too expensive, then you can go for tints that do the same job as blinds, the only difference being that the tints are fixed and cannot be manipulated at will like blinds.

Select the skylight which is best suited for the location of your house. That means a skylight meant for the equatorial region is not suitable for you if you live in the temperate region. A wrong selection here will negate the entire exercise in energy efficiency.

The general agreement on computing the size of the skylight for lighting up a room is a maximum of 5% of the floor area for areas with a lot of windows, and a maximum of 15% for those areas which are served by few windows. Exceeding these norms reduces the energy efficiency of the skylight.

Skylight installation is best left to professional contractors who have the necessary equipment, experience and expertise in the field. Improper seating and sealing of the skylights can drastically affect the energy efficiency of the installation. Their expert guidance and suggestions will help you extract the maximum benefit of the skylights for your house. Of course, the standard caveat applies, that you should verify the contractor's work record with his past clients.

About the Author:

After you examine all the benefits of a roof skylight, you'll surely understand why buying one for your home is a great idea. Go to www.Skylight-Guide.com to understand just how many options you have available. And not just for your home. buying an RV skylight will open up the understandmingly tight space inside your recreational vehicle.