Things We Believe In

• If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. (more)
• Slow and steady wins the race.
• Familiarity breeds content.
• Better tools do better work.

This video “The Story of Stuff” really makes us think about what we’re consuming, where our stuff comes from and where it goes.

At Skylights Unlimited Inc we believe that using higher quality products and materials along with better construction methods builds the best results which will last a very long time – we guarantee it. We know our clients are also very aware of the detriment of using poor quality products that end up being broken and discarded after only a short period. If you also don’t want to be a part of wasteful consumerism watch this video and consider your options when choosing a skylight.

If It's Worth Doing, It's Worth Doing Right

“My father told me over and over as a child (and he still repeats it) that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right. I have found this to be true in all aspects of life, and have made this one of my core philosophies for Skylights Unlimited Inc. This applies to all our processes from the sales and presentation to the completion of any renovation.” Denis Charron 

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

“After 23 years of running Skylights Unlimited Inc I am still very content to be a small owner managed operation. Many companies try to grow very large for the sake of profitability, but quite often suffer a great loss in quality of workmanship and service. We serve our clients better by being able to focus on each job carefully.” Denis Charron 

Familiarity Breeds Content

“A new twist on an old saying- some people may argue that doing the same thing over and over could easily become boring. We believe that doing the same thing over and over makes somebody very good at what they do. It also makes them efficient, quick and familiar with most possible eventualities. We are very content to do things well for our clients.” Denis Charron

Better Tools Do Better Work

“Any type of job can be done best by using better tools. Better tools do more precise work, and make it easier for the craftsman to work efficiently. We pride ourselves on supplying our crews with all the top quality tools available. This may cost a little bit more upfront, but allows us to be much more efficient and offer better value in the long run." 

What Is A Skylight?

A skylight can bring the experience of an open sky and all of its feel-good benefits into the interior of your home. Skylights are similar to windows, but are unique in that they are strategically positioned on a roof to introduce more daylight. This creates a brighter and more expansive atmosphere while also bringing added warmth.

Skylight Options to Enhance Your Space

There are many styles of skylights, including tubular, flat, round, polygon, pyramid, dome, and of course, the most commonly used fixed skylights. A skylight can be transparent or translucent depending on the choice of the homeowner and the amount of lighting required or desired for a particular room. Generally, such windows are fitted into a wooden or aluminum frame and placed in a slanted position on the roof. This positioning allows the skylight to diffuse the maximum amount of sunlight into the room. Translucent materials include polycarbonate or fiberglass, while the transparent material is usually glass, which allows more direct light than the acrylic material.

Benefits of Skylights

Skylights offer many benefits to homeowners, including the following:

• In addition to adding light and warmth to a home, skylights offer aesthetic enhancements as a stylish design element.
• They can also help improve the airflow in your home when using ventilating skylights, which can be opened to allow air to pass through. This allows the hot air to escape and the cool (air conditioning) air to take it's place.
• Skylights also offer environmental benefits. The surplus light they provide helps to reduce the need to use electrical lights, leading to reduced consumption of electricity or gas, and thereby reducing CO2 emissions.

Skylights can also be beneficial to your health, particularly when living in a northern climate with short winter days, by allowing more sunlight exposure. They also add value to your home and enhance your home life with beautiful design and brightened rooms. Skylights can bring more daylight into your home for healthier and more enjoyable living. Back to Skylight Articles 

What Is A Sun Tunnel®?

Sun Tunnel® is the brand name of a tubular skylight, created by the Danish company Velux. Sun Tunnels are generally used in rooms and spaces where a traditional skylight is not feasible to install due to roof construction (trusses) or if the construction of a light shaft would be too difficult or expensive. Since a Sun Tunnel doesn’t require the framing, insulation, drywall, plastering and painting work that a typical skylight installation requires, the cost is substantially less. Also, there is virtually no construction mess in the house. This includes interior rooms, attics, hallways, laundry rooms, verandas, or areas above staircases.

How Sun Tunnels Work: One end of the Sun Tunnel is mounted on the roof through an opening that faces the Sun, and allows the sunlight to travel through its highly reflective body to the other end, which usually opens up in a room inside the house. There are two types of Sun Tunnels; rigid and flexible. The rigid Sun Tunnel has a shaft that is comprised of two elbow joints and one telescopic tunnel with super reflective coating in its interior, which provides up to a 98% internal reflection rate. Flexible Sun Tunnels can be bent around attic obstructions like pipes and wires. These are made of reflective flexible tubing that can extend up to 12 feet in length. Both types of Sun Tunnels have a diffuser, flashing, and other accessories, depending on the requirements for the type of roofing your home has, whether it is flat or profile. The pitched flashing is used when you wish to capture daylight from all angles. For roofs facing directly south, the low profile flashing works well and blends well with the roofline.

Features of Sun Tunnels: The flexible Sun Tunnel has a diameter of 14 inches or 21 inches, whereas the rigid Sun Tunnel comes with a diameter of 10 inches or 14 inches. The installation process of a Sun Tunnel is much easier than a full-scale skylight, and can take as little as 3 - 4 hours, depending upon the location and other factors. It is leak proof and has a light-gathering dome at the top. An additional optional kit also enables the Sun Tunnel to be a source of illumination at night as well. The Sun Tunnel is an innovative and technologically advanced daytime lighting solution that brings bright, full-spectrum natural light into your home, helping to lower energy costs while offering all of the health benefits that come with sunlight. Back to Skylight Articles

What are the Benefits of Sunlight and Skylights?

Sunlight has a direct positive impact on our body and psyche, increasing the production of vitamin D through the skin and boosting the production of serotonin. This can help to elevate our moods and increase energy levels. During winter, particularly in northern climates, shorter days lead to a lack of exposure to sunlight, which can result in Seasonal Affective Disorders (SAD) and a state of low moods and energy.

Health Benefits of Skylights and Sun Tunnels: Skylights and Sun Tunnels can help to pass on to us the benefits of sunlight while we are inside our homes. Skylights have been in use for centuries around the world, essentially creating a “window” in a roof. Sun Tunnels are a more recent innovative technological development from Velux Company offering light through a tubular tunnel. Both serve the same purpose, which is to extend the reach of sunlight, and help it to penetrate into our rooms. Sun Tunnels offer a less expensive alternative to a regular skylight installation and work well in the truss roof construction of the past 30 – 40 years. Skylights have been the traditional way of lighting our homes with natural daylight, when installed in a large opening on a roof. The amount of natural light that a skylight allows is up to 5 times more than that of a typical wall window of the same size. Sunlight is full-spectrum light and is better for our eyes, body, and mind than the artificial light from bulbs and tubes.

Saving Energy with Skylights and Sun Tunnels: Sun Tunnels and skylights provide natural daylight so we can minimize our use of artificial electrical lights. Comparing a Sun Tunnel with an incandescent light, sunlight through a 14” Sun Tunnel is equivalent to a 461 watts electric bulb light. Even on cloudy days, a 10” Sun Tunnel would give no less than 100 watts of sunlight. The increased amount of sunlight through skylights and Sun Tunnels also benefit warehouses and manufacturing plants, by lessening need for fluorescent lighting during daylight hours. The employees also experience reduction in eyestrain during precision manufacturing procedures, and thus the quality of workmanship is improved. The benefits of sunlight that skylights and Sun Tunnel provide are countless. The enormous amount of sunlight that is delivered through them plays a crucial role in improving our way of living, and demonstrates an effective use for the powers of nature. Back to Skylight Articles