Skylight Types, Benefits, Features and Options
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.
Solar Powered Venting Skylights
The Solar Powered Skylight (available for both deck and curb mount installations) features a solar panel that captures available daylight and uses it to recharge a highly efficient, fully concealed battery powered operator and control system. This operator is the power source that opens and closes the skylight, negating the need for electrical wiring during installation.
Electric Venting Skylights
Designed for both deck and curb mount installations, the VELUX Electric skylight is the perfect daylighting solution for overhead applications. It allows for abundant natural light, and with the touch of a button, opens to let in fresh air. And if you forget to close it, a rain sensor will shut the skylight during inclement weather.
Manual Venting Skylights
Designed for both deck and curb mount installations, the VELUX Manual skylight enables any home to embrace the best of what nature has to offer. Opening for maximum fresh air, this venting skylight contributes to a home's proper moisture balance and comfort level by allowing stale, humid air to be released.
Fixed Skylights
VELUX fixed skylights, designed for deck mounted installations, are perfect for visually expanding areas such as hallways, stairwells, and other closed-in, dark spaces that can be transformed with light and sky views. They provides an economical choice in creating a spacious home that is filled with natural light.