If you’re hosting any daytime social gatherings with friends or family, the last thing you want is a dim atmosphere. Similarly, if you work from home, staring at a computer screen in a dark room for long periods of time can take quite the straining toll on your eyesight. Installing skylight window fixtures on your roof or ceiling will ensure your home is facilitating daylight to its fullest potential. Read on to learn more about what skylights are, and how using them for your home can be an economic, environmental, and financial win.
Understanding Different Types Of Skylights
On a functional level, all skylights are generally the same: they are roof window fixtures designed to let daylight into your home. Additionally, their thin insulation is excellent at letting warmth from the sun in without cool air leak out. Their prices average anywhere from $150 to $2000 per unit. With that being said, it’s important to understand the types of skylights on the market, and how they can meet your needs.
If you’re on a budget, then a standard fixed window unit or a lateral tubular skylight is the way to go. On an inclined roof, a lateral tubular skylight will achieve the perfect medium of most light and heat capture in winter months. Typically spanning 14 degrees, a lateral tubular skylight provides an extremely narrow, 360 degree passage for heat and light, decreasing the likelihood of extreme gains or losses on heating and cooling. The higher end, and more technologically sophisticated models can be outfitted with blinds, ventilation accessories, and additional adjustment features that can be controlled with electric or solar sensors. Though pricier, these models have distinct advantages.
Economic Advantages
Even the most costly skylight units in the short term can equate to serious savings in the long run. Skylights let in the sun rays, naturally heating your home so you can save on your heating bill. By trapping warmth from the sun during the winter months, skylights will greatly improve your roof’s snow and ice melting capabilities. Enabling ice and snow to melt more efficiently decreases the likelihood of it suffering from water damage which could require costly repairs.
Additionally, experts approximate that skylights let in up to five times more light than the average window does throughout the day. So not only are you saving money on heat, you’re saving on light!
Sloping skylights will naturally mitigate heat gain through warmer climates, but buyers can go a step further and add auxiliary blinds, vented openings, or plastic UV glare coating over their skylight windows to minimize heat penetration. Controlling these enhancements with any sensor programming will lend itself well to maximum energy efficiency. Also, using solar-powered technology will give you the added perk of a 30% federal tax credit (through 2021). All of this amounts to up to a 45% boost in home energy performance rating, and that amounts to an enormous boost in property value.
Environmental Advantages
We’ve covered how solar skylight sensors are advantageous to electric skylights from a fiscal standpoint, but how much do they make a difference from an ecological standpoint? A great deal! First, there’s the obvious pointer that they save homeowner’s from daylight bulb use, use which, if performed 24 days a year, could be equated to 714 pounds of coal burned into the atmosphere.
That’s not all, approximately 62% of this nation’s electricity supply is linked to consumption of 21.3 billion tons of fossil fuels burnt around the world every year. Unfortunately, there is very little we can do about these emission releases on a massive scale when 71% of that release is out of the common person’s hands. But by opting for harnessing the natural solar energy produced by our sun over these arcane fuels, you are consuming one less harmful carcinogen, toxins, pollutants, and carbon-emitting good in this world, and you are doing so for the better.
Ready To Get A Skylight Installation?
By and large, skylights are a great addition to improve your home’s energy efficiency. You can install them independently or with the aid of a professional contractor, but if you live in the Greater Tri-State Philadelphia Area, Philly’s Phinest Roofing would be more than happy to lend a helping hand. You can Contact Us today for a free estimate, and as an added bonus thrown in, we will offer you $100 off any roofing service over $1000. We have over 40 years of experience in the business, and we would be proud to service your roof.
