Skylights

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Evening all. Our new house has a long living room with patio doors at one end but that is the only natural light. It is a single storey extension with a fibre glass roof. I was thinking about putting in some skylights - does anybody have any experience of fitting these and what was the rough cost?
 
all depends on what type you will fit? opening one ,or fixed...I've fitted both types, on fibreglass roofs..are you capable of fitting it yourself? you will need to fibreglass a upstand, to keep water out. (not hard to do) if you are confident..plus, if fitting a big window, then you would need to double up on the roof timber. (Timber to run alongside the existing roofing timber.) to make it stronger..would it be this type:http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Skylight-...337?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4ae34c4cd1
 
mark richards said:
all depends on what type you will fit? opening one ,or fixed...I've fitted both types, on fibreglass roofs..are you capable of fitting it yourself? you will need to fibreglass a upstand, to keep water out. (not hard to do) if you are confident..plus, if fitting a big window, then you would need to double up on the roof timber. (Timber to run alongside the existing roofing timber.) to make it stronger..would it be this type:http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Skylight-...337?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4ae34c4cd1
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I'll definitely be getting somebody to do it!

Will probably only need a fixed skylight, no need for any extra ventilation, just more light. How much would fitting a pair of those cost?
 
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I've had sun tubes fitted to a couple of rooms here. If you just want light then I'd take a serious look at those. They make an amazing difference to a couple of dark rooms and let in far more light than a skylight would.

I got these http://www.syneco.co.uk/solarspot/home-residential about £300 each plus you'll want a builder who knows what they are doing - I'd plan on them being able to do 2 in a day but it may be quicker if (a) they have fitted them before (b) you have an easier install than mine - mine was a pitched roof to ground floor rooms in a "chalet style" house - the tubes run through the eaves space in the upper floor.

So I'm going to guess about £600 all up for you - but give them a call, they have installers.
 
Rapscallion said:
I'll definitely be getting somebody to do it!

Will probably only need a fixed skylight, no need for any extra ventilation, just more light. How much would fitting a pair of those cost?
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what size would you be looking at? it makes a big difference on timber-work in roof,and what needs to be exposed ,plus plastering back to existing ceiling...
 
JonathanRyan said:
I've had sun tubes fitted to a couple of rooms here. If you just want light then I'd take a serious look at those. They make an amazing difference to a couple of dark rooms and let in far more light than a skylight would.

I got these http://www.syneco.co.uk/solarspot/home-residential about £300 each plus you'll want a builder who knows what they are doing - I'd plan on them being able to do 2 in a day but it may be quicker if (a) they have fitted them before (b) you have an easier install than mine - mine was a pitched roof to ground floor rooms in a "chalet style" house - the tubes run through the eaves space in the upper floor.

So I'm going to guess about £600 all up for you - but give them a call, they have installers.
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The room i am looking at adding more light is a single story with a flat roof. I was thinking about quite large skylights, maybe a pair of 2x1m. Would those sun tubes let in more light than a large skylight? I see that where you fitted them the skylights would be high up, but where i would be looking at fitting them would be approx 2.5m above ground.
 
mark richards said:
what size would you be looking at? it makes a big difference on timber-work in roof,and what needs to be exposed ,plus plastering back to existing ceiling...
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Hi mark, i shall really need to see the costs before deciding the size, but i am thinking of quite a large skylights, maybe 2x1m, or a pair of smaller skylights.
 
Rapscallion said:
I was thinking about quite large skylights, maybe a pair of 2x1m. Would those sun tubes let in more light than a large skylight?
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You won't get a straight answer to that from anybody - apart from "I don't know" :) Comparing how much light something lets through is amore of a black art than you'd expect.

They are pretty clever actually in that they are designed to funnel light where a window is designed to let you see out. So there's a dome on the outside with some kind of magic light gathering system then a highly reflective tube and a special lens on the inside. I have them fitted to light a room that's directly below one lit by a smallish velux (maybe 1500 * 600). They let in a lot more light than the velux.

One big advantage is that they are designed to be retrofit so they slide between joists. There was no replastering and the ceiling didn't even need repainting. Oh and unlike skylights, you don't need to clean them.

It was a bit of a leap of faith to fit them but I'm really glad we did.

BTW If you call a builder they will try to sell you on the cheapie ones with flexible pipes. These are a doddle for them to fit (because flexible) but really don't work at all (because flexible).
 
Cheers Jonathan i shall take a look. I also see they do a similar system horizontally through a wall, that may well also be an option.
 
joists are normally 400mm apart...so the wider the window, the more joists need to be cut..,then whats left will need to be doubled up for strength...them tubes shown also work very well...., with the skylights, they would be about £1800 supplied and fitted...all depends on what size you pick...
 
Cheers Mark, I have a roofer coming to have a look in the next few days and I will be asking him about the skylights you linked to and the solarspots that jonathan linked. It may well be that the end solution will be a mix of both, a skylight for the view and solarspots to provide more light again.
 
Rapscallion said:
Cheers Jonathan i shall take a look. I also see they do a similar system horizontally through a wall, that may well also be an option.
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The advice I had was that if at all possible you want to fit the roof mounted ones. Even on a south facing wall, the wall mounted one won't be as efficient. Better than nothing, but not as good as a roof mounted one.
 
Im guessing it amy be more expensive to go through walls rather than fibre glass roof. And thinking about it there really isn't room in the small vertical part of the wall to put in a light more than about 200mm, so that idea of mine was rubbish and thankfully short lived!
 
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