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October 22, 2007
Skylights
On both the Prospect Hts and Bed-Stuy house tours, one of the striking characteristics of many of the renovations was the addition of skylights and the amount of light it added to the house. I would like to replace my wire mesh & glass skylights with something that lets the sun shine in. Any suggestions on which brands are better for flat roofs? Is leakage a real problem or urban myth? Do I have to replace my roof in order to have a proper (non-leaking) installation? How much does a little sunlight cost these days?
Thanks,
Keep
Comments
We just had one put in our bathroom; we replaced the static chicken wire one. The new one opens and closes and has a screen built in so no bugs or anything get in. You can get them with a crank, we chose a powerized one that has a built in rain sensor so it will close when it feels rain. Ours was put in by our roofer and the cost was $1,550 or so. I would definitely recommend it!
Posted by: guest at October 22, 2007 12:04 PM
forgot to mention, I think the brand was called Insuldome
Posted by: guest at October 22, 2007 12:10 PM
I spec'ed a 6' x 12' foot Wasco skylight in one of my projects and it turned out well.
This was a commercial grade, double glazed skylight so it was a bit pricey - $8000 for just the skylight without the install...
To prevent leaks the skylight needs to sit up on a curb at least 9" above the roof level all around and it needs to be flashed properly.
Posted by: guest at October 22, 2007 12:53 PM
If you came on the Bed-Stuy Tour, we were #7 and both the sky lites I put in our tenant's place are VELUX and cost less than $200 each. If you want venting it's about $280. Our contractor put them in at no extra cost.
We got the skylights straight from Home Depot. In Stock!
Posted by: guest at October 22, 2007 2:08 PM
We get so much light from our skylight in our windowless bathroom that we don't need to turn on a light in the daytime in there. The skylight over the stairs sends sunlight all the way down to the parlor level and it's the same thing, we don't need to turn on a light over the stairs in the daytime. They save money on electricity so figure that into your costs.
Posted by: guest at October 22, 2007 10:02 PM
The highest quality traditional skylights are
hand crafted by New England Skylights if you
are looking for something more than the common pre-manufactured cookie cutter type
skylights.
Check their website -
www.newenglandskylights.com
Posted by: guest at October 24, 2007 7:00 PM
I am new to brownstone living and I love the skylight in my bathroom. I leave it open most of the time (for air circulation) but noticed today that the paint along 2 sides of the walls is bubbling at the top...so I shut the skylight but now what? Is there a danger of mold growing behind the paint? How do I fix this? Did the skylight leak rain and that's how this happened? Can you only leave skylights open when there is no rain in the forecast?
Posted by: guest at June 24, 2008 10:09 PM
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