How To Tell Your Roof Needs Attention

As more and more people embrace the concept of open-plan living, skylights continue to increase in popularity with residential property owners. The presence of a skylight in a home will seldom go unnoticed, seeing as they basically open up your living spaces to the outdoors

Choosing the right type of skylight is not rocket science, but it is also not as easy as you might think. This article provides a few factors you should consider as you look to invest in a skylight.

Your Motive

Your motive for the installation of a skylight can have a significant impact on the suitability of one type of skylight over the other options available.

In general, most people install skylights with the motive of increasing the entry of natural light into a room or increasing the free flow of fresh air into the room.

If you are simply looking to make a room much brighter, then a fixed skylight would suffice for you. A fixed skylight is one that cannot be opened or closed once it has been installed. This means that the skylight will only allow light to pass through because it is made of transparent material.

If you would like a brighter room with a more intensive flow of fresh air, then you would probably benefit most with a vented skylight. A vented skylight is more like a window because it features panes that can be opened and closed either manually or automatically.

Because of their dual functionality, vented skylights are often more expensive than fixed skylights.

Skylight Material

Another important decision you need to make concerns the material from which your residential skylights will be made.

In general, residential skylights are made using one of two materials. These materials are polycarbonate plastic and glass. In terms of performance, the two materials are more or less alike. Only that glass is considered to have better thermal performance as compared to plastic.

This is because glass is known to have a higher U-value, which is a measure of the rate at which energy loss occurs through the different skylight materials.

UV Protection

Lastly, in as much as the abundance of natural light is a great idea, remember that it can also be harmful. Thus, you need to consider additional UV protection (e.g., tinted film) for your skylights in order to protect your furniture items from damage as a result of exposure to excess ultra-violet light.