Skylights can add drama, as well as light, to your home.
Skylights can add drama, as well as light, to your home.
Dark homes don't sell. That's a generalisation. But if a buyer has a choice between an otherwise equal house bathed in sunlight and one with dark rooms that need lighting in the middle of the day, guess which one they'll buy?
The good news is that the light problem canbe solved with a spare $1000 or so by installing skylights, roof windows or solar tubes.
Skylight technology has improved enormously in the past 15 years, says Marc Haseler, general manager at Velux New Zealand.
These days skylights are self-cleaning, can be electronically opened and closed and can even come with solar-powered, remote-controlled blackout or shade curtains. Modern roof windows designed for lofts can be turned inside out for cleaning. And both roof windows and skylights can be clicked open to provide air movement while remaining secure.
The most popular model, says Haseler, is the non-opening skylight that provides light, but no ventilation. These cost around $600 plus installation for a 780mm x 980mm window. Though non-opening windows add drama to the look of a home, customers who can afford it often prefer opening skylights that add ventilation. Prices start around $1000 plus installation costs. As with almost every gadget, skylights now come in fully electronic versions and later this year Velux will launch a solar powered skylight. Both can be operated using a remote control set to open and close automatically. Electronic windows don't come cheap. Point and click operation adds another $900 to the bill, but are still popular with customers, for the "wow" factor says Haseler.
He says a little-known thing about skylights is that they can be supplied with manual or solar-powered curtains. The most popular type is a blackout curtain, which is popular in media rooms and bedrooms, but shade curtains can be purchased as well. The curtains are housed in a cassette that slots into the window. A manual curtain costs $200 and a solar-powered one with remote, $590.
Another option for bringing extra light into a home is a solar tube, which allows light in through a round tube from roof to ceiling. Just how much light a solar tube can supply can be measured before installation using a Lumen Meter, says Roy Netzer of the Solar Group. The object is to provide sufficient light to a space so artificial light isn't needed in the day.
A fully installed solar tube is priced from $995 including GST. Tubes are commonly used in hallways and other darks paces such as walk in wardrobes. They work best in houses with roof cavities, but can also be installed in flat-roofed homes.
