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how to keep your home cool when you have skylights

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How to Keep Your Home Cool When You Have Skylights

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how to keep your home cool when you have skylights

Helping Residents Save Energy

As a home addition, skylights can make any room look bright and unique with natural light. Skylights can keep your home bright during the day, and even provide an indoor view of the moon and stars at night. The right type of skylight can even help to reduce glare and reflections caused by UV exposure while also limiting the amount of heat produced when sunlight enters the room. While the benefits of having skylights are pretty obvious, one of the main challenges our customers face is the heat gain and keeping rooms with skylights cool.

Skylights come with many benefits and can be a great option for reducing energy costs. The installation of a skylight causes natural light to enter the room – which reduces the need for extra lighting. On those extremely warm days, however, you may find yourself in a more complicated situation. While skylights are known to reduce heat by themselves, the temperatures may still be too high these days.

Fortunately, there are methods that can be used to keep the area cool when you have a skylight installed on the roof. We take a closer look at two of the most effective strategies. Let’s examine how to keep your home cool when you have skylights.

Use Skylight Shades & Covers to Keep Your Home Cool

Skylights are windows on the roof of a house that allows natural light to come in. They can make any room look bright and unique. In order to keep your home cool and energy-efficient, we recommend using skylight covers. These window coverings block the Solar Heat and keep the inside of your home from becoming too hot during the summer.

Most people install skylights to conserve energy. However, if your home gets too hot from the light streaming directly through your ceiling, you will likely use your air conditioning more frequently, which will result in a higher energy bill. Skylight covers allow you to reduce the heat of the sun without blocking the sun’s light. The covers are made from durable, thick fabrics that usually contain aluminum. The aluminum in skylight covers helps reflect sunlight without overheating or burning the fabric. If you use skylight covers, you won’t have to alter the temperature on your air conditioning unit. Your home will stay comfortable, even during extremely hot weather.

Bonus Tip: Looking for more ways to bring your home’s temperature and energy costs down? Schedule your no-cost home energy assessment today!

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Skylight Shades

Skylights are perfect for beautifying your home and saving energy; however, you must know how to keep too much sunlight from entering and overheating your home once you install them. Skylight covers are the perfect solution. They are a cost-effective way to enjoy your skylights while keeping your energy costs down.  Especially during the long, hot days in the summer months, it’s important to keep your home energy efficient and cool by covering your skylights.  Looking for other ways to save energy in your home?  Contact us today for a no-cost home energy assessment.

Bonus Tip: You can control the temperature in each room of your home by installing ductless mini-splits. Click here to learn whether ductless mini-splits are right for your home.

Skylight shades are installed on the inside of the room. There are different options when it comes to adding a shade system to a skylight. Standard shades are popular, but some people also prefer the alternative – a set of blinds.

There are some skylight brands that will include a built-in shading system with the structure. In these cases, you will usually find that a horizontal curtain is used. These curtains are usually installed at a tight position on the inside of the skylight. They are then pulled up or down, depending on your needs.

There are both pros and cons when it comes to the use of a skylight shade. Understanding these will ensure you are able to make an informed decision – especially when choosing between covers and shades.

Some of the top benefits that skylight shades can offer include:

  • Shades are often a less expensive option compared to a large cover that is added to the exterior of the skylight.
  • There are different options available when it comes to the use of shades. This allows you to explore various designs to fit the interior of the room.
  • Shades are controlled from the inside of the room. There will usually be a button to press or a string that controls the shade. This makes it a convenient option and allows you to quickly adjust the amount of light that passes into the room.

While several benefits exist, we should not overlook the potential cons that may be faced when using a skylight shade:

  • Some options, especially those with electronic components, may be costly. They will also need a constant connection to a power source.

Purchasing shades for skylights is an effective option for keeping your home cool and energy-efficient. Shades work just as effectively as skylight covers and are usually made with aluminum as well. They come in many different styles; some of them look similar to and have the same function as window blinds. Not only will they keep your home cool, but they are also aesthetically pleasing as well.

Skylight Covers

Skylight covers is a term that people often use interchangeable with shades – but in reality, a cover often refers to exterior shading systems. There are different options available when adding a skylight cover. Many people may prefer to cover the entire skylight on the outside when it is too hot. This would completely prevent sunlight from entering the room.

One of the major advantages that come with skylight covers is the fact that many of these systems use electrical components. This makes it possible to have full control over the cover from inside the room – and does not require you to make your way up the roof when opening or closing.

This does, however, come with a cost. Motorized covers have become a popular option when adding a shading system on the exterior of the skylight, but these can be relatively expensive to install.

There are more affordable options available, however. For example, some people would cover the skylight with a blue tarp. These tarps are known to be waterproof, which means rain won’t cause problems with them. The tarp is placed on top of the skylight (on the outside of your house) and then anchored. Anchoring can be done with a variety of objects – some people even use a set of bricks to secure the tarp in place. Once these steps are done, the cover will help to prevent sunlight from entering the skylight and assist in the process of keeping the room cool.

While a cheap option, it is important to consider the fact that this solution would require someone to constantly get on the roof. The only way to remove the cover is to physically go up there. Still, it is a cost-effective option when you are looking to cover the skylight without having to spend too much on a motorized shade system.

UV Reflective Films

Aside from aluminum, other products can be used on skylights to deflect the sun’s rays. Reflective film is often used in conjunction with skylight covers. Window film is applied in the same way as the tint is applied to the windows of a car and can be installed by a homeowner or by a professional. Sputtered film is a type of reflective window film that provides a clear view. The hybrid reflective film contains dye, so it will not provide a crystal-clear view of the sky, but it does have the ability to block solar heat and ultraviolet rays. Using reflective window films is not as effective as using skylight covers containing aluminum, but it will minimize the amount of heat and light entering your home.

Conclusion

Skylights could result in extreme heat inside a room when temperatures outside rising. Having the right setup, however, makes it easier to keep your home cool – even when it’s extremely hot outside. Consider the use of skylight shades and covers. Install these now to ensure you are prepared to keep your house cool during hot summer days.

References

https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/design/windows-doors-and-skylights/skylights