When it comes to interior design for your home, “natural light” is a theme you will often see discussed. Interior decorators and designers will often look for a variety of ways to increase and accentuate the natural light available for a given room. In this quest, one step that might be considered is the addition of skylights, allowing the warm and vibrant light that they can offer to bathe your room in a healthy glow. If you are already having a new roof installed, it might be time to add those skylights you have always wanted. Here are some items to consider.
Benefits
The first benefit to consider is the one we’ve already mentioned, the increase in natural light. In addition to fashion and design benefits of more natural light, you may find there are real health benefits to getting more sunlight in your home. Mental health especially can be improved with more natural sunlight, with some studies showing it helps increase serotonin in the brain, which prevents depression. It also promotes the production of Vitamin D in your body, which prevents cancer and lowers blood pressure. The natural sunlight can have a more financial benefit as well, since sunlight coming in through your skylights means you’ll use electric lighting less during the day. Finally, it can create a more modern and open feel to a room. This not only presents a more fashionable appearance, but can increase the resale value of some homes.
Disadvantages
There are some challenges to consider, however. Adding skylights to a room can make it difficult for you to have more direct control over the lighting in a room. There may be times when you’d prefer to dim the lights a little more, either for mood lighting or just because someone in the family is fighting a headache. Unfortunately, the sun doesn’t come with a dimmer switch, and skylights don’t have an easy way to reduce the light levels being offered. Of course, if you get used to the brighter light a skylight can offer, you can’t really remove the electric lighting in the room altogether, as there are still going to be days when the sunlight simply won’t be up to the task. More serious concerns though come into consideration when you factor in the fact that adding skylights does mean you’re going to create an opening in your otherwise seamless roof. While high quality skylights, like any window, are going to offer some built in insulation, they’re simply not going to stack up against the kind of insulation power you get from a well functioning whole roof. What sets skylights apart from normal windows though is that heat rises, meaning that their placement on your roof dramatically increases the negative impact skylights can have on your home’s insulation over more traditionally placed windows. Finally, it’s worth remembering that if you’re adding skylights to a home that wasn’t built with them in mind, you may be inviting roofing problems down the road. It’s simply an unfortunate truth that a broad category of roofing issues are tied in with the fixtures of your home that penetrate the roofing already, from chimneys to venting. Adding skylights simply increases the opportunity for such issues, particularly when they’re added after the fact. Particularly if you go for more budget friendly skylight options, they may harbor condensation and increased risk of roof damage. These concerns don’t need to cancel out your desire for skylights, but they should be items you take into consideration before making the change.
If you’re concerned about the condition of your roof, or if you just want a roof inspection by someone who understands how your skylights might affect your roof, call the experts here at New Heights Roofing. Our experience and expertise mean that no matter what you have on your roof, we’re ready to give you the best experience you could ask for!