A skylight can give your home daylight and warmth. If you make a careful choice as to its design and placement, it can act as an energy saver. It can save you a lot of your costs on heating, lighting and cooling systems. The three things you need to keep in mind when installing one in your home are the design of your home, the selection of the skylight and its installation.
Design of your home
You need to find out the type of skylight that will be best for your home. There is a system of ratings based on climate that you should have a look at. However there is no such system to apply to the design of your home. There are certain basic rules about the ideal size of skylights. In rooms where there are many windows, they should not be more than 5 % of the floor area. In rooms with few windows they should be 15% of the floor area at most. Discuss this with a professional and take their advice.
Moreover you have to consider the position of the skylight based on what it means for the solar heating of your room. If it is on a roof that faces north, you will be able to get constant daylight, but it will be cool. By common sense the skylights that face east will let in maximum light and heat in the morning, while those facing west will provide bright and warm afternoons. You can use glazing to control how much heat you let in.
Selection of the skylight
As mentioned, a skylight’s efficiency depends on its energy performance, but also on the glazing on it and its shape. You may use inexpensive plastic glazing, durable glass glazing and glazing that controls the heat that is let in. There are many shapes available. They may be circular, oval, triangular, multi-sided and just about any shape that you want them to be. The slope of the glazing also helps moisture and leaves to slide off.
There are new technologies that allow skylights to diffuse of reflect excess sunlight to reduce excessive overheating in the daytime, and to prevent heat loss in the night. These may not provide ventilation. If you want ventilation as well, you can install skylights that swing out manually or with an electric or pneumatic mechanism. You can also have moisture-control mechanisms in place for those cold days.
Save your energy expenses by installing skylights. Missouri has numerous companies that can help you make the best choice of energy efficient skylights for your home.
Skylights Missouri – Are you looking to install skylights? Missouri residents contact Wasco when they want skylights installed in their homes by skilled professionals who can advise on the best system to install.
