skylight

[BMan]

im looking at putting a skylight in the kitchen as it always seems a bit dark and gloomy and have to have the light on most of the time

just wondering what brand i should be looking for?
ive seen a skytube one with intech design - http://skytube.net.nz/skytube_skylights.htm is this just marketing or does it work better?

are the bunnings/ebay ones good?

and how do i know what size and location in the room i should choose?

 

[jeffb5ltr]

We put a sky tube in our dark hallway it it works a treat, it has a light inside as well for the nights.

Lights up the hall during the day so much that I think the light is on and reach for the switch as we always had to have the light on before.

 

[Angel]

Ours was from Bunnings and it has been very good. I would locate it to light above the workspace if that is possible. Be very careful as there will be electrical wires in your roof cavity.

We also still reach for the lightswitch after four or five years.

 

[virgo]

Hi

I find my hallway downstairs is dark; problem is it is a double storey house ie there is another hallway upstairs..any solution? is there a long long tube that can trap the light from somewhere else?

 

[wylie]

Our son's downstairs has been turned into living area, and is dark even with a garage door replaced by french doors. We are trying to convince him to drop a skytube down through a linen closet to end up in the living area downstairs.

It would lose some light due to the fact it would be double the usual length if it was for the top storey. But we think it would be better than nothing.

Does anybody know if this works well, getting light from the roof to the bottom?

 

[The Fence]

Im searching too and came across this Illume system, which I gather is a solar cell mounted on roof & connected with cable to the "light" in the ceiling.

Can be installed in multi story buildings etc. and can be purchased here.

Looks pretty good. Liike others views/experiences please?

 

[BMan]

Ours was from Bunnings and it has been very good. I would locate it to light above the workspace if that is possible. Be very careful as there will be electrical wires in your roof cavity.

We also still reach for the lightswitch after four or five years.

ok thanks will have a look at them then.
what size did you get?

theres like 4 different work spaces in the kitchen and the light is in the middle of them all
unsure where to put it still

yeah i have crawled around in the roof no wires in the way, anywhere in the kitchen is suitable for mounting on the roof and getting sun all day basically so need to workout where and im set

 

[BrickR]

You just have to get the right angle for it. If I could see a picture of your kitchen I could help ya a bit.

 

[BMan]

heres a rough pic of the layout

 

[M.Investigator]

There are wide variety shapes and sizes available. Skytubes or tubular skylights as some might call it are smaller but the skylight benefits are pretty much the same. It can minimize heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer. Where to improve your energy efficiency will depend on the size and position of your skylight. Best to consult an expert they normally offer free estimates.

 

[Angel]

I dont know what size ours is exactly, it is big rather than small. The dome in the ceiling is about 600mm without climbing up to measure it. The small ones are about 450mm.

Do you know which part of the kitchen is used the most? The window side (3 workspaces) or the wall side (1 long bench). I would put the skylight over one area and put downlights over the other workstation , but I have never actually installed downlights so I dont know if they are difficult or not. We have downlights that came with the vented rangehood/exhaust fan. The downlights light the stovetop and the benchspace next to it.