Let the Sunshine In
Better Health, Energy Efficiency, Improved Home Sales Renew Interest in Skylights

By R.P. Whittington

Natural light shining through a hole in the roof wouldn’t seem to have that many benefits, but home owners, realtors and health experts all line up in favor of skylights for a plethora of reasons – a healthier living environment, lower utility costs and even helping move a property quicker when it’s up for resale.

"The market for skylights has increased dramatically in new homes and the demand for skylight installation in older homes is up as well," according to David Smith, president of Sunworks Solar Energy, Inc. in Jacksonville. "Our skylight sales, along with solar attic fans, are fast becoming one of our major product categories."

Two years ago, Sunworks added Solatube skylight distribution and installation to its product line and Smith says the product has really "taken off" in the First Coast.

Solatube International was among the first companies to introduce tubular (or tube) skylights, which use a light-capturing system on the rooftop to redirect sunlight down a reflective cylinder to a diffuser at the ceiling level. At a cost of about one-third the price of a traditional skylight, tubular skylights are compact, produce the same amount of light and are more energy efficient to boot.

"Most of our customers are adding them for aesthetic reasons – to create brighter, cheerier spaces in dark hallways, bathrooms, kitchens, and even living rooms," he said.

Phyllis Gomes, who lives in the Julington Creek area, recently had Sunworks install a skylight in her kitchen located in the center of her house.

"It made a world of difference and put out a lot more light that we expected," Gomes said. "The project was done in a day. I love it. For a homeowner looking to light up a room quickly, I would recommend skylights in a heartbeat."

Brad Williams, who had the company install two tube skylights in his dark-colored living room, said he liked the fact that the tube can fit between the standard 12- and 14-inch ceiling joists.

"With the tubular skylight you don’t have to impact the ceiling structure as much and it puts out a great deal of light," he said.

Along with Solatube, Velux is another prominent tube skylight on the market today.

While tubular skylights are growing in popularity, traditional skylights are still popular for the views they give their owners. One of Jacksonville’s oldest skylight companies, Nature Vue Skylights, installed more than 600 in Jacksonville homes last year.

"Traditional skylights got a bad reputation early on because builders were using really cheap, plastic bubble skylights that can’t survive the Florida sun for very long," said Nature Vue Owner Mary Lou Hughes, who founded the company 26 years ago. "When the tube skylights were introduced to the market, the manufacturers used glass and metal flashing, so they had a better reputation for durability when they were introduced to homeowners."

Hughes says that, today, both tube and traditional skylights are made of safety glass and the metal flashing used during installation helps keep leaks from occurring.

The big difference between the tube and traditional skylights is the price – around $750 for a 14-inch tube skylight compared to $1,800 for a traditional skylight, with both providing enough light to brighten about 250 square feet of interior space.

But the traditional skylight also brings the home more than light – giving the homeowner another window to the sky, trees and nature swirling about from above.

"The traditional skylights work especially well in living rooms with the cathedral ceilings that are popular now in most new homes, especially custom homes," Hughes said.

Two months ago, Pat White called on Nature Vue to install two traditional skylights in the living room of her home in Jacksonville Beach.

"Before I had the skylights installed I had the lights on all the time," White said. "The living room was very dark on the brightest days and if it was rainy and cloudy outside it was pitch black in here," she said. "Now, not only is it nice and bright, I also have a wonderful view of my trees outside."

Along with the aesthetic appeal of a traditional skylight, many groups say natural light lifts spirits, making us healthier and, by revealing our world in its true colors, helps reduce eyestrain. Workplace studies have shown that natural light increases our productivity on the job – and a study from as far back as 2000 showed that hospital patients exposed to natural light and outdoor views appear to recover faster, experience less anxiety and require less pain medication.

More recently the lack of light has been documented to cause Seasonal Affective Disorder (winter depression or the winter blues), the maladjustment of our body clock (circadian rhythms) and consistent periods of reduced productivity and enthusiasm.

In addition to improving your health and productivity, skylights can also help you save money – allowing you to take advantage of natural light without the energy use associated with incandescent bulbs and the additional heat they generate in the summer months. (Some tube skylights have received the Energy Star rating, meaning they are about 40 percent more energy efficient than regular indoor lighting.)

If these aren’t reasons enough to install skylights, many realtors say that good lighting makes a positive difference when it comes to selling your home.

"Dark homes and those without adequate lighting typically don’t show as well compared to well-lit homes," said Prudential Network Realty Realtor Phil Pierce. "A home that’s dark is uninviting, which means they also tend to stay on the market longer and command a lower value. That’s why a good realtor always recommends sellers to open the blinds and bring in the light when they’re marketing their houses to potential buyers."

Pierce said he is amazed at the impact a tube skylight, just a six- to 14-inch hole in the ceiling, can have in improving the look inside a house.

"Light, especially natural light, creates a whole added dimension to the interior of any home," he said.

For example, Pierce remembers visiting an $800,000, three-bedroom condo that wasn’t showing well at the beach. When he visited the condo, he was stunned to see that the bedroom, which faced the beachfront, had no window and no outside light.

"For the price, a tube skylight would have made a world of difference in moving that property," Pierce said. "It’s a no-brainer in cases like that. Why not bring in some light? They don’t call this the sunshine state for nothing."

Media Contact: Ron Whittington (904-563-0402)