I am doing a job in a house that has 4 fixed non venting skylites. With heating costs rising they are looking at ideas to allow light to continue coming through but stop the heat loss.
I was tosing around the idea of putting some thicker Lexan either inside the skylite shaft, near the finished celing or over the finished ceiling and trimming it out to look good. Problem is the Lexan I have found is EXPENSIVE.
Any ideas out there either for a good source of Lexan or other ideas?
Thanks
Replies
Chances are, the lexan or any other cover will cause condensation and the ensuing problems. One solution may be to use window quilts during the night and on cold days.
http://www.1windowquilts.com/
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
I've seen (and will probably use this design on my addition) a sheet of opaque insulated glass installed and trimmed at ceiling level closing off the shaft. Pretty cool effect if light and not looking at the sky is your objective.
http://grantlogan.net/
I refuse to accept that there are limitations to what we can accomplish. Pete (I am so in love with myself) Draganic
>>a sheet of opaque insulated glass <<
Opaque = no light transmission.
Methinks you mean translucent - light is transmitted.
Otherwise your skylights do nothing - no light and no sky view. Drywall is a lot cheaper, easier to insulate, and you don't have to buy the skylight :-)
Jim
Never underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.
Edited 2/13/2008 8:19 am ET by JTC1
Methinks you mean translucent -
Yup - thanks. I typed that pre-morning coffee.http://grantlogan.net/
I refuse to accept that there are limitations to what we can accomplish. Pete (I am so in love with myself) Draganic
Would a ceiling fan help? Push the heat back down before it escapes to the skylight.
When the fan pushes down the air, more air will fill the space, so you'd be pulling hot air back up as well. I think it would just end up wasting energy running the fan.
aimless.
The fan will blow warm air down and if people are underneath the fan they will feel warmer but it won't prevent heat loss thru the skylights.. When people aren't beneath the fan nothing will be achieved..
Warm air rises.. cold air settles. Basic physics.
I would think that blowing the warm air down means that it doesn't make it to the skylights. How can you lose the heat through the skylight if the heat doesn't get there?
Willy50
I have one of those in my tower. I put a double paned glass over it and the furnance worked half as hard.. Now I'm trying to find an elegant way to pull a quilt over it at night..
On the inside: dry wall and insulation
On the outside: matching roofing.
A Skylight is a 1500$ Hole in a perfectly good roof...
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"After the laws of Physics, everything else is opinion"
-Neil deGrasse Tyson
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I have Transcended the need for a Humorous tagline...
My feelings for my own home exactly. 35 year shingles and 15 year flashing kits. This has been beat here in the past.I do live in a home that has a 60X60 hole in the rubber roof over the stairway. I have a skylight shade that is honeycomb pleated and it works very well at keeping the hot summer heat gain out and the cold winter air from falling. It's still a hole but the lack of loss/gain is very noticeable.I do open it about 90 days a year.
I made a storm window from plexiglas and Azek installed against a brick molding frame on the inside of the window well. I did mine to solve a condensation problem from the heat getting trapped in the wells. It works very well. I take them down in the spring since our skylights are active. It's trimmed out nicer now, but you get the idea.