On page 64 of the current issue (FHB #199) in an “article” on small bath lighting the author talks up tubular skylights: “They are less expensive than conventional skylights, (and) less prone to leakage”.
I can certainly see a situation where a tubular skylight could be a real solution to getting natural light into a room where a conventional skylight just isn’t feasible. I once installed one in a small bath that was directly under a valley, thus no possibility of a conventional skylight. As to tubular skylights being less expensive, I think that is entirely case dependent.
My question to the group is, are properly installed and maintained skylights prone to leakage? I find myself defending skylights to clients fairly often because there seems to be a lingering impression that skylights leak. I usually tell people that yes, skylights used to leak fairly often but that modern, factory built skylights are reliable. Am I wrong? I must confess that I cringed at the quote from the article as I feel that it gives the impression that skylights leak, ouch.
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are properly installed and maintained skylights prone to leakage?
Nope. But condensation is often a problem and mistaken for leakage.
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Quality skylights installed and maintained should be 'no problemo'.
That said ... I'm [often] not a big fan of skylights at all ... they are energy and light problems. On south and west roofs they can be an energy/comfort pain in the backside. They often don't provide good light distribution, either ... especially if exposed to direct sun ... ugh. Alternatives include dormers or clerestory windows allowing you to control unwanted solar gains, keep energy at a minimum, and provide better light control (and they often add to the aesthetics of a roof and overall massing of the house (but aesthetics are such a personal issue, so I won't stress that here).
Like you say ... light tubes are great for the odd place ... great anywhere, really as they have the least affect on energy while providing lots of light. The savings in the reduced framing/finish of a skylight well can be big, too.
Basically skylights are a hole in the roof to allow sunlight to enter.. Can you install a skylight and not have it leak water? Yes, for a while. However it will still leak heat and energy much more so than a window.
Eventually when the flashing fails the sky light will leak water..
Eventually when the flashing fails the sky light will leak water..
And then the earth will spin off it's axis and plummet into the sun...........
That will happen at approxiamately the same time all the other flashings on your roof fail. View Image
Exactly. Some of the flashings that come with skylights are even better then what some questionable roofers call flashing. I have 7 Insuladome skylights (one in the garage too) with no problems."We don't throw the first punch, but we'll throw the last" Barack Obama Oct.2008
Just seal it with shellac.That will fix any leaks.
Flashings fail. Usually before the shingles do.
Flashings fail. Usually before the shingles do.
I don't know how to argue with that statement. It's probably true in a very small percentage of cases, but is not the norm by any means. I've (meaning my company) installed well over a thousand skylights in the last 25 years and I've had maybe 5 flashing related callbacks in all that time. Probably had about 10 defective skylights as well.
All the stock skylight flashing kits I've seen are .032 anodized alum. We either use that or 16 oz copper.
You know a lot about a lot of things, but you are totally FOS on this item. View Image
With something that long you would need some kind of like "collector" reflector at the top.Otherwise you would only get a lot of light light out of it when the sun was directly in line with the tube.The rest of the time the light would hit the tube at such an angle that it would take 1,349,751 bounces to get to the bottom. That that makes a lot of noise everytime one of those photons bounced off the tube wall. That the photons are so worn out when they get to the bottom that they won't come out the lens.About once a week you will have to open it up and then they spill all over the floor.And dead photons are a real mess to cleanup.
on the old buildings i usually am dealing with... it's often the only answer for light... I mount them on curbs just like i do for my Roof top hvac units... pay alot of attenion to detail... clean all surfaces well and double flash... i have very few issues...
as a side note i've played with tubular "skylights as small as 4"... using a regular plumbing roof jacket with the rubber seal for a 4" pvc vent pipe... i use 4" pvc coat the inside of it with foil duct tape... i use some dollar store thick glass clear bowls that i seal to the top for the "dome" and i use a resessed light fixture lens inside... amazing how much light you can get out of a 4" hole... i was inspired when i noticed how much light we got when we drilled a hole for a vent pipe penatration...
total cost for me is less than $20 inside it looks like a resessed light fixture on the roof it looks like a vent pipe with a candy dish on top :) in a room with zero natural light... it makes it liveable .... 4 of em... would be pretty nice... I'm still play'n with em at this point but... they are simple fast and cheap... and no more prone to leak than a vent pipe
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I like that idea. How long is are the tubes and how do you get the duct tape inside? I guess maybe I'm visualizing longer runs than you're using - I've got a basement room that's very nice except for the lack of daylight with a couple of closets above it that I could get pipe thru the corner of.View Image
so far my runs have been less than 30 inches.. about 12" above the roof and it takes another 14" to get flush with a ceiling (flat roof) i use the 2" tape vers the wider stuff... the tape have a wax type peel off back... i tape a leader to the backing tape so that i can pull it off from one end while feeding the tape up the tube... on these short runs it's not an issue, i stuff a wadded up rag up the tube to smooth it down... i've only had time to play with a few... i thought about a bright silver paint... run a thinner soaked rag through the tube to clean it... then with one end capped pour paint in... cap other end and shake? just an untried idea...
i was getting a ton of light out of the plain white pipe... just did the foil tape because the "solar tubes" were reflective so i copied them...... white might be just as good?
i'm not sure how much light you could pipe in over any distance... in a small 4" pipe... 6" might be interesting... on my short runs it'd be just as easy... but i have cases of 4" roof boots :)
p:)
The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa has an innovative system of mylar lined shafts that bring natural daylight to window-less galleries in the lower levels. Quite effective."We don't throw the first punch, but we'll throw the last" Barack Obama Oct.2008