adding a skylight to kitchen, possibly other rooms...horrible idea? (houses, purchase)

[urbex]

One of the houses I'm looking at for a potential purchase has rather poor window setups, as far as letting in sunlight into the house, and without turning on the lights, it's almost dungeon dark in the house during the day (OK...I might be exaggerating a bit, but it's still noticeably darker than my current house is inside). Now, I realize that having a lot of windows in a house in the desert is bad for the electricity bills in the summer, but part of the reason for moving here from the midwest was precisely to get more sun, and I love having the house lit up with natural light....one of the biggest things I miss from my house in Michigan was waking up to a crisp spring morning, and open the curtains over the big picture windows to have a house full of sunlight..did wonders to wake me up and get going in the mornings.

Obviously, changing the windows and going bigger is one possibility, but I was thinking withe open floorplan in the kitchen, adding a skylight could be a very good option as well, but like basements, I see very few of them in houses here. Is it one of those things that just cause A/C use in the summer to go into extreme overtime?

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by urbex

One of the houses I'm looking at for a potential purchase has rather poor window setups, as far as letting in sunlight into the house, and without turning on the lights, it's almost dungeon dark in the house during the day (OK...I might be exaggerating a bit, but it's still noticeably darker than my current house is inside). Now, I realize that having a lot of windows in a house in the desert is bad for the electricity bills in the summer, but part of the reason for moving here from the midwest was precisely to get more sun, and I love having the house lit up with natural light....one of the biggest things I miss from my house in Michigan was waking up to a crisp spring morning, and open the curtains over the big picture windows to have a house full of sunlight..did wonders to wake me up and get going in the mornings.

Obviously, changing the windows and going bigger is one possibility, but I was thinking withe open floorplan in the kitchen, adding a skylight could be a very good option as well, but like basements, I see very few of them in houses here. Is it one of those things that just cause A/C use in the summer to go into extreme overtime?

The place I live now has a skylight. I love it. It's in the dining room area where there is a cathedral ceiling. It's so bright I sometimes think I left the light on by mistake.

I can't speak of the energy loss issue, but the place stays naturally cool with it there so it can't be all bad. I have only had to run the A/C a couple of days this year, actually.

[KurtAZ]

Solar Tubes

[WriterDude]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

Solar Tubes

^^ This

I really like the idea of targeted natural light without the disruption of a full-sized skylight. (Less disruption because you can run these between your ceiling joists.)

[AZgarden]

My daughter and s i l live in a house with skylights. The ones off the master (in the bath) are so bright in the AM that she had to hang drapes between the BR and the Bath so the light didn't wake them up so early on weekends. But the kitchen one is very neat. Always looks like the lights are on in there. Just think about having that bright light in the early mornings if you put them in.

[urbex]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

Solar Tubes

Ohh! Nifty idea! Definitely filing that away for future reference

Originally Posted by PhxBarb

Just think about having that bright light in the early mornings if you put them in.

I could use a few in the bedroom now, lol. I've had difficulty getting moving in the mornings ever since I moved into this place, and I really think it has a lot to do with lack of light. Plus, the bedrooms are at the front of the house, with low windows, and it's easy to see in the bedrooms from the sidewalks which means I'm not all that comfortable having the blinds wide open to let the light in during the mornings.

[ElleTea]

The skylight in my dining area is a small square "bubble" so it doesn't take up much space but still lets in tons of light. The rest of the place is like a cave!

[YAZ]

Two sky lights. One in the kitchen & one in the living room. The originals were frosted but that hail storm a few years ago took care of them. Replaced with the tinted version and I am quite happy with them. So are my house plants.

I like to run the swamp cooler when it's dry so I don't worry too much about electric bills.

[YAZ]

Originally Posted by WriterDude

^^ This

I really like the idea of targeted natural light without the disruption of a full-sized skylight. (Less disruption because you can run these between your ceiling joists.)

And a heckuva lot cheaper.

[Bummer]

I agree with Kurt . . .

About six years ago, I replaced my old skylights with Solar Tubes (total of five) in my fairly small (1400 sq ft) home and LOVE 'EM.

More light, less heat in Summer, less cold in Winter and, above all, much less noise.