Sun Tunnels and Skylights

A lot of houses do not get enough natural light. A-frames and semidetached townhouses often have dark central rooms because there is nowhere to put a window. Cabins surrounded by trees and houses that face north may receive very little sunlight. Many historic homes have small windows.

Some Victorian and Arts & Crafts style homes have stained glass windows. They are really attractive, but they often let very little sunlight in.

Attic rooms and lofts can be dark, too. A gambrel or mansard roof gives more usable space, but less wall space for windows.

Sun tunnels and skylights are a great solution to all of these problems.

Both sun tunnels and skylights bring natural light in. Sun tunnels are less expensive and easier to install.

Skylights can also add a view in a more vertical gambrel or mansard roof. Adding a sun tunnel or a skylight doesn’t add headroom and usable square footage like a dormer, but it usually costs a lot less.

Sun Tunnels

Sun tunnels, also called solar tubes, are smaller than skylights. They usually have a clear dome on the roof and a reflective tube to channel sunlight to a lens in the ceiling.

Sun tunnels don’t have to go straight down. The reflective tube is available in flexible material or a rigid tunnel can turn corners.

Some sun tunnels have an integrated electric or solar-powered light, so they provide illumination even when it is not sunny. You can find kits to add a light to an existing sun tunnel, too.

I had two sun tunnels in my log cabin. One went directly from the roof to the attic room over the stairs. Sunlight lit the attic room and added light to the living room down the stairs. The other sun tunnel was boxed in to light the hallway. It was remarkable how much light the little sun tunnels brought in.

Solatube sells a Ventilation Add-On Kit for some of their sun tunnels. It does not vent through the sun tunnel. It adds a vent through separate ducting to a roof vent cap.

Skylights

Basically, a skylight is a window in the roof. Like windows, skylights can be really big or quite small.

If you have a gambrel or mansard roof with more vertical walls, the skylight may give you a view.

We had a skylight in the log cabin. It gave a view of the sky.

The skylight was already installed when I bought the log cabin. It added a lot of light to the open living room/kitchen. It didn’t open. The only downside is that it was a spider magnet. I would stand on the island counter and reach up with a long extension pole duster to reach them.

Some skylights open on a hinge for fresh air. This small skylight has a manual hand-crank control and a long arm to reach it.

This skylight has an electric control with a remote and wall switch.

Some skylights are retractable. Some are motorized, some are manual. These are a real investment.

Bi-parting skylights split in two. Over-stationary means the retractable portions park themselves over fixed panes.

The skylight windows open like the sunroof on a car. See the steel tracks that the skylight rolls on to retract?

They make blinds to fit sky lights for privacy and light control.

Installation

Sun tunnels can be a relatively simple DIY project. Skylights are more complex. They usually involve framing, drywall and roof work. You probably don’t need to pull a permit for a sun tunnel. You probably do for a skylight.

Installing a skylight involves cutting an opening in your roof and probably cutting roof trusses.

Installing a sun tunnel may take only a few hours. Installing a skylight may take days.