On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 19:49:05 GMT, "ameijers"
wrote:


"john" wrote in message
.. .
I've done some google searches, and found a LOT of info, but looking
for help sorting wheat from chaff.

I have a house built in 1999, 2 story, half the house is one story
with cathedral ceilings up to the roof, other half has the two
bedrooms and loft on the second floor.

in the great room on the cathedral side, there are 2 skylights. I'm
not sure what brand they are, we didn't get that info when we bought
the house (was 2/3 built when we found it and bought it so we're the
only owners). In the summer, they really get the great room heated
up. Our dog loves it, but I'd rather have something to filter it.

I've seen various products to darken the windows, but that would be a
real pain since these are convex to the outside, so it'd be like
trying to get it applied well to the inside of a deep spoon. That
kind of curvature isn't very accomondating to flat sheets of sticky
film.

Couldn't find anything on any type of blind or somethign I could put
in the window well. I have about two or so feet of "window well"
going up to the roof level from the inner ceiling, and thought maybe I
could find something I could install internally, not on the windows,
that would allow me to "close the blinds".

Who has a solution they found to be effective? Who has a solution
they wished they had avoided?

Add a line of trim inside the skylight boxes, and make up some drop-in
window panels out of plexi with as dark a film as you want on them.
Depending on size and angle of skylights, you may not even need to attach
the plexi to a frame. In either case, you just push it up in the well,
bending as needed, and let it lay on the trim lip you added. Cheap and
reversible if you decide you don't like the look.

'Zactly what I did with the two skylights in my current house. Except
I use drywall drop-in panels (two per skylight--each panel covering
half of the opening) for total sun blocking. The difference in
temperature in the rooms (dining and bedroom) is amazing. In winter I
just lift, tip and remove (I used strips of 1"-by-2" to support the
panels).

Only problem is that SWMBO really wants shades, so she can open and
close 'em at will--rather than just twice a year! But that would cost
close to $1000. And that's for the pole-operated ones, not the remote
controlled, motorized ones!

You don't want this
inner window to be air tight, to avoid condensation problems.

Oh, and if great room doesn't have a ceiling fan, add one. It makes a big
difference.

Yup, they do help, but they're nothin' like what a whole house exhaust
fan will accomplish. But with cathedral ceilings throughout, that's
not an option for me.

--John W. Wells