I need more light in the windowless kitchen so I'm thinking of tubular
skylights. One over the sink and one over the work area. While the
installer is here, he might as well put one in each bathroom that have
no windows.

I don't know anybody that has one nor do I know what to avoid. Any
suggestions?

On Sat, 07 Feb 2015 13:08:05 -0500, Tom Gardner
wrote:




I need more light in the windowless kitchen so I'm thinking of tubular
skylights. One over the sink and one over the work area. While the
installer is here, he might as well put one in each bathroom that have
no windows.

I don't know anybody that has one nor do I know what to avoid. Any
suggestions?

They work well in areas of full sunlight. They however dont work very
well when covered with snow.

Other than that..shrug

Ive wanted to put in a couple here at home..just couldnt afford to do
so as of yet.

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child,
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats."
PJ O'Rourke

On Sat, 07 Feb 2015 13:08:05 -0500, Tom Gardner
wrote:




I need more light in the windowless kitchen so I'm thinking of tubular
skylights. One over the sink and one over the work area. While the
installer is here, he might as well put one in each bathroom that have
no windows.

I don't know anybody that has one nor do I know what to avoid. Any
suggestions?


If you're handy, they're about 1/4 the price to build yourself, and
pretty easy to build.

I put four of those in our new addition, building lumber and plywood
tunnels from the skylight to the diffuser in the ceiling (some not in
straight lines), then lining the tunnels with aluminized bubble wrap.
They work a treat.

And for those who might suspect a labor-trade... no! At my shop rate for
my time (at the time $75/hr, about 10 years ago), they were 1/4 the price
of the commercial 'tube' units.

Our snowfall is a little light here in Florida, so that's not an issue.
G

LLoyd

On 2/7/2015 2:18 PM, Gunner Asch wrote:
On Sat, 07 Feb 2015 13:08:05 -0500, Tom Gardner
wrote:




I need more light in the windowless kitchen so I'm thinking of tubular
skylights. One over the sink and one over the work area. While the
installer is here, he might as well put one in each bathroom that have
no windows.

I don't know anybody that has one nor do I know what to avoid. Any
suggestions?

They work well in areas of full sunlight. They however dont work very
well when covered with snow.

Other than that..shrug

Ive wanted to put in a couple here at home..just couldnt afford to do
so as of yet.

Gunner


The reviews look good and they are cheap at Home Despot. Putting them
in is out of my realm anymore, I just don't want leaks 'cuz I bought the
wrong ones. Snow?...well what can you do.

Tom,I put 4 in, square pattern, 6ftx6ft.
They are wonderful.
At first, price resistance. I could do a 4x4 skylight much cheaper. Found out that because of hips and valleys not even a 2x4 skylight would fit.
Bought 4 units at Home Depot and never looked back.
Northwest but little snow.
Ivan Vegvary

On Sat, 07 Feb 2015 13:08:05 -0500, Tom Gardner
wrote:

I need more light in the windowless kitchen so I'm thinking of tubular
skylights. One over the sink and one over the work area. While the
installer is here, he might as well put one in each bathroom that have
no windows.

I don't know anybody that has one nor do I know what to avoid. Any
suggestions?

Definitely get an experienced installer to do it, preferably a
currently licensed and insured roofer. They're quite simple to do,
(cut two holes, screw together with flex tubing in between) but if
they're not flashed properly, you'll get a wet roof (inside), soggy
insulation, and perhaps a ceiling falling down on top of you.

In the winter, it's harder to bend roofing shingles to fit the top
under them, so they break. And I've seen cut rafters from people who
didn't cut in between them. Scary installers are all around us! I've
tried to work directly under skylights and it's hell with eyeglasses.
The reflection is bad.

I don't touch 'em due to insurance. They want to double my insurance
costs if I do any roofing, so I totally avoid 'wet work', as it were.
I'm good with that.

BUT

If I were you, I'd look into LED strip lighting (indirect) instead of
skylights. I've tried reading in homes with skylights and the clouds
play havoc with that. It goes from too bright to dark in seconds.
Solatubes cost $4-500 installed, each, so you can do a lot of lighting
work for a lot less.

Oh, you know how I was touting the 20W bulbs last week? The second
one died on me a couple days ago, 7 months old. sigh It looks like
the vendor has a 3mo warranty on a bulb which carries a 50,000 hour
MTBF. sigh2

I need to learn how to build a proper LED driver which will last
decades instead of months, I guess.

--
Silence is more musical than any song.
-- Christina Rossetti

Hey Tom,

We had friends in Windsor that bought a house that had one in the
kitchen. The kitchen was maybe 15 X 25 feet, and the part of this
gadget that you see was maybe a 36" tube. It was situated on a
north-facing slope of the roof, and the kitchen ceiling was sloped
parallel to the roof, and the gadget was cut on an angle flush with
the ceiling as I recall. It lit up the important part of the room
pretty well. They never reported any problems with it, but that was a
few years back and they became "empty-nesters" and moved into a condo,
so I have no way to get a look at it again.

My suggestion is that you ask your contractor to get you in to have a
look at an installation he has already done.

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


On Sat, 07 Feb 2015 13:08:05 -0500, Tom Gardner
wrote:




I need more light in the windowless kitchen so I'm thinking of tubular
skylights. One over the sink and one over the work area. While the
installer is here, he might as well put one in each bathroom that have
no windows.

I don't know anybody that has one nor do I know what to avoid. Any
suggestions?

On Sat, 07 Feb 2015 11:18:23 -0800, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sat, 07 Feb 2015 13:08:05 -0500, Tom Gardner
wrote:




I need more light in the windowless kitchen so I'm thinking of tubular
skylights. One over the sink and one over the work area. While the
installer is here, he might as well put one in each bathroom that have
no windows.

I don't know anybody that has one nor do I know what to avoid. Any
suggestions?

They work well in areas of full sunlight. They however dont work very
well when covered with snow.

Other than that..shrug

Ive wanted to put in a couple here at home..just couldnt afford to do
so as of yet.

See my reply to Tawm. They're not that great after all. Only about
half of my clients who own them are happy. Ladies will be loading the
washer when the sun goes behind a cloud and her lights aren't on, so
she has to stop what she's doing and turn them on, only to have the
sun come right back out, etc. Others tried the clear diffuser and
were blinded every time they walked under one. It's the clouds which
are the worst part. It's like having a light which only works part of
the time, and it chooses its own setting.

http://www.ledles.com/images/image/kitchenSa-02.jpg

http://st.houzz.com/simgs/e7a18f510e...g-lighting.jpg

http://www.ciimes.org/11063-led-stri...ghts-interior/
Typical "designer" overkill w/ gazillions of lights on. Feh!

http://fsldk.org/wp-content/uploads/...rip-lights.jpg
Now Tawm can have his fave lezzie pink lighting at a touch!

Straight 12v is good, but the Chiwanese 110v drivers (power supplies)
can be really sucky. Strips are good, but go with an American driver,
or even a computer switching power supply, which seem to be a whole
lot more reliable, though bulkier. Hmm...

Pricing:
$0.01 to $15 for 3528 (dimmer, 2 levels: 300 or 600 SMDs per 5m strip)
or 5050 (brighter) lights.



http://tinyurl.com/pca8m45

Run this stuff on lowered crown molding (fairly) quickly and easily!
Pricing: $12 for 8' stick

--
Silence is more musical than any song.
-- Christina Rossetti

Larry Jaques was thinking very hard :
On Sat, 07 Feb 2015 11:18:23 -0800, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sat, 07 Feb 2015 13:08:05 -0500, Tom Gardner
wrote:




I need more light in the windowless kitchen so I'm thinking of tubular
skylights. One over the sink and one over the work area. While the
installer is here, he might as well put one in each bathroom that have
no windows.

I don't know anybody that has one nor do I know what to avoid. Any
suggestions?

They work well in areas of full sunlight. They however dont work very
well when covered with snow.

Other than that..shrug

Ive wanted to put in a couple here at home..just couldnt afford to do
so as of yet.

See my reply to Tawm. They're not that great after all. Only about
half of my clients who own them are happy. Ladies will be loading the
washer when the sun goes behind a cloud and her lights aren't on, so
she has to stop what she's doing and turn them on, only to have the
sun come right back out, etc. Others tried the clear diffuser and
were blinded every time they walked under one. It's the clouds which
are the worst part. It's like having a light which only works part of
the time, and it chooses its own setting.

This how Solar Power and Wind Power works anyway! :-?

--
John G Sydney.

On Sat, 07 Feb 2015 13:08:05 -0500, Tom Gardner
wrote:

I need more light in the windowless kitchen so I'm thinking of tubular
skylights.

I have one in my living room. The house faces east so I get most
benefit in the morning. When the sun is lower than the roof pitch
there is not a lot of light. It is now 17.50 and sunset is at 19.10
so there is not a lot of light coming in due to the angle.

The biggest disadvantage for me is that it lets in a lot of heat. It
is about 4 - 5 degrees C hotter in here than in the bedroom next to
it, in the morning. There are some shrubs which do shade the bedroom
windows from the sun, which helps keep it cooler.

Ensure that the flexible tube is well secured and has extra insulation
around it to keep out attic/ roof space heat, or room heat in during
winter. My water pipes run above the ceiling and by mid-day the
water in them is over 60C in summer, as now, hotter than the HWS which
is set at 50C.

Have it installed by a tradesman, I have roof tiles and the flashing
was made to fit the tiles so there are no leaks. What is snow? VBG,
it never gets that cold here, just an occasional frost, gone by 10am

Alan 32D11'27.95S, 116D00'52.79E

On Sat, 07 Feb 2015 19:17:55 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 07 Feb 2015 13:08:05 -0500, Tom Gardner
wrote:

I need more light in the windowless kitchen so I'm thinking of tubular
skylights. One over the sink and one over the work area. While the
installer is here, he might as well put one in each bathroom that have
no windows.

I don't know anybody that has one nor do I know what to avoid. Any
suggestions?

Definitely get an experienced installer to do it, preferably a
currently licensed and insured roofer. They're quite simple to do,
(cut two holes, screw together with flex tubing in between) but if
they're not flashed properly, you'll get a wet roof (inside), soggy
insulation, and perhaps a ceiling falling down on top of you.

In the winter, it's harder to bend roofing shingles to fit the top
under them, so they break. And I've seen cut rafters from people who
didn't cut in between them. Scary installers are all around us! I've
tried to work directly under skylights and it's hell with eyeglasses.
The reflection is bad.

I don't touch 'em due to insurance. They want to double my insurance
costs if I do any roofing, so I totally avoid 'wet work', as it were.
I'm good with that.

BUT

If I were you, I'd look into LED strip lighting (indirect) instead of
skylights. I've tried reading in homes with skylights and the clouds
play havoc with that. It goes from too bright to dark in seconds.
Solatubes cost $4-500 installed, each, so you can do a lot of lighting
work for a lot less.

Oh, you know how I was touting the 20W bulbs last week? The second
one died on me a couple days ago, 7 months old. sigh It looks like
the vendor has a 3mo warranty on a bulb which carries a 50,000 hour
MTBF. sigh2

I need to learn how to build a proper LED driver which will last
decades instead of months, I guess.

We had some in Midland, Michigan. It was a story and a half with attic
heat issues, so I spent 9 years raking the eaves every time it snowed.
We had 6 skylights. The two in the living room leaked the first year
due to ice dams, hence the roof raking. The two in the add-on dining
room flooded that room when we got so much slush in 2008 that raking
didn't help, then a big rain. The entire room had to be redone,
ceiling, floor, and walls, including 3/4" maple flooring.

I hate putting holes in a perfectly good roof. And I hate currently
popular roof designs, 17 gables with 30 valleys, about what our
current house looks like. Give me a modified farmhouse roof every
time, maybe a change in pitch, one gable each end. Roof leaks are a
pain.

Pete Keillor

On 2/7/2015 10:41 PM, Brian Lawson wrote:
Hey Tom,

We had friends in Windsor that bought a house that had one in the
kitchen. The kitchen was maybe 15 X 25 feet, and the part of this
gadget that you see was maybe a 36" tube. It was situated on a
north-facing slope of the roof, and the kitchen ceiling was sloped
parallel to the roof, and the gadget was cut on an angle flush with
the ceiling as I recall. It lit up the important part of the room
pretty well. They never reported any problems with it, but that was a
few years back and they became "empty-nesters" and moved into a condo,
so I have no way to get a look at it again.

My suggestion is that you ask your contractor to get you in to have a
look at an installation he has already done.

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.


Yep, I can go see two that he just installed last fall...in his own
house. He loves them, says they won't leak but can be a bitch depending
on the construction of the house where you want them.