Let the sun enter your room: dome skylight, glass skylights
Sky lights are seen as a popular option in day to day life today. Many people are incorporating it in the design of their offices, homes and institutions. It is a method of illuminating the room with sunlight. In a lay man language it is usually called the ‘window of the roof’. It allows maximum sunlight to enter the room regulating the light and temperature.
The dome skylights, as the name suggests are the semi circular shaped sky lights. The advantage of these dome skylights are that they allow the expansion and contraction of the material with the change of temperature easily compared to the flat sky lights.
Another advantage of the dome skylight is that with the increase in surface area more and more sunlight can enter the room. The dome skylight is capable of letting in more sunlight compared to its flat counter part of same dimension.
There are primarily two materials available for the manufacturing of the sky lights namely the glass and acrylic. Both the materials have there own advantages and disadvantages. These shall be discussed in the preceding lines. Sky lights whether dome skylight or glass skylights are beneficial in various ways.
Positioning of skylights
The positioning of the skylight plays a key role in the functioning of the skylight. In order to get maximum sunlight for long hours, the glass sky lights should be placed in accordance with the path of the sun. We all know that earth is divided into two hemispheres: The northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere. The positioning of the skylights varies accordingly.
The best location for a dome skylight or glass skylights – in terms of daylight – is on the south-southwest sun-facing side of the house (in the north-hemisphere) or on the north-northwest sun-facing side of it (in the south-hemisphere countries).
In north hemisphere, north-facing dome skylights and glass skylights provide a constant but rather cool illumination during the whole year (the same for south-facing skylights in south hemisphere countries).
Glass skylights
The Glass Skylights are preferred choice when the main motive of installing a skylight is to illuminate the room. There are several reasons for it being a preferred choice over the acrylic skylights.
Appearance: glass is an unquestioned winner when it comes to appearance. Nothing can beat the glass in terms of its look and shine.
Lifespan: the lifespan of the glass skylights is more than their acrylic counterparts. Glass is one the most reliable material hen it comes to the sky lights.
Color availability: the color availability is more in case of acrylic dome skylights as compared to the glass skylights. The transparent or white skylights are best in preventing glare and provide the room a soft look. For this purpose the glass skylights are used.
With so many advantages, there are a few disadvantages too. The acrylic made dome skylight is easy to maintain in terms of cleaning. The glass skylights though a better option is comparatively expensive and is not affordable by everyone. The acrylic material dome skylight is cheap compared to the glass skylights.
For more useful information about Dome Skylights which is the most reliable material hen it comes to the sky lights.