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+--- Thread: Skylights a good idea in Puna? (/showthread.php?tid=5292)
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Skylights a good idea in Puna? - EightFingers - 06-26-2009
I love skylights as they do brighten up a house and with the huge eaves needed in Puna, seems like they'd be a necessity. What I'm wondering is with 10 feet of rain a year, how are they to maintain? I'm will be almost 4 miles from the ocean so salt spray isn't going to affect me. Anyone that's had these long term (say over 5 years) what's been your experience?
RE: Skylights a good idea in Puna? - David M - 06-26-2009
We had dreams of skylights, even bought the flashing, but kept getting hints to change our thinking from IF they would leak to WHEN will they leak. After observing the various wind-rain patterns these last 4 years I tend to agree.
Still think about them from time to time though wondering "what if"....
David
Ninole Resident
RE: Skylights a good idea in Puna? - Carey - 06-26-2009
We had heard the same hints, then saw some in a house in Volcano.
The house had standard corrugated roofing, just like ours, & the owner had purchased translucent corrugated panels from HPM (these are heavier duty than the typical translucent panels & the literature on them stated they were UV stabilized).
We took out one 8' section of our HPM corrugated metal & installed the translucent panels (the ribs match.... gotta check on your pitch before starting this) in the metal panels place.
We did borrow a friends electric metal shear, so the cuts were easy & make sure you have enough lap on the ends & sides of the panels.
We still haven't finished the ceiling, but the Volcano house that we saw had finished the ceiling with a beautiful frame, much like a shoji screen with a translucent flat panel that let in wonderfully diffused natural light and no water or rain problems for them in quite a few years. Ours has been in since December with no rain problems - yet.
If you want to see ours in our "work in progress", we are on your way into/out of Hilo, if you are in Puna.
RE: Skylights a good idea in Puna? - mella l - 06-27-2009
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PunaWebFriends/photos/recent/list
A few pics of skylight. My understanding is that as long as there is a 4 inch margin on all pieces where the translucent panels are places, and a sealing agent is used, they should be water tight.
I've been in homes build in the 70's that have had this type of skylight and they are stable and do not leak.
mella l
RE: Skylights a good idea in Puna? - Bullwinkle - 06-28-2009
"All opening skylights will begin to leak sometime or other" is the mantra I have heard in the trades since the days of my searching for a baseboard ladder.
Non opening skylights can be made water tight but read on……
Even on fiberglass boats where the hatches are molded into the deck….. They always seem to start rot right at the corners.
RE: Skylights a good idea in Puna? - EightFingers - 06-29-2009
mella, You have to have a Yahoo ID and password to get to the pics and I don't.
Sounds like skylights may be out of the question, I want to keep maintenance as low as possible. I wonder if a cupola-like structure would be better? Also may be a good way to use the trades to cool off the house? At least it could have fairly wide eaves keeping out *most* of the rain.
RE: Skylights a good idea in Puna? - Carey - 06-29-2009
I also cannot get onto the punawebfriends page, although I used to be able to....
But I am fairly sure that the picture Mella has is the same skylight that we are trying to copy... We choose to copy as we are adding them into our bathrooms, just to add light (& cupolas are not in the realm of possibilities for the bathrooms.... have thought of adding one in our family room.... would be nice to have the added ventilation & light...
Cupolas work very well here. There are a number of structures around the island that have various styles of them, some are loft cupolas, others are just light & ventilation ones.
RE: Skylights a good idea in Puna? - Bullwinkle - 06-29-2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_tube
Light tubes are a good alternative. In small sailboats we also use "prisms" made of glass and set them in the deck above places where we want light below decks… this has been the solution for boats since about the 16th century - well proven technique
http://www.boaterbits.ca/sailboat-deck-prism-stainless-steel.html
RE: Skylights a good idea in Puna? - Hotzcatz - 07-03-2009
Weren't deck prisms called "dead lights"? Somehow I seem to remember them by that name.
The clear or obscured corrugated roofing sheets are just as waterproof as the regular corrugated tin sheets. Just install them as the usual tin roof sheets, same overlap and all, then frame out the ceiling area underneath to allow in the amount of light you want.
Opening skylights are much more likely to leak than not, but the corrugated non-moving ones are the same as tin roofing.
Kurt Wilson
RE: Skylights a good idea in Puna? - mdd7000 - 07-03-2009
The approx 10 year old house we are in has a 18" square skylight installed over the middle of the main bathroom. It lets in quite a bit of light, but also brings in extra heat due to the sun. It appears there are no leaks now, nor has there been in the past.