skylight

[MarkP]

Since we never get really cold here this is probably one of the best places to put in a skylight. That said I have developed the philosophy over the years that a roof should be a roof and nothing else. I read something by a roofer who said that when he saw dormers on a house he figured that the designer screwed up and had to compromise to get more head room in the attic. Want a second floor? OK, build it then put a roof over it. I can only imagine what the same guy would say about a window in the roof. I don't know how good the stars would look through plate glass and anything else such as polycarbonate would not look nearly as good or would deteriorate over time. Even keeping glass clean would be a chore I suspect that the novelty would wear off soon and then you would be left with all the negatives. I would try to keep any skylights up near the roof ridge to minimize the water load that you have to combat.

I remember reading about geodesic domes and all the problems with building them. One of the problems was that most of the windows would be essentially skylights and therefore much more expensive and prone to leaks. Apparently skylight = PITA.