The tangible benefits of daylight on human productivity and energy efficiency of buildings have long been known. But like most things, too much of something is not good. This maxim applies to daylighting in Long Island Roofing.

An uncontrolled daylight poses potential dangers because of the light and heat that go into a building’s interior through various daylight openings on the roof (skylights) and walls (windows). Two unwanted effects of unhindered daylight are glare and thermal discomfort.

Glare

While daylight enhances productivity of employees, glare diminishes these benefits aside from affecting the general well-being of people. Glare distracts and creates discomfort on people; it also hampers visibility and makes work more difficult. People exposed to glare experience headaches, eyestrain, fatigue and irritability.

People experience glare through different reasons. An object could be emitting too much light or there is too much light in a particular space, or the intensity of a light is creating too much contrast.

Direct sunlight produces 100,000 lux of light. That amount of light is too bright and causes discomfort on people without the use of shield, shade or other device to tone down its intensity. The recommended level of lighting for work is 300-500 lux. A room or space is considered as having too much light if the brightness exceeds 1000-3000 lux, the limit set by daylight designers.

Glare produces discomfort on people who are prompted to use available means to minimize and control glare, including pulling the blinds all the way down or sticking newspapers and cardboards on windows. These methods, however, do not produce the aesthetic appeal required by designers nor present the originally-intended view and daylight.

Solar Heat

Sunlight directly passing through skylights on the roof or glass windows generate heat inside the building. Sunlight absorbed by windows also produces heat and radiates inside the structure. Heat loss or gain through this system impacts the air-conditioning system of the building and affects the level of comfort of the occupants.

Solutions

Most buildings today incorporate sun management components, including static glass, interior blinds and horizontal sun shades. Some of these solutions – such as pulling and drawing blinds – require active management throughout the day while others are static solutions against glare and heat that require no further intervention.

Modern designers have developed dynamic systems that automatically control the amount of sunlight and heat that could pass through specially-treated glass windows, freeing people to concentrate on their work without worrying about the glare and solar heat gain.

Daylighting is a system that facilitates the entry of natural light to provide internal lighting through the use of windows or other openings that admit light. With this system in Atlanta roofing that harvests daylight, energy savings are realized through reduced use of artificial energy.

The sun is the lone source of daylight. Building contractors use different methods to harvest sunlight. In certain areas, direct sunlight is harvested and used to illuminate a building’s interiors. In places that direct sunlight cannot reach, diffused sunlight is harvested with the same natural lighting effect. Some of the most common types of daylighting system are:

Windows

The most common method that allows daylight to penetrate buildings is through windows. The vertical design and various orientations of windows admit and diffuse daylight at different times of the day. Depending on the local climate, several windows with different orientations may be made to create the right combination.

Skylights

Skylights are openings found on roofs that admit sunlight into inner spaces of the building or house. Most residential and commercial buildings today incorporate skylights because they are the most efficient method in admitting daylight on a per unit area basis. The glazing options vary depending on the needs of the building but are mostly made of glass or plastic. A variation of skylight is the roof lantern that sits atop the roof instead of being embedded in the roof like a skylight.

Clerestory Windows

A clerestory is a high portion of the wall with windows to admit light, air or both. The design is found mostly in tall structures such as basilicas and churches although modern transportation has adopted the architectural design to accommodate lighting and ventilation. Clerestory windows are high vertical windows that maximizes daylight, especially when they are built facing the equator.

Light Tubes

A light tube is a device placed on the roof that admits light into its interior and eventually distributes it inside the house. Unlike a skylight, light tubes do not transfer as much heat because of their smaller surface area. It consists of three parts—the light collector on the roof made of transparent materials, the tube with reflective coating and a diffuser assembly inside the house that distributes daylight into interior spaces.

Atrium

Atrium is a large open area within buildings where daylight penetrates through glass roof or wall. Light penetrates into the working areas inside the building, the degree of which depends on their location. The upper storeys receive the greatest amount of daylight while the lower storeys must depend on reflected daylight from surfaces such as reflective floors.

Most residential and commercial buildings in San Diego today incorporate daylighting strategy into their designs. Daylighting allows natural light to enter the interior of a building to provide natural illumination. Most buildings with flat San Diego roofing have prismatic skylights and light tubes that take the most advantage of their wide and flat surfaces.

What is Daylighting?

Daylighting involves the effective use of windows and other openings that allows sunlight to provide internal lighting during daytime. Daylighting designs on buildings are built either to provide optimum visual comfort with the use of natural light or reduce energy use and its attendant electricity costs.

Types of Daylighting

Daylighting may either be passive or active. Passive daylighting collects sunlight with the use of non-moving or static devices such as skylights, windows or light tubes and reflect the daylight into the building’s interiors. Active daylighting collects sunlight by employing mechanical devices that either track the sun’s movement using sensors and lens or through electronic motor devices with installed programs to follow the sun’s path based on a pre-determined sun chart.

Concrete Benefits of Daylighting

Increases Productivity

Severely studies have confirmed the concrete benefits of natural light on human physiology, including improved student academic performance and general health, increased retail sales and enhanced employees productivity, and significant fall in employee absences from work.

Reduces Energy Requirement

Electrical lighting requirements for buildings are reduced by as much as 70 percent with the relatively simple action of installing prismatic skylights on just 4 percent of the total San Diego roofing surface. Less electrical lighting is required to illuminate the rooms because of the natural daylights coming in through the skylights and windows, which translates to enormous savings in energy costs. The investment on skylights will pay itself in about two years’ time. In six to eight years, prismatic daylighting will pay for the cost of an energy-efficient roof system.

Reduces the Need for Air Conditioning

The cost of cooling a building is also drastically reduced through daylighting. Natural daylighting is noted to generate practically no or minimal heat, thereby reducing the constant need for air conditioning in warm places.

Environmentally-Friendly

Many power plants generate energy through the use of fossil fuels. Burning fossil fuels significantly contribute to air and water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Using more daylight as lighting lessens the demand for artificially-generated energy and its undesirable consequences. With the heightened public awareness on global warming and climate changes, more people now appreciate the merits of daylighting.

Skylights in roofing San Antonio present many concrete benefits not only to the aesthetic appeal of the house but also to its occupants. With more daylight coming into the structure through the skylights, less energy is needed to illuminate the rooms because natural light does the job well.

Installing your own skylights in a San Antonio roofing is not difficult. While it requires basic knowledge of construction, it is doable. Below is a step-by-step procedure on how to install skylights. The procedure may vary for different roof designs and materials but the general method is similar.

1. Cutting the opening

Once you identified the exact location where to put your skylight, drive a deck screw through the roof on every corner of the opening. Go to the roof and use a chalk line between the screws as guide. Use a circular saw to cut through the roof as outlined by the chalk line.

2. Flashing the Sill

Stick a strip of membrane across the edge of the opening. Cut the membrane and fold the top inch of the strip cover on the sill.

3. Placing the Skylight

Have a helper assist you in lifting the skylight through the opening to the roof. Once you have a secured hold of the skylight, carefully lower it to the roof by resting its bottom edge against the sill. Drive nails through the holes in the skylight flange and into the roof.

4. Sealing the Skylight

Wrap the bottom part of the skylight flange with a strip of membrane. Do the same for the top part of the skylight frame. Next do the same for the side flanges.

5. Flashing the Bottom

Cover the bottom membrane with roofing shingles, using nails to put them in place. A seal on the nails will be created by the membranes. Put a U-shaped sill flashing on the shingles and secure it at the bottom part of the skylight. Do not forget to put shingles on the exposed sides of the skylight.

6. Flashing the Sides

Cover the sill flashing with an L-shaped step flashing. Drive nails on the top and a little below that. Place shingles on top of the flashing, add another layer of flashing on top. Do this on both sides of the skylight.

7. Counter-flashing the Sides

Use counter-flashing to cover the vertical legs of the step flashing. Counter-flashing is important to keep wind-driven snow and rain from penetrating the skylight.

8. Saddle Flashing

Remove the shingles above the skylight and slit an opening on the underlying membrane. Slip the saddle flashing through the slit and fit it on the top of the skylight. Drive nails through the flashing to keep it in place. Restore the shingles on top.

Studies have shown positive benefits of natural daylight on human physiology and psychology. Employees are shown to be more productive when exposed to daylight. The penetration of daylight into buildings are facilitated by the installation of skylights on the Seattle roofing.

The natural lighting from the sun also creates an energy-efficient building that ultimately results to lower power bills. Because of these direct benefits from skylights in Seattle roofing, more contractors are placing emphasis on this very-useful feature of a building. With the popularity of skylights come the need for information on the performance of different glazing options for skylights.

The materials used for skylights vary and largely depend on the needs of the owner. Some require a clear view outside through skylights while others prefer the entry of more natural illumination inside. Whatever your needs are, an understanding of the different materials or glazing options for skylights is helpful. Some of the more common types of glazing materials for skylights used today are the following:

Glass

A common material used for skylights. Glass is scratch-resistant, durable and lasts long. Different kinds of glass provide various benefits such as energy efficiency. For instance, tempered glass is used for insulating glass units to provide a sealed and moisture-free glaze. A coated laminated glass is ideal for those who prefer diffuse light.

Fiberglass

Fiberglass is translucent and available as flat, domed, monolithic or other profiles such as two panels with air in-between for insulation. While the material per se is not durable, it can be attached or bonded to I-beams to create translucent structural panels that have high insulation properties and come in a variety of colors. Translucent fiberglass panels are lightweight but impact-resistant and shatterproof. They are strong against ultraviolet radiation and weather-resistant.

Polycarbonate

Some of the interesting qualities of polycarbonate are its durability, impact-resistance and easy-to-cut design. They are produced as multi-wall sheets or monolithic sheets. The latter, filled with aerogel known as “frozen smoke,” can be cut to suit the skylight design and are lightweight. It greatly minimizes noise and diffuses light to reduce if not eliminate glares and hot spots.

Acrylic Plastic

This material is the most formable among skylight materials and is widely-used for standard skylights. Acrylic plastics come in many forms and standards – some are transparent to ultraviolet rays and, therefore, weather well while others are manufactured to be durable and impact resistant. Acrylic sheets are available as transparent or translucent types.

Skylights serve a variety of functions. In terms of savings, studies have shown that commercial buildings with optimally-designed skylights can reduce their energy costs by up to one-third. Most commercial warehouses nowadays incorporate skylights in their design to save on energy and power bills.

Other studies show that daylight significantly improves the psychological and physiological wellbeing of an individual. It also revealed that classrooms that optimize daylights produce students with higher test scores. The established benefits of daylight on people, made possible through skylights installed on buildings and houses, are beyond question.

If you are planning to install skylights on your Chicago roofing, or incorporate them in the design of your building to be constructed, you have to take into account several factors including the type of skylights to use (some are fixed while others are retractable) and materials for the selected skylights.

The most common materials used on skylights are glass and plastic. Most glass skylights today are composed of either tempered safety glass or laminated glass, or a combination of both.

Tempered Glass

Tempered glass is chemically-toughened glass that was subjected to extreme heating and rapid cooling to produce a tougher glass material compared to ordinary glass. Among its unique characteristics are:

1. It is stronger than conventional glass by up to five times.
2. When tempered glass shatters, it breaks into small oval-shaped pieces unlike ordinary glass that shatters into shards.
3. Its ability to withstand heat is up to 1.5 to 2 times that of standard glass.

Laminated Glass

Laminated glass is a type of safety glass that sticks together when shattered. Because of this safety feature, laminated glass is most often installed as windshield for automobiles. Two sheets of glass are bonded together by an inner plastic layer called polyvinyl butyral or PVB. The inner layer softens and helps absorb the impact on the glass, which are prevented from separating.

This type of safety glass is not only widely-used as automobile windshields. They are also used in jewelry stores, hospitals, prisons and other places where security and safety are the primary considerations. An added advantage in using laminated glass is its resistance to Ultraviolet light.

Low-E Glass

Low-E glass blocks heat entry into the building as well as heat loss through a skylight. It allows entry of daylight without darkening the interiors that comes from the use of laminated glass. Both tempered glass and laminated glass may incorporate low-e features in their design. A darker but more thermal-efficient version is found in Low-E 2 glass.

Seattle roofing skylights are indispensable features of some buildings. They are usually incorporated into the design of the structure and harmonize with the overall style.

Skylights are parts of the roof made from different materials, usually plastic or glass, which allow natural light to enter the structure, but keep the elements (rain and snow) out. They may also be installed on walls or sides of the building.

Benefits of Having Skylights in Seattle Roofing

1. Saves Money

The best benefit of having skylights is saving money since you will be reducing your need to turn on the electricity and gas. With plenty of sunshine coming into the building, there is no need to use electricity to light a room during the day. You will also minimize the use of gas heaters because sunlight adds heat to the room, therefore reducing electricity consumption from the use of heaters.

2. Lowers Energy Consumption

Natural light always provides better illumination within a building. Skylights allow daylight to enter the structure, thereby minimizing the need for additional lighting and energy use. Turning on the light switch is not necessary during daytime when the sun’s natural light can enter the building through the skylights.

3. Preserves the Environment

Solar energy is a clean, sustainable and renewable source of energy. More utilization of this energy source means less dependence on fossil fuels (such as coals, natural gas and crude oil) to generate power, and it produces zero carbon emissions. Skylights are actually consistent with the present trend to construct “green” houses that rely more on the environment to reduce our over-reliance on electricity to heat or cool a building.

4. Increases House Value

Skylights enhance the aesthetic quality of a house and make it more appealing to homeowners and buyers. Its positive effects on energy-saving will also increase the value of the property. You will easily recoup, directly or indirectly, any investment that you put into your house.

5. Benefits Health

Studies have shown that natural light or daylight contributes to the physical and psychological well-being of individuals. A person is said to become more alert and productive when exposed to natural lights. Artificial sources of light are not shown to have the same effects on our bodies.

6. Provides Better Ventilation

A venting skylight allows air to enter the house and acts as a passive air conditioner. Warm air is drawn up into the skylight similar to a chimney or exhaust vent, creating a cooling effect inside the house.

Curb appeal is an important aspect of any home. In addition to affecting how you feel about your own property, it also sways how other people view the property and drives property values up or down. When glancing at your home, people will notice details like missing shingles, sagging gutters and torn screens. While you may not notice these flaws because you’re grown accustomed to them, visitors to your home and people driving by will notice. Keeping your home in top repair protects and increases curb appeal while also ensuring that your home is fully functional and protected from the elements.

It’s the Little Things that Matter

If your screens have holes or tears in them, you may think it only matters if you like to open the windows and let the breeze come through. However, it’s these little details that really matter when it comes to curb appeal. People walking by notice missing screens, dirty windows and when your screens are ripped. The assumption is that you aren’t taking care of your property, and that never creates the right impression. If you’re selling the home, potential buyers will immediately start looking for other things around the house that have damaged or neglected. It may just be a little hole in the screen to you, but it can drag down the value of your home. Window screen replacement is actually very affordable, and it helps you keep everything in the home in top condition and ensure that your property looks great.

Protection from the Elements is Important

When you have a cracked window, you have a serious problem. That crack in the window undermines the insulating value of double paned windows, and it encourages heat migration into the home. Condensation can get into the window and fog up the interior surface. Skylight damage is particularly problematic because it an allow moisture to seep into the roof structure and lead to mold and structural damage. Even the rips in window screens limit your protection from the elements as bugs start moving into your home through the ripped screens and cracked windows. The cost of window replacement or skylight repair depends largely on the size of the structure and what it’s replaced with. Simple double hung windows are usually the most affordable. However, Style by Carden Exteriors suggests that modern windows are made with replaceable panels, so all you have to do is take the sash to your local glass company and have them fit a new piece of double pane glass.

Heed the Warning Signs

It’s important to heed the warning signs you see around your home, including missing shingles and ripped screens. A few missing shingles don’t cause a problem right away, but they will lead to roof leaks over time. The holes in your window screens may not bother you at this moment, but they’ll pose a problem when you want to sell or even refinance the home. The best bet is to pay attention to your home, inspect the exterior regularly, and correct problems as they come up. Call for roofing repair when you see roof damage. Invest in screen repair Tampa to keep the bugs out. Have windows replaced when you first see the crack. Keeping up with this regular maintenance and repairs will help ensure that your home remains attractive and protected from the weather.

Many people neglect the little problems around their home, like a slight crack in a window, a few missing shingles, or town window screens. However, these little problems can lead to serious structural damage and a drop in curb appeal. Maintain your home’s high value by investing in window screen replacement and other repairs when necessary.