Natural lighting is an important part of every home. However, many homes are poorly designed so that there are dark areas. These typically occur in hallways, but they can occur in any part of any room.
The worst examples of bad lighting typically occur in condominiums and co-ops. This is because these shared living units are often stacked with other units on their sides. This means that while a single-family home can have windows on all four sides, a typical condo/co-op only has windows on two sides, front and back. The other sides are actually the walls of adjoining units.
What Are Your Options?
There are a variety of skylight options available today. These include:
- Sealed skylights, they let in light, but no air.
- Opening skylights, they let in light and air.
- Tubular skylights, they let in light but do not allow you to see out.
- Self-installed skylights, Usually of vinyl or fiberglass construction.
Many skylights also come with some sort of shading device so that you can opt to close out the light if it gets too intense.
What Are the Typical Costs?
It’s important to understand that every home offers unique construction concerns with regard to skylights. Homes with tile roofs, for example, can be extremely costly to retrofit with skylights because many tiles are often broken in the installation.
Homes with tall attics, though unused, require framing in an area to transmit the light from the roof down through the attic to the ceiling, again an additional cost. You also will need to obtain a building permit and submit plans before having a skylight installed, and this will entail additional costs.
The cost of materials for a skylight vary depending on the quality of the product and its size. At the low end, a vinyl unit with plastic covering can cost less than $250. A glass unit that opens and closes and comes with a shade can easily cost $1000. Installation is extra.
Tubular units, which are nothing more than a glass ball at the top, a reflecting tube, and a diffuser at the bottom, are sometimes only available with professional installation and can cost anywhere from $300 to $900 per tube.
What Are You Likely to Recoup?
The amount you’re likely to recoup is impossible to nail down. On the one hand, if you ask 10 buyers how much more they are likely to pay for a home with a skylight, 9 would probably say, “Not a dime more.” (The 10th might come up with a figure of 50 bucks.)
On the other hand, the amount that added natural lighting will increase the perception of value in a house is likely to be significant. Homes with dark areas in rooms are simply not attractive and are likely to draw fewer and lower bids. Well-lit homes with natural light are more attractive and tend to draw better offers.
As with other optional upgrades, if you put it in, do it to please yourself. The long-term value added, if any, is simply a plus down the road.
{ 1 comment }
Though skylights do have their attractions, they’re also very inefficient, letting much heat out of a home, even if they’re the expensive skylights. In a time when we’re trying to green our homes, skylights might not be the best option.
Mirrors will multply light, and are often a better option at much less cost initially, and with no heat loss down the road. Sliding closet doors can be replaced with mirrored doors, or a wall in a room can be mirrored.
Comments on this entry are closed.