Introduction to Skylights

Introduction to Skylights

What is a Skylight?

A skylight is a window but for your roof! It’s an effective way to allow natural light into your home or space without having to have your entire roof be made of glass.  Skylights can also offer aesthetic, functional and structural advantages to your home.

The Intention and Advantages of a Skylight

Bring in natural light:  Because a skylight is installed on the roof or ceiling, it doesn’t just bring in light—it summons it. Skylights let in more sunlight than your average sidewall window, turning even the darkest room into a sun-drenched sanctuary. It can make small spaces feel bigger, brighter, and less like a cave where old furniture goes to die.

Let’s be honest—there’s something glorious about standing in a beam of sunlight in your own home like you’re the chosen one. Bonus: houseplants love skylights too, so your neglected fiddle leaf fig might finally stop giving you the silent treatment.

Lower Heating Costs:  With all that glorious natural light pouring in, your need for artificial lighting drops—which means so do your energy bills. It’s kind of like letting the sun do the heavy lifting while your thermostat takes a little break.

And with the right glazing on the skylight lens, you can help regulate indoor temps year-round. So instead of leaking heat faster than your teenager’s attention span, a properly installed skylight can actually retain warmth in winter and keep your home from turning into a sweat lodge in summer.

Regulate Airflow (with vented skylights):  Here’s where skylights get fancy. Vented skylights—aka the kind that open—do more than just look good. They improve air circulation, reduce indoor humidity, and help your home smell less like last night’s fish tacos.

They’re especially handy in rooms that tend to get stuffy or steamy—like bathrooms, kitchens, or even laundry rooms. Basically, if the room has moisture, heat, or the lingering aroma of questionable leftovers, a vented skylight can be your new best friend.

Plus, who doesn’t love pressing abutton and watching their ceiling window pop open like a spaceship hatch?

Disadvantages:

1. Over-lighting and Overheating:

Ever tried to enjoy your morning coffee in a sun-scorched nook where it feels like the surface of Mercury? Skylights can be a little too enthusiastic when it comes to bringing in the light. Depending on the placement and size, they can transform your room from cozy to glow-in-the-dark. While we love natural light, nobody wants to feel like a rotisserie chicken in their own living room.

And here’s the kicker: in Canada, your window covering options for skylights are about as limited as the Leafs’ playoff hopes. (Sorry, Toronto fans—we still believe in you.)

Most skylight window coverings must be custom-ordered, and the selection isn’t quite as robust as it is for standard windows.  Keeping in mind, that if you cannot reach the skylight, and you’d like the option for a window covering, a motorized one may be the best option, which isn’t always budget friendly.  

2. Heat Loss in the Winter: The Sky’s the Limit... for Your Heating Bill

Skylights are basically like giving Jack Frost a VIP pass into your home. Even when properly installed and insulated, glass is just not as efficient as a solid roof. While today’s skylights are better than they used to be, that beautiful portal to the sky can still be a source of serious heat loss during our six to nine months of winter (depending on how optimistic you are).  Would you rather heat your home, or help warmup the crows flying over your house?

3. Cleaning: It’s All Fun and Games Until You Need a Ladder

Sure, that skylight looks amazing…until you realize it’s collecting dust, pollen, and mysterious splotches that seem to appear overnight. And unless you're 8 feet tall or have a circus-level balance act with a mop, cleaning a skylight is a chore that either requires a tall ladder, a long-handled cleaning tool, and hope.

Also, birds. Enough said.

If you’re someone who barely gets around to wiping your regular windows, adding a ceiling window to your list might not be the move. Unless you enjoy climbing ladders on your Saturday mornings—and in that case, please carry on.

Final Thoughts: Are Skylights Worth It?

Now, we’re not here to skylight-shame. Skylights can be an amazing feature when designed and installed thoughtfully. But they’re not all sunshine and rainbows (well, unless you get one of those prism ones—those literally make rainbows).

Before committing, we recommend weighing the pros and cons, considering your space, and chatting with a professional (like us!)to see if a skylight makes sense for your home. And hey—if you really want natural light but skip the potential downsides, a well-placed window might just do the trick without turning your living room into a greenhouse.

Got skylight questions? Need help planning a new roof orretrofit? Give us a call—we’ll bring the expertise (and the dad jokes).

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