What Is A Skylight?
A skylight is a window on your roof that allows natural daylight to be brought in vertically, down through your attic and into the interior of your home. When properly selected and installed, a skylight can let in up to 3 times the amount of light compared to a traditional vertical window. That’s good news for any dim lit rooms or “dark spots” in your home!
Glass Skylights
Special energy efficient glass encased in an extruded aluminum frame. Glass skylights are popular in homes because you can look up and see the sky. They let in an abundance of sunshine and can make any room feel more spacious and inviting.
Dome Skylights
An acrylic plastic lens encased in an extruded aluminum frame. Dome skylights are not as insulating as a glass skylight and are best designed for spaces where energy efficiency is less of a concern.
Solar Tubes / Sun Tunnels
Narrow metal tube structures that reflect sunlight from a small opening in the roof, down through your attic and into your living space. These are great alternatives for smaller rooms like a dim hallway or utility closet.
Replacement Skylights
Replacing old dome skylights with new modern glass skylights by Velux is very popular with home owners across the Inland Empire, from Rancho Cucamonga to Palm Springs. Today’s modern skylights come in many different shapes, sizes, and options, each constructed with different materials, specifically engineered and designed to match the unique requirements of your home. There are 3 basic types of skylights
Curb Mounted Skylights
A curb mounted skylight sits atop of the curb just like a box top of a lid. A curb is a fabricated wood framing system usually made of 2×6 studs and is mounted straight to the roof deck and then sealed water-tight with 3 layers of weatherproofing; paper, underlayment, and flashing.
Deck MountedSkylights
A deck mounted skylight is a low profile skylight that is mounted directly to the roof deck sealed water-tight with paper, underlayment, and step flashing. These are good options if you want a certain design and can see your skylights from the street, but they do typically cost extra and are more difficult to replace.
Fixed & Venting Skylights
A skylight can be either fixed (non-operable) or venting. Venting skylights open and close to the outside and are designed to help circulate air. Manual Venting Skylights are operated by a manual operating rod and Electric Venting Skylights are actuated by a hand-held remote and powered via solar panel mounted to exterior base of the skylight. It also has a built in rain sensor that automatically closes the skylight if left open while raining.
Skylight Sizes
How do you measure a skylight? What size is my skylight?
If you are replacing out a leaking skylight, we will take measurements of the existing skylight on our initial consultation. The proper way to measure an existing skylight is to take measurements from the outside of the existing curb. This includes any flashing or roofing material that has been applied to the surface of the curb. The measurements are always listed as width (horizontally across the roof) x height (vertically up the roof).
Standard Skylight Sizes
2' x 2'
2' x 3'
2' 6" x 2' 6"
2' 6" x 4'
4' x 4'
4' x 8'
Custom Skylight Sizes and Large Skylights
Many older skylights were custom made and therefor do not fall into a standard size threshold. The good news is we can have any skylight made custom to match the dimensions of your existing skylight! The lead time for a non-standard sized skylight is typically somewhere between 2-4 weeks, but can go up to 8 weeks for some special custom-designed skylights. Inland Empire Skylights provides large custom skylights, like hip ridge skylights, lean-to’s, pyramids, and large flat glass skylights to homes all across the Inland Empire. Check out the latest custom skylights installed by IE Skylights on our Instagram Page.