Skylight Covers And Shades
Skylight covers and shades solve a specific Tucson problem. You wanted the light, you got the light, and now the room underneath is unbearable from noon until five and the sofa has faded two shades lighter on one side.
The fix is not covering it up permanently. It is controlling how much sun comes through and when.
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What Skylight Covers Actually Do In Tucson
Three things, and in this climate the first one is the reason most people call.
Heat. A shade puts an insulating barrier between the sun and the room, which takes load off the AC during the months when it is running most of the day. On a west facing skylight in July that difference is noticeable.
UV damage. Arizona sun fades furniture, rugs, artwork and flooring faster than most people expect. A cover blocks the wavelength doing the damage while still letting you have the room lit.
Glare. Direct overhead sun creates a hot spot you cannot look at or work under. A diffusing shade spreads the same light evenly instead, which is usually what people actually wanted from the skylight in the first place.
Types Of Skylight Covers And Shades
Pleated Shades
A pleated fabric panel that raises and lowers. Available in a range of colors and light filtering levels, from sheer to nearly opaque. Good general purpose option and usually the least expensive.
Cellular Shades
A honeycomb structure that traps air inside the cells, which makes it the best insulator of the fabric options. If your main complaint is heat rather than glare, this is normally the one to look at.
Blackout Shades
Full light blocking. The right answer in a bedroom, a media room, or anywhere someone is trying to sleep past sunrise in June.
Solid And Metal Frame Covers
Rigid covers in acrylic or aluminum, offering the most insulation and, on the exterior side, physical protection for the unit itself.
Exterior Solar Screens
Worth knowing about, because they work differently. An interior shade stops heat after it has already come through the glass. An exterior screen stops it before it gets there, which is more effective on pure heat gain. The trade off is that it is mounted outside, so it is exposed to the elements and harder to adjust.
Manual Or Motorized
Manual shades operate on a pole or a cord. They cost less and there is nothing to fail.
Motorized shades run on a remote, and on a skylight this matters more than it does on a window, because the shade is in the ceiling. Nobody adjusts a skylight shade twice a day if it means finding a pole first. Solar powered options charge from the light coming through the skylight itself, with no wiring to run.
If the skylight is in a high or vaulted ceiling, motorized is usually worth it. A manual shade twelve feet up is a shade you will set once and never touch again.
When A Cover Is Not The Right Fix
Sometimes people ask about covers when the real problem is the skylight.
If the lens is a clear acrylic dome from the eighties or nineties, the heat and the glare are partly a product of the glazing itself. Replacing it with a low emissivity glass unit cuts heat and UV at the source, and you may not need a shade at all. That is a bigger job, but it solves the problem rather than covering it.
If the lens has gone yellow or cloudy, a shade will not bring the light back. That is a replacement conversation.
And if there is any staining on the ceiling around the opening, deal with that first. A shade over an active leak just hides it while the drywall keeps getting wet.
We will tell you which situation you are in before you spend money on the wrong one.
Fit Matters More Than People Expect
Skylight shades are not window blinds. They are mounted in a ceiling, often at an angle, sometimes at the top of a light shaft several feet deep, and they have to seal reasonably well at the edges to do anything about heat.
A lot of Tucson homes also have non standard openings, particularly anything built before the nineties, which means an off the shelf size will not fit properly. Measuring the rough opening and the finished shaft correctly is most of the job.
Talk To Us About Skylight Covers
Tell us which room, which direction it faces, and what is bothering you most, whether that is heat, glare or fading. We will tell you what fixes it.
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