Skylights: Five Advantages You May Not Know About

large modern kitchen with a skylight above the appliances

Skylights are an attractive feature to add to a home for a variety of reasons. If you have been thinking about adding a skylight to your current home, or if you’re trying to decide whether it is worth adding one to a home you are building, the five advantages we have listed below may help you make up your mind.

#1 – Privacy Benefits

Wait a minute – how can punching a hole in your roof actually improve privacy? Well, it comes down to how you are going to access some natural light inside your home. Most people enjoy natural light, and if you don’t have a skylight, you will need to keep your shades open in order to let that light in. With a skylight, however, you can keep your shades closed and still have some nice light entering the space. This might not be as big of a deal in the living room, where the shades will often be open, but it can be great for bedrooms and bathrooms.

#2 – Environmental Benefits

We would all do well to use less electricity. By reducing our dependence on the power grid, we can do the environment around us a big favor. Toward that end, letting in natural light through the use of a skylight will allow you to keep the lights in your home turned off more frequently in the daytime. Adding just a couple of skylights isn’t going to dramatically reduce your power usage, but every little bit is a step in the right direction.

#3 – A Great Look

If you take pride in the way your home looks and you work hard to keep it in good condition, you may love what a skylight can add. The light they bring it can illuminate your home in ways that just aren’t possible with artificial lighting. Of course, if it is the aesthetic that you are worried about above all else, consider working with a professional designer to place your skylights in just the right spots.

#4 – Feel Good

Letting more sunlight into your home can improve your access to vitamin D, and vitamin D has been shown to boost mood in many individuals. If you live a lifestyle that has you inside throughout much of the day, it’s easy to feel a little bit down – even if you don’t know why. While adding a skylight certainly isn’t a guaranteed way to feel better, getting more vitamin D through sunlight access may be beneficial.

#5 – See Clearly

Do you have trouble seeing in parts of your home from time to time, even during the day? Depending on the design of your house, there might be some dark corners that are hard to illuminate even with artificial lighting. A skylight may solve this problem, at least during the daylight hours. As long as it is placed in the right spot, you can use a skylight to make it easier to see some of those notoriously dark spots in your house.