If you want to add more daylight to a kitchen or dark hallway, solar tubes may be the way to go. At a fraction of the cost of a skylight, solar tube provides plenty of warm, indirect light! Also known as a sun tube, sun tunnel, light tube, or tubular skylight, a solar tube is a 10- or 14-inch-diameter sheet-metal tube with a polished interior. The interior acts like a continuous mirror, channeling light along its entire length while preserving the light’s intensity. It captures daylight at the roof and delivers it inside your home. On your roof, a solar tube is capped by a weather-proof plastic globe. The tube ends in a porthole-like diffuser in the ceiling of a room below. The globe gathers light from outside and the diffuser spreads the light in a pure white glow. New installations often have homeowners reaching for the light switch as they leave a room!
About Solar Tubes
- Cost – A light tube costs about $500 to $1,000 when professionally installed, compared to more than $2,000 for a skylight. If you’re reasonably handy and comfortable working on a roof, install a light tube yourself using a kit that costs about $200 to $400. Unlike a skylight, solar tubes don’t require new drywall, paint, and alterations to framing members.
- How Much Light? A 10-inch tube, the smallest option, is the equivalent of three 100-watt bulbs, enough to illuminate up to 200 square feet of floor area; 14-inch tubes can brighten as much as 300 square feet.
- Bringing a Light Tube Through Multiple Levels – Channeling light down to the first floor of a two-story house is feasible if you have a closet or mechanical chase through which you can run the tube. The job can quickly become more complicated if there’s flooring to cut through, or if you encounter wiring, plumbing, and HVAC ducts.
- Is Your House Right for a Light Tube? Because installation requires no framing alteration, there are few limitations to where you can locate a light tube. Check the attic space above to see if there is room for a straight run. If you find an obstruction, elbows or flexible tubing may get around it. It’s relatively easy to install a light tube in a vaulted ceiling because only a foot or so of tubing is required.
Florian Glass Service is glass company that also offers & installs solar tubes as well as many other glass products and services for buildings commercially and residentially. They serve the Essex County, Hudson County, Bergen County, Passaic County, and NYC areas in towns such as Hoboken, Norwood, Jersey City, Fort Lee, Short Hills, Wayne, Totowa, Hackensack, Wyckoff, Glen Rock, Leonia, Oakland, Garfield, Hasbrouck Heights, Essex Fells, Manhattan, and many more!
For more information on this glass contractor or other glass services or products, you can contact them today at(201) 863-4770 or visit the website.