Sun Tunnel Skylight: Make Sense for Living Room?

LESLIE: Ginny in Missouri has a question about a skylight. How can we help you today, Ginny?

GINNY: We have turned our garage into a living room and consequently, we have windows only on the south side where the door was. We have a nice, large living room but it’s been very dark on the north side. So, I found a wonderful deal on a tubular skylight and I bought it. But because it’s our living room and we have our television in there and such, now I’m concerned about putting it in because is it going to interfere with being able to watch the television in the daytime? And no one seems to have information about this.

TOM: Are you saying because of the fact that it’ll be so bright over the TV, possibly, that it would sort of wash it out? Is that what your concern is?

GINNY: Right. It won’t be directly over the television. It’ll be in the middle of the north part. But we’re just concerned because of reflections and things like that.

LESLIE: Yeah. But Tom, the sun tunnels generally, depending on the way they’re installed, direct the light straight down, correct?

TOM: They have diffusers. So the lens part of it that’s at the end, it’s kind of more like having a ceiling-light fixture when you’re done. So, I don’t think it’s going to be an issue. I’ve never heard of that as a complaint, Ginny.

GINNY: Oh, OK.

TOM: So I would tell you to do it. I think those are great products.

And by the way, for those folks that are not familiar with this, so what a sun tunnel is, like Ginny said, it’s a tubular skylight. So imagine, instead of having to cut a hole in your roof and then build a light shaft, you can cut a round hole in your roof, you can drop this tube down through it. And basically, it snakes down between the roof and the ceiling, kind of like – think of it as a dryer-exhaust duct. It’s flexible like that but it’s wide. It’s 12 to 14 inches wide.

And the inside of the tube is polished like a mirror, so it’s takes a lot of light and directs it down that tube to that light diffuser, which is at the ceiling level. So, I think it’s a great option and I think it’s a good use in this particular space.

GINNY: Well, I really thank you because it was very difficult to find information.