The Best Way to Control Light
While having fresh air and daylight is a good thing, glare in your TV room and home office or a nap with the sun shining in your face is not. There are lots of other reasons to want to adjust the light coming into your home from a skylight as well.
There are several choices in determining the best solution for controlling the light allowed into your home.
Blackout Blinds
Blackout blinds are the best way to block almost all the light entering your room from a skylight. These are best suited for bedrooms for the early morning light, napping or for the moon’s rays from traveling across your face while trying to sleep!
Cellular Blinds
Cellular shades are another option. Cellular shades let in a translucent or diffused light. This blocks all direct rays shining into the home, but scatters a soft light through the room evenly. These are great for TV rooms, home offices, or other rooms where glare is a problem.
Venetian Blinds
Venetian blinds are designed for varying light control while still providing outdoor views. Velux designed theirs with aluminum that is easy to wipe clean and provides a modest improvement to the overall energy efficiency of the skylight. The blinds are lowered and raised manually with a stylish control bar. The slats are tilted with an award-winning control mechanism and can be set at any angle.
Colors
All of these shades can be custom-made to fit any skylight shaft, but Velux has factory made versions to fit their skylights for much less. They even offer solar-powered blinds Velux also offers many different color options.
Other Options
Another solution is sunscreens (see Controlling the Heat), though you lose the ability to control when you want it and when you want an unobstructed view.
The worst choice is using films. Installed improperly or on the wrong type of glass can cost you. If the film is installed on any type of glass other than regular clear glass it will cause the glass to lose its seal. This is what happens when you see moisture in-between the insulated glass. Some films turn black over time and again the only way to fix it is to replace the glass. We have replaced a lot of glass over the last thirty-five years when people have chosen to use cheap films to solve their heat or light problems.
