How to Choose the Right Roof Lights for Your Home

Roof lights and lanterns is the best way of opening up your home to the potential of natural light, making rooms feel brighter, more spacious and welcoming. In fact they can bring in up 40% more light than ordinary windows. They are ideal for loft conversions, rooms with flat roofs and also for lighting up those darker areas where conventional windows may not easily be installed, such as hallways or stairwells.

Consider your Design

When it comes to choosing your design, you can opt for fixed lights or opening or ‘vented’ roof windows to allow ventilation and a flow of fresh air through your home. If you have an internal area you want to view from above, terrace or roof garden why not introduce toughened walk-on roof-lights as a modern feature. Walk-on roof lights fit flush to the floor surface and can also be an amazing way of letting natural light into the internal spaces such as the basement, converting it into a more comfortable living space. Flat areas of roof, such as extensions and sunrooms, can be the perfect place for introducing roof lanterns. With their raised pyramid shape, they are structurally designed to bring natural light flooding into your home in the most dramatic and visually appealing way. Whatever your choice, skylights, roof windows and lanterns can make a stunning design feature to set off your home.

Consider the Frame

Your roof windows and skylights should always complement the style of your property. Aluminium frames have a particularly contemporary slim-lined appeal, which can suit both modern and traditional homes. When opening up your rooms to more light, roof windows and bi-fold doors can complement each other beautifully, so why not consider buying them together as a matching set to create a dramatic and virtually seamless wall of light?

Choosing your Glass

Firstly, think of your all-year-round comfort. Energy efficient glazing will not only keep you warm in the winter but also cool in the summer months. Triple glazing has excellent energy efficiency benefits (measured by their low u values) that will also help reduce your energy bills. If you are considering a large glazed area, new heat mirror technology can reduce the weight of triple glazing by up to a third. All roof light glass should be toughened to prevent shattering if broken. If you are concerned about the sun dazzling through your skylights and roof lanterns during the summer months, tinted glass will reduce glare and help prevent your soft furnishings from fading. However, if you want to maintain a consistent level of light entering your home, both on dull and sunny days, the answer is photochromic or Sun-Tint glass, which automatically self-tints to reduce the glare and heat when the sun gets too bright and then reverts to transparent glass when the sun goes in! And finally, unless you have a very obliging window cleaner, why not consider easy clean glass for those skylights and roof lanterns that are difficult to access. That way you can enjoy all year round clean roof windows.

Amelia Graham

The Rooflight Superstore is a UK based company offering only the best rooflights and skylights windows available Find them online and on Facebook.