solar tube on roof for natural light in home?

[uniwelder]

Does anyone have much experience with solar tubes?  Kind of like a skylight, but not.  Our house has a dark central hallway and I'd like to put two along it to brighten it up a bit.  Its the one dark spot of the house that gets used frequently, but doesn't feel welcoming.  I see I can buy them for about $240 each from Home Depot and install myself.  Typing this out makes me aware that its probably cheaper to keep the hallway lights on all day, which might cost $30/year for comparison, so it would only be worthwhile if the natural vs artificial light 'feels' that much better.

If you did install one, I'm curious about the installation process, aging of the acrylic cover over time, brand to buy or features, leaks, etc, besides how much you like the light coming from it.

[Poeirenta]

We have 3 in our house and we love them. They are the Solatube brand. 2 have the light kit in them. I wish we had put the ventilation kit in the one in the mudroom.

Our contractor installed them (new construction) so I can't say much about that. Along with the rest of the house, they weathered a wildfire that killed all our trees and destroyed our outbuildings, so if that's a risk in your area, definitely get the metal band that protects the base of the dome. We've had no leaks in the 8 years since construction, and I haven't noticed any yellowing.

Around the full moon I don't even have to turn the light on when I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. 

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[sonofsven]

I put one in for a business partner years ago and it's held up well, no leaks. It didn't make a huge difference, but it's still a welcome amount of light in the dark hallway. I'd say it's equivalent to a smaller florescent ceiling light. Without the fluorescent weirdness.
It was part of a major remodel we did on the house.
I'm on the fence as to whether or not is was "worth it", value wise, but leaning towards no. I'll ask the owner what she thinks.
I don't remember it being particularly difficult to install. Obviously the roof work is the most critical, but the placement in the hallway is is critical too, aesthetically as it should be centered. Make sure there's no framing in the way.

[Greystache]

I thought about doing it, but the numbers just didn't work out for me. We have a dark central hallway with two recessed can lights. During the day there is enough ambient light to safely navigate but you need to turn on the light if you want to find  something in the hall closet. At night it is very dark, but the light tubes would not help.  I just put in LED light bulbs and only turn them on when I need them. It costs pennies per week to light the hallway. I don't know how long it would take the light tubes to pay for themselves, but I don't think I will live that long. The other thing I took into consideration is the aesthetics. In my situation, the tubes would be visible from the front of the house and I found that to be kind of ugly.
If the hallway is so dark that you need to turn on the lights just to find your way during the day, maybe motion activated LED lights that shut themselves off when nobody is in the hallway?

[uniwelder]

Thanks for the responses so far.  We've gone through periods of motivation to brighten up the house.  Once confronted with the cost of adding a little bit of extra natural light, motivations wanes.  Currently, it might be because its winter and less light is coming in.

For background, we bought this house 3 years ago.  Its on a wooded northern slope, so it doesn't get much light during the day anyway.  We removed some unnecessary walls, repainted the inside a cream color from their previous dark hues, installed natural color wood flooring.  Also cut down a dozen trees about 80-90 feet tall immediately uphill from the house, afraid they would eventually collapse on us, which also had the benefit of brightening things a bit.

[sonofsven]

Thanks for the responses so far.  We've gone through periods of motivation to brighten up the house.  Once confronted with the cost of adding a little bit of extra natural light, motivations wanes.  Currently, it might be because its winter and less light is coming in.

For background, we bought this house 3 years ago.  Its on a wooded northern slope, so it doesn't get much light during the day anyway.  We removed some unnecessary walls, repainted the inside a cream color from their previous dark hues, installed natural color wood flooring.  Also cut down a dozen trees about 80-90 feet tall immediately uphill from the house, afraid they would eventually collapse on us, which also had the benefit of brightening things a bit.

Skylights make a huge difference. The house I just finished is south facing with lots of windows and a large triple slider onto the deck from the living room, but the deck has a deep roof which blocks most of the sun. As soon as the roof plywood went up I knew it was too dark in the living room, so we cut in three 2x4 skylights--what a difference.

[uniwelder]

Thanks for the responses so far.  We've gone through periods of motivation to brighten up the house.  Once confronted with the cost of adding a little bit of extra natural light, motivations wanes.  Currently, it might be because its winter and less light is coming in.

For background, we bought this house 3 years ago.  Its on a wooded northern slope, so it doesn't get much light during the day anyway.  We removed some unnecessary walls, repainted the inside a cream color from their previous dark hues, installed natural color wood flooring.  Also cut down a dozen trees about 80-90 feet tall immediately uphill from the house, afraid they would eventually collapse on us, which also had the benefit of brightening things a bit.

Skylights make a huge difference. The house I just finished is south facing with lots of windows and a large triple slider onto the deck from the living room, but the deck has a deep roof which blocks most of the sun. As soon as the roof plywood went up I knew it was too dark in the living room, so we cut in three 2x4 skylights--what a difference.

Our house is a brick ranch.  The dining/living room area is the only feasible place for a skylight, but its actually not too dark there.  There is a large set of windows on the south side and sliding glass doors to a deck on the north side.  I thought solar tubes had an advantage over skylights in that they don't lose nearly as much heat, though of course they don't provide nearly the same amount of light.

[Metta]

We bought a house in NM that has one solar tube in the kitchen and a skylight in the main room where we gather. We love them. They provide quite a bit of light to these two rooms that are nowhere near windows. In fact, we frequently have no need to turn on lights at all on sunny days. No problems with leaks at all. Obviously we didn't install them so I can't speak to ROI.

[ChpBstrd]

We received a set of 3 motion-sensor LED night lights as a gag gift many Christmases ago. They light up as we walk from room to room in the dark, and turn themselves off automatically. This is the cheap, easy, and probably more energy efficient option.

The other alternative to think about is your blinds/curtains. If the house is much happier and brighter when the blinds/curtains are wide open, but you don't want to leave them that way all the time, consider light-filtering window treatments or applying inexpensive frosted-glass film. With those, you could have most of the benefit of leaving the blinds/curtains open while maintaining privacy.

[uniwelder]

The other alternative to think about is your blinds/curtains. If the house is much happier and brighter when the blinds/curtains are wide open, but you don't want to leave them that way all the time, consider light-filtering window treatments or applying inexpensive frosted-glass film. With those, you could have most of the benefit of leaving the blinds/curtains open while maintaining privacy.

We actually don't have blinds or curtains.  There are a few cheap pull down blinds, just in case for the guest bedrooms, but those stay tucked up and away 99% of the time.  That would be low handing fruit for sure, but already taken care of.  The closest neighbor is 300 feet away and mostly blocked by trees.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

We put one in our kitchen nearly 20 years ago, and have never regretted it.  It makes a significant difference in there.  I wouldn't want them in my hall though, and couldn't install them there anyway.  I like things dark at night and the SolaTube definitely has a glow on bright nights.

[uniwelder]

If the hallway is so dark that you need to turn on the lights just to find your way during the day, maybe motion activated LED lights that shut themselves off when nobody is in the hallway?

We received a set of 3 motion-sensor LED night lights as a gag gift many Christmases ago. They light up as we walk from room to room in the dark, and turn themselves off automatically. This is the cheap, easy, and probably more energy efficient option.

I really like this idea.  Its not what I was looking for during the day, but would be nice at night--- hallway, bathroom, kitchen.  They might end up being convenient and pleasant enough for daytime to get out of the urge to spend more money for the solar tubes.

[JupiterGreen]

Great topic. Even though we're fairly south, we want more light in our older home. I've thought about everything from solar tubes, skylights, to french doors, or even blowing out a wall, but everything is so expensive so we just haven't pulled the trigger on any of those things. I have no experience to add but thanks for starting this thread, I follow with interest.

[Blue Skies]

We put a solar tube in the interior bathroom.  No windows, and faces onto the windowless hallway.  It would definitely have been cheaper to just leave the light on, but I really dislike the idea of wasting the energy and I would have to have it on some sort of timer since I wouldn't want it on at night.

I LOVE the solar tube.  It lights up the hallway a bit too.  I never have to turn on the lights in either the hallway or that bathroom during the day, and it is off at night.  Totally worth whatever extra it cost over just leaving the lights on.

DH installed it and seemed to have no issues.  It hasn't leaked and has been there for years now.

[Dicey]

One of our rentals has a couple of them. We like them a lot. When we first bought the house, we kept reaching for the switch to turn off the lights when we left the house.

[snic]

Last year we installed one in a very dark hallway. It makes a HUGE difference - that part of the house no longer feels like a cave. We got the option with a solar-powered nightlight, which means the whole thing qualifies as "solar property" - so we got the 26% (or whatever it was) federal tax credit for the installation cost.

A few things to keep in mind: when it's partly cloudy, or if that part of the roof is shaded by trees, then on windy days there will be huge fluctuations in brightness, sometimes very rapid. This can be a bit disconcerting as there are no windows at the end of the hall so one doesn't expect the light to vary on its own. But it's also fairly rare. Also, we found the light to be very harsh and cold, which is not surprising because sunlight has a cooler color temperature than the warmer/yellowing interior lighting that most people prefer. I solved this problem by buying a color temperature-changing film ("gel filter") and cutting out a piece to fit on top of the diffuser. Overall we're quite pleased with it.

[iluvzbeach]

We have them in interior bathrooms (no windows) in houses we own. The houses range in age from 7-15 years old and none of them have ever leaked. We have been very happy with them and love that you can get up to go to the bathroom at night and not need to turn on an overhead light. Sometimes during a full moon we shut the door as it can bring in a lot of light.

[sonofsven]

Thanks for the responses so far.  We've gone through periods of motivation to brighten up the house.  Once confronted with the cost of adding a little bit of extra natural light, motivations wanes.  Currently, it might be because its winter and less light is coming in.

For background, we bought this house 3 years ago.  Its on a wooded northern slope, so it doesn't get much light during the day anyway.  We removed some unnecessary walls, repainted the inside a cream color from their previous dark hues, installed natural color wood flooring.  Also cut down a dozen trees about 80-90 feet tall immediately uphill from the house, afraid they would eventually collapse on us, which also had the benefit of brightening things a bit.

Skylights make a huge difference. The house I just finished is south facing with lots of windows and a large triple slider onto the deck from the living room, but the deck has a deep roof which blocks most of the sun. As soon as the roof plywood went up I knew it was too dark in the living room, so we cut in three 2x4 skylights--what a difference.

Our house is a brick ranch.  The dining/living room area is the only feasible place for a skylight, but its actually not too dark there.  There is a large set of windows on the south side and sliding glass doors to a deck on the north side.  I thought solar tubes had an advantage over skylights in that they don't lose nearly as much heat, though of course they don't provide nearly the same amount of light.

It depends on the ceiling construction. The above mentioned house has a cathedral ceiling so the additional skylights are negligible.
In a previous house I did with a flat ceiling and a high roof I built huge skylight wells which are difficult to insulate properly and heat is going to rise up in those wells, so in that situation a tube would have been better, as far as heat efficiency goes. Although the huge skylight wells were much more impressive looking.

[jeninco]

We also have one in a fully interior bathroom, and love it. It's a small bathroom, so we have the one with the internal light fixture, which works out well. As others have said, house sitters have commented that they'd look down the hall and see all the light spilling out of this fully internal room and head over to turn off the light (which wasn't on, the light tube just brings in that much natural light).

We're planning a remodel, and I'm wondering how many more I can add (I think the issue is the number of holes I want in the roof). It'd be fun to have them going down the otherwise rather dark hall...

[Laura33]

Yeah, we got one c. 2006 for my windowless closet during a major remodel.  I was thinking about how great it would be to save all the electricity but of course didn't do the math.  Duh.  It may pay back for my great-great-great grandchildren -- though now that we've converted to LEDs, probably not.  ;-)

That said, I still love it.  It worked well for a remodel because it required no reframing (fit between studs) or altering the ceiling (flat ceiling + sloped roof overhead).  And I have a thing for sunlight -- I'm just drawn to spaces full of light and windows, and it makes me happy in a way artificial light never has.  Added bonus that there's no glare/heat that you can sometimes get from skylights in summer.  It's just gentle ambient lighting that makes my closet a teensy bit nicer.  So it's definitely a luxury, but in the context of the giant firehose of luxury that is my life, it was a relatively small one, and it's one that's made my life just that little bit happier every day for 16+ years.