Tom Skevin
North Jersey Record

Any homeowner who wants to add more interior light can look toward the sky — and think skylight.

Once it’s in, there is no switch to flick, the utility company does not get a piece of the action and the light is not subject to a power outage.

“I have a customer with a kitchen in the center of the house,” says Fred Salerno, owner of Manor House Cabinetry in Paramus. “They wanted a skylight to get some light into the house without having to always turn on a light switch.”

They’ve become a hot item, so to speak.

“In most new constructions, at least one to two rooms have skylights,” says Lenny Eng of Emerson, a contractor who does installations. “They are definitely becoming more popular in bathrooms than they used to be. They’ve always been popular in family rooms, but kitchens and baths are on the upswing.”

To shed some light on the topic:

Who can install

This is not a job for the homeowner, no matter how handy.

“No, no, no, no,” says remodeler Dennis Cohen. “No homeowner should attempt to put a skylight in. It’s strictly a professional job.

“You just can’t cut a hole in the roof.”

Proper installation requires skill in two trades: carpentry and roofing. Some general contractors will do the job, and others will sub-contract it out to a specialist.

When to install

“The best time for a homeowner to put a skylight in is when doing a dormer, expansion or new roof,” advises Cohen, of All Contracting in Demarest.

At other times, he says, contractors do not like doing installations because of several factors: It’s not a high-profit item, they would be modifying someone else’s work and it’s something that could expose them to liability if it leaks.

So though it can be difficult to find a contractor to put one into an existing roof, “of course, the almighty dollar speaks,” says Cohen, past president of the North Jersey chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry.

Size, cost

The standard width for skylights is 32 inches, because roof beams are typically 16 inches apart. Removing the middle of three beams allows for a 32-inch width. Length varies, but figure on 3 feet to 5 feet. Ask contractors and sales reps about the right size for a given room.

Rather than have one larger skylight, it’s best to spread out a number of smaller skylights uniformly, said Pete Kleinhenz, a University of Dayton graduate student who was involved in a study on skylights.

Cost can run from $500 for a basic model to $1,500 for a screened one that can be opened with a wall switch, said Eng, who’s been a contractor for 18 years.

For more bells and whistles, it can cost $1,500 and up. That would include a rain sensor that closes the skylight automatically, “which is nice, because you don’t want to come home to water on your carpet,” Eng said. Other high-end features include sun-sensor tinting, remote control and internal manual or electric blinds.

Tinted or coated glass can lessen the fading effects of the sun on furniture, rugs and photos.

Eng estimates labor at $600 to $750 per skylight without complications; installation takes a day.

Also, a skylight that’s too big allows too much heat to escape in the winter and lets in too much in the summer, Kleinhenz said. Conversely, he adds, skylights that are too small don’t allow enough light into a room to reduce electric usage.

Benefits

Skylights can provide up to five times the light of a comparably sized window in the wall, says Salerno, who has been in the remodeling business for 25 years.

“You have to consider the heat, of course, from the direct sunlight,” he says, adding that can be lessened by having the skylight tinted or a shade installed.

The contractor says some customers have an installation done in their bathroom because the skylight affords more privacy than a window would while allowing the sun’s rays in.

Different kinds

There are three ways to go with basic skylights: straight-channel, flared-out and directional.

The straight channel means the shaft, or vertical space from the skylight to the ceiling below, is of the same dimensions as the skylight. Thus, a 2-foot-by-3-foot skylight will have the same size opening at the ceiling.

For flared-out, think of an upside-down funnel. It’s wider at the bottom — or ceiling — than it is at the top. This is to “allow more natural light into the area you are working with,” Salerno says.

Directional is the choice “if you want to bring that light to somewhere else in the room,” Eng says. “You would follow the angle of the roof” in building the shaft.

Restrictions

Flat roofs and skylights generally do not go together.

“It can be done on a flat roof, but naturally it would have to be flanged correctly,” says Salerno, explaining the skylight must be raised off the roof to prevent leaks. This is done by building a box for the skylight to sit on.

Steeply pitched roofs are out.

“Let’s say [you have] an English Tudor — you would not be able to do that,” Salerno warns. “The manufacturers have certain requirements that you can only do [installations] at certain pitches of roof, or otherwise you will have water inside.”

Quality, maintenance

For a quality job, “stay with brand names,” Eng advises. “You can be pretty sure you are getting a good product.”

As always with home improvements, be informed and ask contractors for references.

“Best thing you can do is ask as many questions as possible,” Eng says. “And references, as far as I’m concerned, are worth their weight in gold.”

He says the materials used in making skylights have improved, so leaks should not be a problem.

If there’s a leak, Eng says, it’s probably due to faulty installation of the skylight and/or flashing, rather than the skylight itself.

Seek a one-year guarantee on labor, and check annually for cracks in the weather-sealing materials and loose shingles around the skylight.