Tubular Skylights: A Simple Guide

What is a Tubular Skylight?

A tubular skylight, also known as a “sun tube” or “sun tunnel,” is an alternative to larger skylights that allow you to flood a dark room in your home with natural light while avoiding some common pitfalls associated with regular skylights.  A tubular skylight is a rigid and fixed pipe installed in your roof between 8 and 24 inches in diameter. These tubes are strategically placed to maximize the amount of natural light that can be captured and reflected into your home. In many cases, the interior part of a tubular skylight is made from a highly reflective surface such as polished sheet metal. This acts as a mirror to capture the sunlight at the apex of your roof and reflects light into your home.

Most tubular skylights also include a transparent dome cover on the roof that protects your home from the outside elements and a diffuser placed at the end of the tube where the light enters your home at the ceiling level. This diffuser is specifically designed to help spread the light throughout your home and is also covered with a special UV coating to protect the interior of your home.

What Are The Advantages of Tubular Skylights?

Skylights might be larger than sun tubes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they let more light into your home. The strategic placement of tubular skylights along with the reflective interior and the diffuser often allow a 10-inch tube to produce the same amount of light as a massive glass skylight that required significant remodeling of your roof. In fact, a 14-inch tubular skylight can easily add natural light to brighten up to 300 square feet, which is the equivalent of four 100-watt bulbs.  For windowless rooms such as bathrooms, laundry rooms, or large closets, an advantageously placed tubular skylight might allow you to do without artificial light during daylight hours.

Tubular skylights are much smaller than regular skylights, and they are also much more energy efficient. The dome's small size does not significantly compromise the building envelope and thus allows homes to avoid heat gain during the summer and heat loss during the winter. While some critics might point out that tubular skylights don’t offer much of a view, larger skylights only provide a view of the sky above, and very few people will spend long hours contemplating a square of blue sky.

Tubular skylights provide light that is primarily considered to be more natural than fluorescent and even LED bulbs. While tubular skylights will look like a standard lighting fixture, they provide warm light, which is beneficial for your health, while also helping people during winter months to avoid seasonal affective disorder resulting from a lack of sunlight exposure.

Tubular skylights are relatively small devices, and they are usually much less expensive than larger skylights. This lowers installation costs and can also make it easier to insulate. At the end of almost all tubular skylights, the light diffuser also contains a UV coating to help protect your furniture, wood or laminate flooring, and other interior design elements of your home.

How Much Does a Tubular Skylight Cost to Install?

Tubular skylight installation costs between $500 to $1,000 with an average of $800. This is less than half of the installation cost of a traditional skylight.

How Much Light Do Solar Tubes Provide?

A small 10" solar tube can generate similar light to that of 3 15-watt LED light bulbs or the equivalent of 3 100-watt incandescent light bulbs. This is enough output to light a room up to 200 sq ft. Larger, 14" solar tubes are capable of producing nearly twice as much, lighting roughly 300 sq ft.

Where Can Solar Tubes Be Installed?

Solar tubes are ideal for any room in the house. You'll want to avoid installing solar tubes near computers or televisions as they'll produce glare during the day. Solar tubes are usually found in kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, home offices, hallways, laundry rooms, closets, stairways.

How Long Are Solar Tubes?

Solar Tubes are commonly available in lengths ranging from 6 meters to 9 meters but are available in several lengths. Longer tubes usually have a larger diameter to allow for more light. The rule of thumb is, the shorter and straighter the tube, the more light transfer.