apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I don't have them myself but my next door neighbor put in a bunch throughout his house, including his bathroom.

Aesthetically they're a little wanting: cold, sterile, with a limited number of lens styles. A little doctor's-exam-room-ish for me.

However:

the amount of light they put out for their size is remarkable.

And the installation is simple and easy on the wallet compared to skylights.

Personally I wouldn't use them in the main living areas, but I might consider using one in the bathroom. Maybe even a long dark hallway, or closet (as long as the UV wasn't a problem re fading materials.) I was amazed to see how well a single solatube flooded the bathroom area with light.

Find out where a dealer is in your area to go see what the lights and lenses look like.

Sorry I don't know anything about the Fan Kit.

I have friends who swear by them although I think they're ugly. My dad works for a skylight co. and he hates them. Says they're not only ugly, they have leak problems. However, I have yet to convince him to recommend me something better for a comparable price... I'll let you know if he does.

We put one in as soon as we moved into this house. The amount of light it puts out is incredible, even moonlight is amplified.
Our tube goes through about 8ft of attic and it doesn't lessen the amount of light at all. I would highly recommend one. We picked a lens that sort of looks like bug eyes and puts rainbows all over the walls, much to the delight of my kids.

oh, also we had a solar attic fan installed as well and it does wonders for lowering the temp in our little house that doesn't have an AC. I don't know what it does in the winter though. I haven't really thought about what it's doing to the temps in the winter when we run the heater?

hey, thanks so much for all your comments!

I hear you about the lack of "style" but we've looked everywhere and these seem to be the nicest looking and sturdiest ones... great to hear that they actually bring lots of light in, even at night, since, we'd hate to use up more electricity to light up such a small space.

funny, we're also looking at a solar attic fan 'cause our little house BAKES in the summer sun; it's good to know they actually work at cooling down a house.

Cheers
C

horrible ... hate the light. hate the look ...

My grandmother has one of these in her bathroom and one in her kitchen. The light is lovely, and she's had zero problems with them.