Let there be (more) light!

Thursday - 5/26/11

When I contracted to have the metal roof installed part of the installation was to include three skylights, two in the Great Room and one in the center guest bath that has no natural light source at all.  The main reason I wanted skylights is...just because....and I had two of them burning a hole in my pocket!  About six years ago I came across two 25"x49" dual pane skylights at Lowes on closeout for $50.00 each.  I had no predetermined use for them right then but couldn't pass up that kind of bargain so I snapped them up figuring I'd use them eventually.  Such is the case now!

Three is a good number...but naturally the more I thought about it the more I figured I actually needed a fourth one to light the main entry hall.  It's pretty dark there when you first come in and while I plan on changing out the entry door to one with glass in it, it would still be pretty dark. Sooooo....I decided to put this one in myself (don't laugh!).

I bought a 25"x25" light for the bath and then a 25"x49" for the entry hall.  After checking my measurements multiple times I came to the conclusion that, given the way the roof joists run narrow to wide, putting the larger one up there was going to be impractical and probably overkill so I opted to go with the smaller one.  It still gives plenty of light and is keeping with the size of the hallway.  I'll have to take the larger one back and exchange it for another 25"x25".  Need to do that before the sell the last one there!

They sure stick it to ya on these things.  The skylight was only $79 on Memorial Day sale and you think you're getting a great deal until you read the box and it tells you that you also need to buy the required flashing kit for for another 102.00 and supply the wood for the frame, screws, and caulking.  So what was a cheap deal ain't so cheap!

Here's to cutting a big hole in my roof!

I started early when it was still cool but the sun caught up with me and the shade up and moved over to the side.  It started getting toasty up there surrounded by composition shingles.  Still, it was manageable.

Finished (it only took all day)!

I built the frame out of 2x4, screwed it to the deck from underneath, installed the cross piece tying the newly cut roof joists to the joists on either side of it, trimmed and installed the flashing around the new frame, and then finally installed the skylight itself.

You might be thinking the flashing on each side should be covered with shingles and you might be right, however, there is a metal roof going down on top of all that so it wasn't necessary to completely cover the side flashing with shingles.  The roofers will install their own flashing to when the roof panels are laid.

What a difference a hole makes!

 There's light there now!