4 Comments

1. GBA Editor
   Martin Holladay | Jul 10, 2014 08:32am | #1

   Response to Dan Kolbert
   Dan,
   Maybe you're right -- maybe these are PERSIST skylights. If so, the homeowners must be waiting for the spray foam contractor to come and install 4 inches of foam on top of the Ice & Water Shield.

2. 
   STEPHEN SHEEHY | Jul 10, 2014 09:11am | #2

   sunrooms
   In my present house, we have a sunroom measuring 28 x8, on the south side of our zone 6 house. There are large, cheap double pane, double hung windows on the south side and a door and window on the west side. Three non-opening skylights. We have a wall-hung propane heater that we hardly ever use.

   It works pretty well. In winter, it collects plenty of heat from the sun, such that on sunny days, we o pen the French doors to the conditioned space to heat it. We can keep hardy plants out there in winter, such as rosemary, which would be killed outside. The temp doesn't get lower than about 20 degrees F even when 15 below outside.

   In summer, on really hot days it can get uncomfortable, but in summer why would one want to sit in an indoor subspace? When the sun goes down, the open windows cool the room down quickly and it is a very comfortable place.

   My point is that it is relatively cheap space that gets used a lot. It was never meant to be part of the "indoors."

   In our new house, we're doing a similar room, although with better, but not best, windows. We expect it to be a nice winter space on sunny days and to function as an unheated greenhouse where we'll start plants in early spring. The interior walls adjacent to conditioned space will be the typical exterior walls, fully insulated with PH level windows and air sealing. Concrete floor. Again, we expect it to function as a screened porch on summer evenings.

3. 
   dankolbert | Jul 10, 2014 10:48am | #3

   I like it
   PERSIST skylights. Bet the air-sealing on those babies is fantastic.

4. 
   user-3549882 | Jul 06, 2015 02:30am | #4

   Skylights in general, not just sunrooms
   Thanks, Martin. Good topic.

   We don't have a sunroom but we do have skylights. If we had a sunroom, I'd think about it like Mr. Sheehy does, namely to view it as an occasional use space and not even try to make it part of the indoors. I think this applies regardless of which way the sunroom faces.

   We do have skylights over our family room.

   http://hjcochran5.wix.com/solargrates101#!outside-view-3/c1ehf

   It's a nice aesthetic. You get additional natural light where it's not expected. You notice them and then your attention wanders elsewhere. No one I know gazes out a skylight for hours to take in the view. The view is usually of the sky or maybe a tree branch. Meanwhile, the skylights let out the heat in the winter and scoop it in during the summer.

   My solution was to keep the skylights and to moderate their effect. I created an acrylic insert- in- frame that mounts into the skylight cavity inside. This creates a dead air space for increased R value. You don't even notice it's there. The insert is removable but is left permanently in place. For summer, I installed a solar grate to lie atop each skylight. It's 'install and forget' and no operational adjustments are needed. The grates are surprisingly robust. After 10 years, virtually no maintenance. It changes the view but it lets in plenty of desirable natural visible light while blocking most of the undesirable infrared that would otherwise add to the a/c load. The grates are stored in the Fall to allow the free sunlight heating effect.

   If I were building new I'd pass on the skylights and other stuff like a swimming pool. Been there, done that. But when it's part of what you already own, you do the best you can and then read the GBA blogs to see if anyone has an idea you can use.