Thursday 11 June 2015

What You Need To Know About Skylight Glazing

When you are selecting a skylight to install on your roof, you should determine the type of glazing you use. When you choose a skylight glazing, ensure you consult with a professional skylight installation company Toronto in order to understand which choices you can go for. Skylights come in form of plastic and glass, but there are also other glazing technologies that may be applied to help in controlling the solar heat.

Plastic glazing is a type of skylight that is made of plastic. This is a cheaper option but with time, it may scratch and become brittle often discoloring and breaking over time. Most plastics also let in most of the UV light unless they are coated, and this increases fading of items and furnishes in your home.

Glass glazing material is considered durable for your skylight and does not discolor. The glass, which is used in fitting skylights, should be safe glazing, which typically implies laminated and tempered glass. Laminated glass is designed using a fabricated thin layer of plastic that is embedded near the core or center of the glass while the tempered glass offers a high impact resistance.

Laminated glass prevents it from breaking into sharp pieces, which may cause injury. The interlayer of plastic or resin sandwiched between the glass panes helps hold the broken pieces of glass together so that they don’t fall and injury people. Considering that skylights are located on roof surfaces, they tend to receive larger amounts of unwanted heat in summer or too much heat loss in winter. With this in mind, manufacturers of the skylight glazing materials help reduce these kinds of effects.

Different technologies are applied such as heat absorbing tints and insulated glazing such as double or triple glazed skylight glasses. There are also choices for low emissivity coating. A more thermal efficient assembly of skylight can save you money when you reduce the heating and cooling cost.

The kind of skylight glazing you use depends on the location of your building and how efficient you want to skylight to be. Also, you need to consider how the material will last. You don’t want to start dealing with repairs and replacement only a couple of years after installing your skylight. While you may want to save money by installing plastic skylight, you also need to know that this material is likely to warp, discolor, and get damaged over time.

The warping can cause weak zones or create cracks on the flashing material resulting in leaks. Discoloration will make the skylight to look unsightly and if it is installed in full view, you may reduce the aesthetic value of your home. Plastics tend to allow UV light to reach the interior meaning that you may have increased damage on surfaces and items from the destructive rays. A special film may be used to coat the plastic to prevent the UV light from directly reaching the inside surfaces.

When choosing glass glazing, consider having double-glazed because it will help in energy efficiency. Heat can get in and out through the skylight surface, and if it is not designed to offer good insulation and prevention of heat loss, then you may have issues with energy efficiency in your home. Consult with a skylight installation company Toronto to know which materials you can use.

1 comment:

  1. I didn't think the skylights needed to get UV protection. That is a fault that is on my bad I should have asked if they had that option. Is it possible to get it installed with a skylight that is already in place? http://suncityskylights.net.au/repairs

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