You understand the many benefits of installing skylights in your home or at your business. Sunlight not only brightens a room, but it also brightens the mood of everyone exposed to it. Opening a skylight circulates fresh air, which is an especially important benefit for cramped office spaces. Installing skylights at a residential property increases the property’s value, while a business benefits from positive customer responses. Now, the time has arrived to hire a team of skylight contractors to install one or more skylights.

The question no longer is should you install skylights? Instead, the question becomes what are the five most important traits to look for when hiring skylight contractors?

Positive Reputation

Virtually every website that you access for a skylight contractor contains several customer testimonials. Although customer testimonials can provide you with insight into the reputation of a skylight contractor, a better measure of a contractor’s reputation is to speak with a few former customers. In addition, you should read the customer reviews left on sites such as Yelp and Google, as well as review the Better Business Bureau (BBB) page devoted to the contractor.

Proper Professional Credentials

Whenever you plan to hire any home improvement contractor, you should ensure the contractor possesses the proper professional credentials, which means verifying the business has acquired sufficient insurance and earned the right licenses and certifications. Possessing the right credentials is a sign a contractor values professionalism. With insurance, you want to gain peace of mind knowing you are protected in case of an accident. If you plan to install Velux residential skylights, ask the contractor if the installers have completed the Velux Certified Installer Program.

Outstanding Customer Service

How a contractor interacts with you goes a long way in determining the success of a skylight installation project. A contractor that provides outstanding customer service promptly returns emails, phone calls, and text messages in a helpful and friendly way. You should be able to get every one of your questions answered without having to endure complex industry jargon. Outstanding customer service also entails the willingness of a contractor to change project deadlines.

The best skylight contractors do more than just install skylights.

Affordability

“You get what you paid for” is an especially relevant saying for a skylight installation project. Although you do not want to cut financial corners with this type of property improvement project, you also want to stay within your family or business budget. The lowest price is often not the best option because you might receive inferior quality work. However, you should find an affordable team of skylight contractors that do not bust your budget.

Cooperativity & Teamwork

The last thing you need is to deal with a team of contractors that constantly bicker among themselves. Teamwork plays a significant role in determining the outcome of any home improvement project, including one that involves installing skylights. You can obtain a good idea about the collaboration among skylight contractors by observing them for a few minutes while they review your project guidelines and take a look at where you want the skylights installed.

One more tip: Consider a team of skylight contractors that have experience with roofing projects. You might have roof maintenance issues that a team of skylight contractors can point out to save you money in the long run.

Mares & Dow

Contact your local skylight contractors at Mares & Dow Construction and Skylights today to transform your home. We have over 40 years of installation and consulting experience.

The benefits delivered by installing skylights have convinced you to add to the list of home improvement projects. Skylights enhance the ambiance of a room, which in turn brightens the mood of everyone in it. For employers, installing skylights is directly linked with improving worker productivity. Skylights also lower energy bills by allowing more sunlight to reach the interior of a building. When you are ready to install skylights, you have many factors to consider before starting the project. The most important factor involves selecting the best team of skylight contractors.

The top skylight contractors do much more than install skylights.

Share Knowledge

Experienced skylight contractors have spent their entire careers learning about every feature offered by different skylight models. Whether you have installed skylights before or if this is the first time adding the amenity to your home or office, a licensed skylight contractor gives you insight into the ideal skylights to install.

Skylight knowledge also includes sharing tips on how to maximize the energy-sharing benefits, as well as where to install the skylights to increase the amount of natural illumination in a room. They also suggest specific types of skylights, such as venting skylights that improve air circulation. Contractors share knowledge of building codes and residential neighborhood zoning laws.

Responsive Communication

Most home improvement projects require the preparation of a detailed schedule, including a project that involves installing skylights. However, events such as material shortages, prolonged bad weather, and supply chain disruptions, derail the most carefully thought-out work schedules. As the client, you should expect work schedule changes, but you should never tolerate a team of home remodeling contractors that do not inform you of any scheduling changes

This means in addition to installing your new skylights, the contractor responsible for the skylight project must promptly inform you of schedule changes. You also should receive prompt responses to questions left on voicemail, as well as via email and text messages.

Point Out Roofing Issues

Skylight contractors get an up-close at the condition of the roof during an installation project. If they detect any roofing issues that compromise the structure and/or appearance of the roof, they should explain the issues to you. Even better, experienced skylight contractors typically have developed a network of other types of special contractors to contact for working on a home improvement project. This means that top skylight contractors doing a lot more than skylights should have the name and contact information of a roofing contractor to address any structural and/or appearance issues.

Closely Follows the Budget

You should have created a budget for the skylight installation project, which the contractor overseeing the project should approve after making a few adjustments. For example, maybe you decided to follow the contractor’s recommendation to add one or more skylights to the project list. Once both parties agree to a budget, the team of skylight contractors should closely follow the budget and if a cost overrun seems likely, immediately notify the client to allow the client to adjust the project budget.

The Bottom Line

You have several factors to consider for a skylight installation project. Although choosing the best contractor that has extensive experience installing skylights is important, you also want to hire one of the top contractors that does a lot more than just installing skylights.

Mares & Dow

Contact your local skylight contractors at Mares & Dow Construction and Skylights today to transform your home. We have over 40 years of installation and consulting experience.

If you are looking to brighten up your home, installing more windows is not the answer to your illumination needs. Even if windows offer you a picturesque view of a meadow or hilly terrain, how many windows do you need to see the same thing? No, the answer to your illumination needs can be answered by a team of skylight contractors.

What Are the Benefits of Installing Skylights?

Whether you want to install skylights in a bedroom or the living room, completing this popular project delivers several benefits.

First, skylights welcome much more natural light, which significantly brightens up a home. Installing residential skylights immediately boost the ambiance of any room in your home, although skylights do the best job of enhancing the ambiance of your home when you install them in the living room.

Second, properly installed skylights trap heat in winter and cool air during the warmer months of the year. The result is lower energy bills, which helps the monthly budget. Third, skylights installed by properly credentialed contractors can make any room in a home feel more spacious. This is an especially important benefit for homeowners because the illusion of more space often boosts the value of a house.

The question is not do skylights make a home feel more spacious. Instead, the question is how can skylight contractors make your home feel more spacious?

How Skylight Contractors Can Create the Illusion of More Space

Unless you add to your home in the form of another bedroom or a larger garage, you cannot create more physical space. However, you can create the illusion of more space inside your home by installing skylights.

Creating the illusion of more space for your home by installing skylights follows a principle used by painters when they want to create the illusion of space for their paintings. For painters, creating the illusion of space starts by drawing objects in the background first before moving on to drawing objects moving closer to the front of a painting.

For example, a painter draws the tallest mountain peak first before drawing smaller mountains until finally reaching the foothills. In front of the foothills, a painter can include several of nature’s best features like trees, flowers, and water sources. The last step for creating the illusion of more space for a painting involves adding a structure such as a barn at the front of the painting.

Skylight Contractors Paint the Perfect Picture

Since skylights welcome much more sunlight, how do contractors create the illusion of more space by installing the home amenities? The most important factor is positioning. Where the contractors position skylights determine how much additional depth is created for a room. Positioning skylights to allow the maximum amount of sunlight in a room can illuminate different features to create the same illusion of depth as created by an accomplished painter.

For instance, a skylight installed near the edge of a ceiling can shine natural light on a mural hung on a far-away wall. A second skylight installed directly above the center of a room shines natural light on a closer object such as a dining room table. The mural appears to be farther away, which creates the illusion of more space. Where skylight contractors place skylights also determines the illumination received by accent pieces located at different spots in a room.

Another important factor to make a home feel more spacious involves the type of skylights installed, such as deciding between traditional dome and double dome skylights.

Mares & Dow

Contact your local skylight contractors at Mares & Dow Construction and Skylights today to transform your home. We have over 40 years of installation and consulting experience.

You have made the decision to brighten your home by installing skylights. The warmth of the sun is just one advantage of installing skylights in a residential structure. As experienced skylight contractors, we recommend not just any brand of skylights for installation in a home. Along with the leading skylight contractors in the Bay Area, Mares & Dow prefers the Velux skylight brand for 5 important reasons.

An Overview of Velux Skylights

The story of Velux begins in 1941 across the Atlantic Ocean in Denmark, when Villum Kahn designed the first windows that fit perfectly into a roof without the need to add a dormer. Contractors and consumers did not embrace the concept of skylights until around 50 years later. Starting in the 1990s, Velux started to convince homeowners and contractors about the practical benefits delivered by skylights. Over the past decade, Velux residential skylights have experienced a dramatic increase in demand for the brand’s skylights, and for five compelling reasons.

5 Reasons Why Contractors Prefer Velux Skylights

There is no other addition to a home that transforms a space like a skylight. Allowing more light and fresh air to enter a residential space boosts the ambiance of the space, as well as enhances the visual appeal of your home. Skylights do a great job of trapping heat in winter and the cool air generated by an HVAC system during the warmer months of the year. Strategically positioned skylights can shine natural light on plants and other forms of indoor vegetation that thrive under the sun’s illumination.

Velux skylights provide many of the same benefits delivered by other skylight brands. The difference lies in five additional factors that benefit both contractors and homeowners.

For Contractors: Increase in Profits

General contractors set a profit goal that the installation of Velux skylight can help them meet. Reaching the profit goal depends on maximizing the square footage used for each room in a home. Adding Velux skylights have demonstrated to decrease square foot cost by $9 per square foot.

For Contractors and Homeowners: Affordable Upgrade

Installing Velux skylights can almost double the revenue generated per square foot, while providing homeowners with an affordable way to make a significant upgrade that boosts the value of a home. Choosing Velux skylights also benefits contractors and homeowners because the upgrade is fast and easy to do.

For Homeowners: Transform the Attic

Installing Velux skylights in the dark, empty attic can transform it into a space you can utilize for anything from storage to a recreational room to entertain guests. Velux skylights are renowned for allowing the most natural light into a home on a square-foot basis.

For Homeowners: Helpful Tax Credits

Homeowners that choose to install eligible Velux skylights can receive up to a 22 percent tax credit on purchase and installation costs. Velux remains committed to developing products that help reduce the global carbon footprint. The leader in skylights created the Velux Go Solar initiative, which follows a mission to reduce energy consumption and generate energy savings for homeowners.

For Homeowners: Versatility

Velux designs and manufactures a wide variety of skylights to meet the specification of virtually every homeowner. For example, the solar-powered Fresh Air Skylights feature a solar panel that absorbs sunlight to recharge a battery-powered control system. Other products offered by Velux allow homeowners to open and close skylights with the touch of a button.

Mares & Dow

Contact your local skylight contractors at Mares & Dow Construction and Skylights today to transform your home. We have over 40 years of installation and consulting experience.

Increasing the amount of sunlight in your home not only enhances the ambiance, but it also boosts the mood of everyone visiting and living in your home. How do you take advantage of the gift called sunlight? Is removing drapes from large windows the most effective way to increase the sun’s presence inside your house?

Hiring a professional team of skylight contractors to install one or more skylights helps you generate more natural light indoors. The question is not whether you should install skylights. Instead, the question is what type of skylights should you have a team of skylight contractors install.

One of the most popular types of skylights is called a sun tunnel skylight.

What is a Tunnel Skylight?

Standard skylights mount onto the roof to increase the amount of sunlight flowing into a home. However, a standard skylight increases the amount of sunlight in rooms located directly below. As a type of tubular skylight, sun tunnel skylights also mount on the roof, but the tubular structure of the skylight extends through a loft or attic into a living space. For example, a home office located in a living space without any windows benefits greatly from the mounting of a sun tunnel skylight.

In addition to sending sunlight directly into a dark living space, tunnel skylights offer several other benefits.

Mounting Flexibility

You can mount a sun tunnel skylight just about anywhere on the roof to increase the amount of natural light in a windowless living space. Sun tunnel skylights allow you to brighten up a living space that a standard skylight cannot illuminate with natural light. If you want to increase natural light for a closet, bathroom, or laundry room, mounting a sun tunnel skylight represents your best option to achieve your goal.

Mounting flexibility also applies to the two types of sun tunnel skylights. Rigid sun tunnels work best for roof-to-room setups where there are not any obstructions. A flexible sun tunnel allows you to work around obstructions to generate natural light where you need it the most.

Easier Installation

A sun tunnel is typically easier to mount on a roof than other types of residential skylights. Because of the smaller size and tubular design, you do not require as much space on the roof to install a sun tunnel. Because you cannot open a sun tunnel to improve air circulation, you free up more space on the roof for perhaps the installation of another sun tunnel or a different model of a skylight.

Installing a sun tunnel to go through multiple floors can be more expensive and complicated. However, hiring an experienced team of skylight contractors can complete the project quickly and within the home improvement budget.

Energy Efficient

Illuminating darker living spaces with artificial light can quickly increase the monthly electric bill. By mounting one or more sun tunnels, you direct natural light into tough-to-illuminate living spaces without the monthly budget taking a hit. Adding more natural light into your home also decreases the demand for the home heating and cooling system. Manufacturers design sun tunnels to minimize the loss of heat in winter and cool air during the warmer months of the year.

Mares & Dow

Contact your local skylight contractors at Mares & Dow Construction and Skylights today to transform your home. We have over 40 years of installation and consulting experience.

Installing one or more skylights produces several benefits that include enhanced ventilation, improved energy efficiency, and a much brighter ambiance. Once the question of benefits gets answered, the next question involves deciding which of the many types of skylights works best for the room where you plan to install one.

Working with a team of certified skylight contractors helps you learn about your options, as well as understand where a skylight makes the best fit.

Fixed

As one of the most common types of skylights, a fixed skylight does not open to circulate air. With a complete seal on the roof, a fixed skylight works best in low illumination areas of your home, such as the attic and over an upper floor stairwell. Steel and aluminum represent the most common types of materials for designing a fixed skylight

Ventilated

Ventilated skylights serve several purposes, which makes them one of the most diversified types of skylights. This type of skylight does the best job of circulating air, which means they work best in areas of your home that require constant ventilation like the kitchen of an upper floor bathroom. You also can install a ventilated skylight over the living room to increase the amount of sunlight that enters your house.

Tubular 

Tubular skylights do a great job of boosting the amount of natural illumination that enters a residential or commercial space. For example, installing several tubular skylights over an indoor greenhouse increases the amount of sunlight that plants receive. Because a tubular skylight works by using a parabolic lens, the skylight allows sunlight to enter your home regardless of the angle of the sun.

Pyramid

Usually installed on flat or slightly curved roofs, pyramid skylights off a variety of slope or pitch choices. The architect’s artistic vision or the structural design of your home determines the pitch of a pyramid skylight. Pyramid skylights fit best on the area of the roof that is over the family entertainment room. This type of skylight allows an abundance of sunlight to enter your home throughout the day.

Dome

Constructed with highly-durable plastic, dome skylights spread natural light over a large area of a living space. Whether you hang murals, paintings, and/or sculptures in the study and/or living room, installing a dome skylight highlights the best features of your most prized possessions. You should consider installing a dome skylight that includes two layers of insulation to improve the energy efficiency of your house.

Custom

If the condition of the roof does not permit the installation of one of the most common types of skylights, then installing custom skylights is the answer to your illumination needs. Custom skylights are a series of elegantly designed windows that welcome natural light into any living space. The most appealing space to install custom skylights is over the dining room and/or living room.

The Bottom Line

Not every type of skylight works in the same areas of your home. For example, custom skylights cover a much larger area, which means they are not as popular for installing over a bathroom as they are for installing over a living room. You also have to consider how much extra stress a skylight places on your roof. A curb skylight does not apply as much pressure on a roof as the pressure applied by a dome skylight.

Working with our team of certified skylight contractors ensures you choose the skylight that is the best fit for a certain area of your home.

Mares & Dow

Contact your local skylight contractors at Mares & Dow Construction and Skylights today to transform your home. We have over 40 years of installation and consulting experience.

You wake every morning to a dark room, with shades drawn over each window to ensure you enjoy plenty of privacy. What if the skylight contractors at Mares & Dow told you there is a way to protect your privacy and welcome the sun into your bedroom every morning that it shines.

As one of the most popular trends for home remodeling projects, installing one or more skylights in your home can brighten up your day even if the sun remains obscured by clouds. Just the glow of each day can produce a more energetic living environment.

Do you have one or more rooms that can use a little more natural light? Take a look at our completed skylight installation projects to learn more about how Mares & Dow can add more value to your home, while at the same time making it much more aesthetically pleasing. 

Let’s review the five benefits of installing one or more skylights in your home.

More Natural Light

Welcoming more natural light into your home brightens the mood of everyone living in or visiting your house. Since many neighborhood construction projects involve building houses close to each other, the only way to invite more sunlight into a home might be to install a skylight at roof level.

It is not just your mental health that benefits from a boost of sunlight. You also benefit from several physical attributes, such as an increase in vitamin D and a much-improved sleep cycle.

Energy Efficient

The more sunlight that enters your home, the less you have to rely on your HVAC system to keep your house warm. This means you reduce your energy consumption, which is a plus for the environment. Less energy consumption also lowers your monthly energy bills. Skylights do not eliminate your dependence on artificial light sources such as task lighting, but when installed at the right spots, they can dramatically reduce your energy usage. 

Enhances Airflow

Although much of the attention on the benefits of skylights focuses on natural light, adding one or more skylights also enhances the flow of air in your home. If you have air circulation issues inside your house, installing a few skylights over several rooms removes some of the warm air and in its place allows cooler air to draw in when you open the lower level windows.

Enlarge the Space Inside Your Home

Allowing more natural light to enter your home creates a kind of illusion that makes a room in your house seem bigger. If you have to deal with limited space in one or more rooms, consider installing a skylight to expand the amount of space you have to work, sleep, or entertain.

Increase in Home Value

Installing one or more skylights increases the visual appeal of the interior, as well as delivers several tangible financial benefits. We already discussed saving money on energy bills, but did you know that skylights also increase the value of houses? The increase in value is because of improved curb appeal and a functional improvement by letting more natural light into your home.

Working with an experienced team of residential general contractors can help you to create a more energetic ambiance, without having to dig deep into your pockets.

Mares & Dow

Contact your local skylight contractors at Mares & Dow Construction and Skylights today to transform your home. We have over 40 years of installation and consulting experience.

If you love cultivating plants, finding the right house to usher in plenty of sunlight is just as important as the rest of a home’s layout. Plant lovers that do not have a sufficient number of windows to welcome in the sun turn to the best skylight contractors for access to natural light. Installing skylights represents an affordable way to nourish your plants, as well as increase the value of your home.

What Are the Types of Skylights?

You have three common types of skylights that increase the amount of sunlight that comes into rooms throughout the day.

Fixed

Referred to by many skylight contractors as traditional skylights, fixed skylights offer a view of the sky and direct sunlight for your plants. You can add shades to modify the amount of light let into a room, as well as create a stable temperature for your plants. Fixed skylights are the most effective way to invite the sun into a room that desperately needs natural light.

Sun Tunnel

Often called tubular skylights, Sun Tunnel skylights come with a lens that mounts on a roof. The lens connects through a reflective aluminum tunnel that attaches to a diffuser installed on a ceiling. Sun Tunnels generate illumination that looks like spot or recessed lighting.

Fresh Air

You can find this type of skylight as a solar or electric-powered way to brighten up the room you have dedicated to growing and cultivating plants. The skylights open by using a remote control device or an app you downloaded to a Smartphone. Rooms that require more sunlight and fresh air, such as the kitchen or a bathroom, benefit greatly from a Fresh Air skylight.

What is the Biology Behind the Connection Between the Sun and Skylights?

When one of our home remodeling contractors meets with you to discuss your plan to provide your plants with more sunlight, you should understand the scientific principle that links plants and sunlight. Plants absorb energy from the sun and then convert the light into energy by going through a process called photosynthesis. Plants that absorb a significant amount of sunlight typically experience the greatest growth spurts. The ability of plants to convert sunlight into beneficial energy remains one of the most fundamental scientific principles.

What Are Some More Reasons Why Skylights Are an Excellent Addition to Your Home?

Turning a cold, dark room into a warm vibrant room is just one of several reasons why skylights make sense for plant lovers. Adding sunlight also benefits the occupants of a home by naturally warming it up. Instead of turning up the thermostat, you install skylights to generate the warmth you need to stay comfortable during the colder months of the year. Improved ventilation enhances the health of you and your family by getting more fresh air into every room. The stylish appearance of many styles of skylights can increase the aesthetic appeal of your house, which comes in handy when you sell it. Natural views of the sky and the surrounding natural attractions can make a room seem much bigger.

Mares & Dow

Contact your local skylight contractors at Mares & Dow Construction and Skylights today to transform your home. We have over 40 years of installation and consulting experience.