After suffering a week long heat wave I looked around the townhouse to find where the heat was getting in. One source was my Velux skylight. The skylight was a dual pane Low-E 3 argon gas filled unit which was rated to keep 80% of the sun’s heat out. Standing under the skylight in summer with direct sunlight coming through that seemed accurate but that 20% was warming up the hallway.
Taking a look at the Velux website I discovered they had blackout blinds. I purchased and had them installed by Skylight Pros.
They are solar powered and allow you to control the amount of shade you want. I have plants in the hallway so the shades are open unless it’s a really hot day.
With the blackout blinds closed I no longer feel any heat from the skylight. As a side benefit I close the blackout blinds at night during the winter so the cold doesn’t get in.
Skylight Pros did a great job with the install. Blinds look great and are working perfectly. Going forward it looks like I’ll be replacing my windows and patio doors with Low-E 3 argon gas filled units and pairing them with blackout blinds or sunshields to live comfortably without using the heater or AC.
My other posts about what I’ve done to avoid using the AC:
Skylight Pros
4848 Ronson Court, Unit E
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 268-9940
It’s nice the skylight cover is remote controlled. I look forward to both sets of patio doors being replaced with the Low-E3 beauties. As the new kitchen and bedroom models perform nicely.
The Low-E 3 technology is very impressive. Too bad they didn’t have it when they built the townhouse. The single pane windows they used were terrible.
Very nice! It’s like being at the Wynn in Vegas with the remote-controlled curtains and blinds lol.
I’ve never stayed at the Wynn. Sounds fancy!