Sunday, December 14, 2008

Light Up Your House With Polycarbonate Skylights, Naturally!

By Ned Dagostino

Sunshine denotes natural cheerfulness and wellbeing. It has a positive effect on our lives. Skylights are able to introduce the sunlight into our very houses. They are not too popular mainly because they can be easily damaged by poorly hit golf balls and baseballs. Storms and hailstones have claimed a fair share of skylights. That's because glass is used for skylight glazing. Change over to polycarbonate skylights for a risk-free experience of natural sunlight streaming into your house.

Polycarbonate is a modern plastic material which is a replacement for glass in environments where toughness is essential. Examples of the varied applications of polycarbonate sheeting are bulletproof windows and the ubiquitous CDs that are used in computers as well as video and audio players. It is 200 times stronger than the toughest glass. At the same time it is six times lighter than glass. It is able to withstand temperatures a great deal higher than that of boiling water. It comes in various shades from complete transparency, through translucency, to complete opacity. Because of these qualities it is an ideal replacement for glass skylights.

In other respects polycarbonate is just like glass. It allows all types of light to pass through, according to its translucence. Skylight plc can be coated with special films to cut out harmful ultraviolet light as protection against skin cancers. In other words, plc is synonymous with unbreakable glass.

Polycarbonate skylights come standard, or with optional coatings to control the amount of light that passes into the house. The standard variety allows all the light to pass through just like standard glass skylights. The opal lens coating is about 10% less transmissive; the advantage is that the sunlight is diffused thus providing uniform lighting in the lighted area. You can opt for this coating in those rooms where you don't want the sunlight to enter directly.

At the other end of the translucency scale lies bronze filter coating which holds back most of the light. This is suitable for areas which are better off with low to moderate lighting, like lounges. Filter coatings are specified according to the percentage of light they pass. Filter coatings suitable for use with plc are available in a wide range of transmissivity ratings going all the way from 40% to 90%. By using a filter coating on the plc skylight, you can control the amount of light that passes through.

Natural sunlight is beneficial to health, so say the medical experts. People who experience extreme mood swings will benefit from the exposure to sunlight. Dreary winter days give one the blues, and I'm no exception. Psychologists say that sunlight can banish those blues right away. Now there's one more reason to install skylights.

You wouldn't want to install the polycarbonate skylights yourself. Get a professional contractor to do the job for you. This applies to all variety of skylights, not just the polycarbonate ones! The professional knows just how to fit and seal the skylights. Any looseness in the fit or the sealing leads to extra cooling in summer and extra heating in winter. That negates the whole purpose of installing polycarbonate skylights.

An incompetent contractor will not do a proper job and this will lead to extra maintenance charges. So make sure to find a good, reputable contractor to do the installation properly. Install the skylights and bask in the benefits of natural sunlight flowing into your house! Enjoy!

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1 comment:

Tuflite Polymers said...

You can also opt for multi wall polycarbonate sheets as they provide advanced heat reflection and light transmitting performance.
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