I love sky lighting in a log home. Some owners do not want to spend the money on them. While not cheap, they add a whole new dimension to your home. Have you ever complained about an electric bill? Are some of your rooms darker than you would like them to be? Then let me explain why I changed my attitude about sky lighting in handcrafted log homes a few years ago.
The Why of Skylights In a Log Home
Log homes are built of solid logs. We all know that, right? The logs serve as the finished interior and exterior of the home. No one, unless they don’t know anything about log homes, installs drywall over the logs or paints the logs. Logs are supposed to stay natural looking. Paint can actually ruin logs because paint does not allow the logs to ‘breathe’. So the first factor to remember in your handcrafted log home is logs are brown and will not naturally reflect the light like a white wall will. A sky light allows more sunlight to spill into a room. Also the orientation of the light is important. Windows allow rays to shine in from the side while sky lighting brings the rays in from directly overhead.
Where You Find Sky Lighting In a Log Cabin
I have sky lighting in both of my bathrooms, in the center of the hallway, and in the open loft. The hallway is an interesting space because there is no outside natural light. Bathrooms are an area where natural lighting is the best for putting on makeup. Also during day hours the bathroom bulbs do not even need to be turned on. Our loft does not have any dormers or gable windows. The skylight allows natural light to still illuminate this room. Also for the loft we installed a vented, or opening, skylight. Now on hot summer days we can reduce the amount of time we run the central air by opening the skylight. Because the open skylight allows much of the hot air to pass out of our cabin and not get trapped high in the cathedral ceilings.
Areas I Would Like To Add Skylights
Areas of my log cabin home where I would like to incorporate skylights are in my great room and master bedroom. I think I would love to lay in bed and watch the clouds roll by. A few times when I ‘camped’ in our loft with the kids I loved to lay there and see the constellations bright against the black velvet Montana sky.
Over all I think skylights save money, add charm, and over all enhance handcrafted log home.