Luckily, my most common complaints are that tubular skylights are either too bright for a room, or that the light is too "white." Thankfully, neither one of these problems are that serious and have some fairly simple remedies - or we can go all high tech and introduce some full-on electified natural light controls into your system.

 

 

So, first, and most commonly, I hear customers say something like this "I love all of the light that my new skylight lets in, but the light seems very 'white' or 'cold.' How can we make it look more like light from a light bulb."

 

The human eye has been conditioned to associate certain light temperatures and colors with different environments. The majority of American households use one form or another of incandescent light, which has relatively high light temperatures that offer a yellow or amber hue. Daylight when you are outdoors has a low light temperature, but it is also tempered by the colors that abound, rich green grass, deep brown tree trunks, even black paved roads alter our perception of daylight. So usually when I get this call, the solatube is in a room that more or less lacks color, a white kitchen or bathroom or a white-walled hallway. The solution is fairly simple. I can buy theater gels and cut them to the size of the inside of the diffuser and place them inside. This film gives the Solatube a temperature of light that is more like an incandescent light.

 

The second call I get alot is "my skylight is too bright." This to has a fairly simple solution. I can install a 'secondary diffuser' under the collection dome on the roof which acts as a dimmer, reducing the intensity of light by about 15% and virtually eliminating mid-day glare that is sometimes experienced in mid-summer.