Solar Tube
 

We recently moved into the villages and our home could use some natural light in the living room. I'm interested in finding out whether a solar tube would be a good idea.Any and all input would be appreciated.Thanks

Contact the Solar guys

I loved the solar tubes I put into my designer house. Worked wonders, often thought the lights were on but it was the light from the tubes. I agree, Solar Guys were great!


Good luck!

In my opinion, they seem to add a nice touch to small second bathrooms that don't have windows. In larger areas, they tend to be more annoying than useful - sort of like leaving a weak, unwanted light on in the ceiling that you can't turn off. That's why some offer optional shade shutters. Personally, I would stick to energy efficient LED lamps for larger, darker room areas.

I’ve put at least 3 solar tubes in all 6 homes I’ve owned in villages,1 in each bathroom and one someplace in main room ,I don’t know why anyone needs a shade on them they just give off natural light. I guarantee that the day you put them in , you’ll say wow what a difference.

Solar Guys!

Solar guys

I don't like solar tubes.

LED daylight bulbs provide excellent light.

We put two of the big ones in the living/dining room and are very satisfied.

Why would I want to turn a light on in the daytime , when I can have natural light all day .

Light from solar tubes will vary with the amount of light outside. May look ok some days, and not so pleasant on on other days. Before deciding, you need to see how these look in a similar house under different conditions. They don't give you the same look as skylights.

Tell us which home model you have and which direction the rear of the home faces.

Certain homes benefit more from light tubes more than others.

Skylight Roofing can do some beautiful work with Both Skylight Tubes and Solar Vents.
352-552-4766


https://skylightroofing.com/the-villages/

We have 4 of them. They are excellent. Took a while before we would stop trying to turn off the light we thought was on. We have one in kitchen, and master bedroom closet, plus one in each bathroom.

We love having solar tubes in the house. One of the first things we did when we bought our house. Let’s a lot of natural lighting in the house and brightened it up.

Solar Tubes are the best...brings sunlight into rooms that feel dim. We love the ones we have in our bathrooms, kitchen, and living room. Rarely have to use elec lights in the interior bathrooms during sunny days. Solar Guys are who we used and installation was perfect...no trouble since and that was 7 years ago.

We had Solar Guys put in 3, one in the master bath & closet & one in guest bathroom. Very efficient company, love the solar tubes, makes a huge difference.

All I can say about solar tubes is be careful of placement our house has one it was in the house when we purchased it but it’s over the island in the kitchen. For us it doesn’t do any good and wish it wasn’t there. I could see it in a spare bath without a window. Or maybe in the living room.

We had 3 put in by Solar Guys. We love them and they solved the problem.

It made a huge difference in our house. As others have said, contact Solar Guys. They are the best.

Solar guys
 

We have a begonia and I can’t imagine not having one between living and dining area, one in kitchen, and one in laundry area. We also had the one in kitchen and laundry area have a night light in them. Perfect for coming home after dark plus that way get partial tax right off.

I have one of the new flat outside solar tubes from the Solar Guys. I love it. My laundry room is now bright during the day instead of a dark walk thru to the garage. Wish I'd done it years ago. I love the look of it from the outside too, flat, no bubble on a stick look. I got a night light too and it's wonderful. Call the Solar Guys when they have a promotion. You'll love it.

Agree-solar tubes. I wouldn’t move into my house till they were installed. The Best!

Interesting that almost everyone who has a solar tube reports that they are great. I have seen them in other people's houses, and I don't like them. I don't want a light in my house that I cannot turn off. I have driven by houses that have as many as 12 solar tubes. They especially don't make sense to me in a small bathroom. If it is about saving electricity, LED bulbs cost almost nothing to operate. Sometimes, I leave my living room lamps on all day.

Some peeps jus can't admit a mistake.

:22yikes:

If you watch TV in the living room, I suggest that you consider how a solar tube for that room will affect your TV experience during daylight hours — solar tube or not, small versus big tube, tube placement in the living room away from the TV.

Nothing beats natural light from Solar Tubes. Don’t forget the Federal tax credit with the solar night light.

We have one in our kitchen and it is great. Considered a second one in our living room/dining area but when we heard they had to cut into the roof to put it in decided we did not want to mess with a 10 year old roof. Will consider when the roof decides it needs to go

Ask for Jason at the Solar Guys. He sent out Larry. Very experienced and knowledgable.

We have had as many as six solar tubes in previous homes (just one here in The Villages). They are fantastic and worth every penny.

Although Ian missed us, a friend of mine had the top of her solar tube ripped off resulting in some water damage to her home. I would like to think this is unusual. But, I wonder how these tubes might stand up if a real hurricane made a real hit on our area!

Just a consideration to keep in mind. I personally like these.

We have 4 and they are great.
We took advice from the installer and he recommended both bathrooms, the laundry area and the kitchen. When we said we thought there should be one in the dining/lounge he advised against this. The reason was the unwanted glare on a TV. We have enjoyed the extra natural light. Well worth the investment in our opinion.

Yes great investment. We had 5 installed and very happy. Plus 2 solar attic fans

They were already installed in all 3 of the preowned homes we have lived in. We found them to be beneficial in lighting smaller dark areas such as bathrooms, dressing area, hallways, laundry room. I agree that one in a large open area, such as a living room or kitchen is not too effective. There was a medium size one installed in our kitchen which, as a previous poster suggested, seemed to serve only as a dull lightbulb. When we reroofed, we replaced it with the largest available and added a second large Solatube. The result was a nice bright kitchen.

A suggestion, consider spending a day or so touring open preowned homes of the models similar to yours to see how tubes may have been placed and how effective the lighting may be. Learn from other people's mistakes and use the best of the ideas.

We have seen them installed in closets, but I don't know if the extra light would have a long-term fading effect on tops of the hanging clothes.

We have owned a home in The Villages for over 25 years and never had a leakage problem with the tubes. We have replaced several of the domes because they yellowed after 10 or 15 years.

Solar tubes great addition
 

I hated my dark living room. I had 2 solar tubes installed by The Solar Guys. I chose the faceted top that throws rainbow arcs sometimes. I love them. Best of all the improvements I had done.

We have a Begonia model and have installed 4 solar tubes. Love them. We used the Solar Guys. Two of ours have night lights also

Yes and no
 

We put one in a dark room and like it BUT with clouds it's bright it's dark it's ....
get one with a night light to get the tax write off but it's minor

Exactly! We have a Lantana that faces south and have solar tubes in the two bathrooms and the kitchen. The kitchen one provides ample background light for the entire living area. For our model, we think having one in the living area would be too much direct light. We used Solar Guys and received a tax credit for installing ones with a night light in the bathrooms.

What are the avg costs to install the solar tubes?

that seems way out of ordinary , in 2007 I went through the tornado that came through villages , it tore much of my roof off , solar tube w as intact, when the roofers came to install new roof they just lifted up the tube a little and put shingles on and sealed around the tube , friends bought that home there still in it with no problem and I think I installed those tubes in 2005, I also have a cousin living in a home in south Florida that I owned , I think they’re were put in there around the year 2000 , there still working through a bunch of hurricanes , this is my last post on this unless the solar guys pay me lol , FYI Some people are under the impression that you get these kind of large bright search light glare , I rarely watch any daytime TV except foot ball and I’ve never seem to have a problem , I think someone told me something about tv equipped with a non glare , whatever , but my last house was on a golf course with the sun coming down and with the solar tubes , and while watching football I liked to keep sliders open no problem