Best place for Solatube in an Iris?
 

We have an Iris; the front door faces directly south & lanai faces directly north. Kitchen & liv room get minimal natural light as they are sandwiched between garage & lanai.

See attached floorplan. We have 5 eyeball lights in the kitchen and 3 over the island.

Where do you think is best placement for a solatube? We want more light primarily in the kitchen. Thanks.

Attachment 108002

If you're not getting any light in the garage then put a solar tube in there. Chances are later you might have a work bench in there or a freezer. DO NOT put in any in the bedrooms, they will disturb nap time which many our age take. The bathroom or the kitchen is always a good idea.

Less expensive to install LED lights/spots where needed that you can control.


Plus no roof penetration to worry about.

I could not open your attachment, but we have a Gardenia also a North south with the lanai facing south. I installed under counter and over counter LED lighting. This provides enough light to easily use the kitchen even at night. We only use the can lights very rarely as the LED provide lots of indirect lighting.

We also have an Iris but ours faces East/West with the lanai on the West side. The only rooms I ever considered putting them in were the bathroom by the two bedrooms and maybe the laundry room to provide some light in the middle of the night or walking in the house late. Not sure how much real lite the solar light will produce if you are thinking task light...

Yep, at least get a price on installing additional lighting as we just did and it’s really not that much plus zero penetrations in the roof which is the last thing you need when the storm hits in the middle of the night and you have a wet floor that might not be covered under warranty.

We own an earlier version of your floor plan. We put a solar tube directly over the sink in the kitchen. We selected the larger size here. We still use the 3 lights over the island, but the solar tube adds a lot when using the sink.

We also put a solar tube in the guest bathroom. I highly recommend this location. Now we don't even need to turn on the light there during the day.

If they offer you a good price for installing three, another spot could be in the master closet.

As for roof penetration - they are well installed. We never had any problems with leakage.

Yes, but when the roof is replaced (common here) hopefully the new roofer reseals them correctly. The more penetrations during a hurricane the more possibilities.

Solatubes - Iris
 

I have an Iris and I went wild with Solatubes. I have one in my greatroom; one in the kitchen (in the area between my sink and refrigerator); one in my dark walk-in closet; one in my laundry room; one in my guest bathroom and one in my garage! I had them installed years ago and there was a rebate back then. I also had them install a remote control to close the greatroom Solatube if it gets too bright. Great investment and I have no regrets (Well, I wouldn’t have done the garage because it was so nice having light in the garage that I had windows put in my garage door!)

I love SolaTubes and had four in my first home in The Villages. However, each one costs around, what, $800 installed? After I had two installed in my huge dark living room, I could read in there in the daytime without having to turn on a light. However, would I have one installed in my garage? No. I seldom have a light on in the garage, and the amount of electricity from lighting that I use there costs only a few cents per month, so a SolaTube isn’t cost effective. However, I did have bright LED 18”x48” fixtures surface mounted on the garage ceiling and hardwired. Four of them installed cost about the same as one SolaTube. The lighting is great over my work bench as well as elsewhere, and they work at night as well as in the daytime.

We have an Iris with 5 solar tubes. 3 in the main room, 1 over the kitchen, I near the dining room and 1 near the entrance to the lanai. The one in the kitchen has a night light that gives off just enough light at night to move around. Also 1 in the guest bathroom and 1 in the MB water closet. They both also have the night light feature so you don’t have to turn on a light if you have use the bathroom in the middle of the night. All give off great lighting during the day with no electricity cost. Very pleased with our locations.

The front of our house faces west and the lanai faces east.

We have an IRIS. We put a solar tube with night light about between the ceiling fan in living room and the pendant lights over the island. Works well to brighten the area.

12 years ago I added solar tubes to my guest bath and laundry room, because in my model there are no windows in these rooms.
I also centered a large one in my kitchen. Solar Guys did the installation. Never a problem. They’ve been around a long time and stand behind their work.
I agree that the center of an iris can be dark. I would definitely add light to the kitchen and dining room.

We have 3 solar tubes in our Iris. A smaller one in the guest bath (as it has no window) which has a night light. Then two larger ones, both with dimmers - one is mounted in the LR/DR area and the other in the kitchen area near the pendant lights above the island. These larger two flood the main living area with light. This combination gives us no dark rooms or areas anywhere in the house.

Forgot to mention - our Iris is situated in the same way. Front faces south, back/lanai faces north.