What are the pros and cons of skylights?
Short answer. Skylights bring in daylight, can vent hot air, and make dark rooms feel larger, but they add summer heat gain, create another roof opening that can leak, and add cost every time the roof is replaced. In Georgia's heat, modest sizes, low-e glass, careful placement and proper flashing tip the balance toward the pros.
Pros
- Daylight: a skylight faces the open sky, so it typically brings in more light than a wall window of the same size.
- Ventilation: venting units let hot, humid air escape from kitchens, baths and upper floors.
- Privacy: light without windows facing the neighbors, useful in bathrooms and closely spaced subdivisions.
- Less daytime lighting: fewer lights on during the day.
- Appeal: rooms feel larger and brighter, which buyers notice.
Cons
- Heat gain: in Georgia summers, a large skylight facing south or west can noticeably warm a room and load the air conditioner.
- Leak risk: every skylight is a hole in the roof, and its flashing is one of the more common leak points.
- Condensation: humid indoor air can condense on the glass and drip.
- Glare and fading: direct sun can glare and fade floors and furniture unless the glass blocks UV.
- Lifecycle cost: skylights need reflashing at every reroof and often replacement every other one.
- Hail: older acrylic domes crack, while tempered or laminated glass holds up better.
How the types compare
- Fixed: the simplest and least likely to leak, with no ventilation.
- Venting: opens by hand or motor, often with a rain sensor, and has more parts that can fail.
- Tubular: a small dome and reflective tube that is inexpensive, adds little heat and needs a much smaller roof opening, but offers no view.
See replacing skylights with a new roof and attic heat and shingles.