No matter
how long you have lived in your home, there never seems to be quite enough
space. There comes a time in every homeowner's existence that calls for an
upgrade, regardless of the size of the home you started off with. Once children
become a major part of family life, it becomes more and more important for
families to have ample space to accommodate them, as well as their burgeoning
physical and intellectual development. This could call for a new games or study
room, more bedrooms or a conservatory that leads to the garden for them to play
in.
Also, if
you’re a part-time freelancer in a creative industry, you may need some added
space for a studio or office as your freelance work begins to take place of a
9-5 job. You might just need more storage space or want to improve the space
that you do have with a view to sell at a higher price in the near future.
Whatever your reasons are, extensions are always a great choice when looking
for more space and, depending on which rooms you have extended or added, they
can add a significant amount of value to your home.
Selling up
and buying a new property is another way to go, but involves many more hurdles.
First of all, you’ll need to sell your own property, which can be a lot harder
than it first sounds. Secondly, you’ll also need to take out another mortgage
to pay for it all, find new schools for the children if you move to a new area
and deal with the logistics and cost of physically moving.
Building an
extension has a large number of positives over the headache of upping sticks
and moving out entirely. Crucially, it reduces your involvement in the housing
market and provides you with the flexibility to tailor the space to your own
personal desires.
So, you’ve
decided that you want to go ahead with an extension, but what should you
include as part of this home improvement? At WR Leivers, we have four decades
worth of roofing experience and should be your go-to roofing company in
Nottingham or Derby. We can advise you on the roofing elements of your
extension. Here, we suggest why you should invest in a skylight.
The Benefits of Velux Windows and Other
Skylights
Vitamin D
deficiency is the most common of the nutritional deficiencies across the globe.
In the UK, in particular, this deficiency is significantly widespread with
around one-quarter of the population deficient. This staggering statistic is
increased to one third during the winter months because of a lack of sunlight.
A well-placed skylight in your home can help to combat this deficiency.
As skylights
allow for more natural sunlight to enter the home, they help you get more
Vitamin D throughout the day. Increased levels of Vitamin D have been linked with
combatting depression, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and keeping
your weight down amongst a number of other things.
This
increased flow of natural light also has financial benefits as well as health
benefits. With the natural light that skylights let in, they also bring more
solar heat into the house. This means that your home will have less reliance on
artificial light during the day as well as your central heating. By installing
a skylight on a sloped roof, facing either the north or the south, you’ll be
able to bring in more warmth to your home during winter and reduce heat during
the summer. Maximising light, as well as heat, intake to your home means that
your reliance on energy is reduced dramatically and will save you a significant
amount. In a similar vein, skylights will improve the overall ventilation of
your home. Again, this will reduce your reliance on fans or air conditioners
which guzzle energy.
This
combination of benefits has turned skylights from a purely cosmetic addition,
into a green initiative. By using less energy as a homeowner, you’ll also be
reducing your carbon footprint and subsequently doing your bit to reduce air
pollution and climate change. So, not only can a skylight help your body, your
mind and your wallet, they can help the world if we all start using them
instead of importing energy from power plants.
With
properties now popping up increasingly close to one another, one impact of this
congestion in urban areas is a lack of privacy. Not that anyone would be trying
to snoop on you, but it can be uncomfortable to think that your living room,
bedroom or bathroom is potentially open to a number of other residents in the
area. A skylight allows you to keep the natural flow of light into these rooms,
whilst allowing you to keep the blinds of the other windows and doors closed
more of the time.
The biggest
name in skylights is, by far, Velux. As market leaders, they have a gargantuan
range of products which will be able to fit on almost any roof. As leaders in the
industry, Velux are also on the cutting edge of skylight innovation. Many of
their products can be automated and controlled by remote. This means that if a
window is installed in a difficult to reach location on the roof, you can still
have full control over its operation. Automated windows can judge whether it’s
raining and the temperature indoors and then open or close according to those
detections. To find out Velux window prices, contact us at WR Leivers and we’ll
be able to advise you on the best product for your roof.
How Skylights Work Together In The Overall Roof
Design
Whether
you’re planning to install your skylight on a flat roof or a sloped roof, they
can dramatically improve the aesthetic quality of your property in addition to
the more practical benefits previously discussed. A good quality and impressive
skylight is one of the very best additions that you could make to your home and
adds a real distinctive quality for prospective buyers when they come to view
the house. They can even add value to the price of your house!
In terms of
design, there are plenty of different options that achieve varying effects on
interior design. One option would be to string together a network of Velux
skylights across the home to improve the quality of light and ventilation in
every area of the house. If you have a large property and you’re interested in
creating something truly spectacular, you could install a large glass dome on
to the roof of a high ceiling, perhaps in the main entrance space.
As the kitchen
is arguably the most important room in the house and a key area that potential
buyers look at when thinking of buying a house, a skylight should be considered
for the roof design above this area of the house. This can substantially
improve the overall interior design of the room as it will let in more light
and accentuate the benefits of utilising glass elsewhere in the design of the
room.
If you’ve
got a big project in mind, discuss your requirements with a professional
architect and roofers to find out what kind of skylight would work best in your
home.
Work With WR Leivers On Your Next Extension
At WR
Leivers, we can work with you on any job no matter the size. Whether you need
simple maintenance and repair,
or a full scale rehaul of your roof, we can provide you with the services you
require.
Being in the
industry for 40 years has given us superior knowledge and experience of all
areas of roofing. If you’re based in Nottingham, Derby or the surrounding areas
then we can provide you with a high-quality and professional service. We have a
long list of happy customers and will always put you at the centre of
everything that we do; making sure that the project is completed on time and to
planning and building regulations.
To find out
more, contact
us
today and we’d be glad to help.
