Window film for skylights and highlight windows
The skylight over the kitchen bench and the strip of high windows above the dining table let the sun straight down onto the places you work and eat. Film on the room side of that glass takes the heat and glare off them, and the room keeps its daylight.
Where overhead glass puts the heat
The Australian Government's Your Home guide says roof glazing receives almost twice as much heat as an unprotected west-facing window of the same size. On a North Shore house that glass usually came in with the kitchen renovation at the back, and it sits right above the bench.
A skylight over the kitchen bench
A patch of hot, bright light moves across the benchtop through the middle of the day. It is hard on whoever is cooking, and the glare off a stone bench can be worse than the heat.
Roof glazing over the dining table
A glass roof or a run of roof panes in a pavilion turns lunch at the table into a sit in the sun. Film on the room side lets you use the table on a hot afternoon.
Highlight windows under the ceiling
The high fixed panes along the top of a wall bring light into a deep room, and late sun through them lands in your eyes or on the screen. They are also the glass nobody can reach to pull a blind.
A stronger film overhead than at the doors
The stacker doors and the skylight are often in the same room, but they are different jobs. You look through the doors at the garden all day, so the film there is chosen to keep the view clear. Nobody looks through a skylight in the same way, so the film overhead can do more about the heat and glare, even if it makes the glass look a little deeper.
That is why one film across the whole back of the house rarely suits. On the schedule each pane gets its own choice, and the overhead glass is usually where the heavier film goes. The films are 3M, and we choose between them on the measure.
Stacker doors: chosen for the view
- You look through them at the garden
- Clear or lightly tinted film
- The doors look much the same from outside
Skylight: chosen for the heat and glare
- Nobody looks out through it
- A film with more heat control, or a light tint
- The kitchen still gets its daylight from above
Overhead glass we check on the measure
Not everything in the roof is glass. Your Home notes that skylights can be glass, acrylic or polycarbonate, and window film is made for glass. We write down what each overhead pane is made of before a film is suggested for it.
The film also has to suit the glass. That matters more overhead, where the pane takes the sun full on, and roof glass is often laminated or double glazed. If a pane should be left alone, we say so on the schedule.
| Fixed skylight | Glass in a fixed frame. Usually a good candidate: we note whether it is single, double glazed or laminated. |
|---|---|
| Roof window | An opening skylight, and most are sealed double glazing. We check the film suits the unit and that the window still opens and closes freely. |
| Pavilion roof | Several large panes in a frame. Each gets its own line, because the panes in the sun all day may want more than the ones in shade. |
| Highlight windows | Fixed panes high on the wall. Often filmed with the same film as the skylight, or lighter if they face away from the afternoon sun. |
| Tubular skylight | Many have a plastic dome and a diffuser at the ceiling rather than a glass pane. We look at it and tell you if film is the wrong answer. |
| Built-in blind | A blind or winder fitted in the frame. The film goes on the glass and the blind stays. We note it so the install works around it. |
Why access changes the quote
Film on a skylight is fitted from inside the room, on the room side of the glass, so what matters is how we reach it. A skylight a stepladder reaches over the kitchen floor is a quick setup. The same skylight above a stairwell or a double-height void needs a platform and more setting up, whatever its size.
So the quote is written pane by pane, and each overhead line says how the glass is reached as well as the film and the size. You see the difference between the easy panes and the hard ones before you agree to anything, not on the day. We do not quote a skylight we have not measured and stood under.
| Floor to glass | The height we measure first. It decides the ladder, or whether a ladder is enough. |
|---|---|
| What is under it | A bench, a table, a stair or an open void. A void usually means a platform. |
| Depth of the shaft | A deep shaft puts the glass further from where anyone can stand. |
| What moves or gets covered | Pendant lights, the dining table, a rangehood, the benchtop itself. |
| How the glass sits | Flat, pitched or opening. A pitched pane is filmed at an angle and takes longer to fit. |
A kitchen and dining room on the schedule
This is how an overhead job reads once it is measured: every pane on its own line with its reason, and the access written under the panes that need it. The glass doors in the same room sit on the same schedule, with a different film.
A single skylight is worth a measure on its own. The garden side of the drawing has a skylight to mark.
Example schedule
- W1Kitchen, skylight over the bench: Heat, Glare
Stepladder from the kitchen floor.
- W2Dining, roof glazing, pane 1: Heat
Over the stair void: platform needed, shown on the quote.
- W3Dining, roof glazing, pane 2: Heat
Over the stair void, as W2.
- W4Kitchen, highlight windows 1 to 3: Glare
- W5Dining, stacker doors: Fade
- W6Hall, tubular skylight
Plastic dome: we look at this on the measure.
Overhead glass done badly
The skylight left off
The doors get filmed and the bench is still the hottest spot in the house, because the glass above it was never on the list.
Door film on the roof
A film picked for a garden view goes overhead, where a heavier one would have done more.
The void found on the day
Nobody measured how high the glass was, so the job changes once the ladder comes out. We measure the reach first.
Film on plastic
A dome or roof sheet that is acrylic or polycarbonate gets film made for glass. We check what the pane is before choosing.
Questions about skylights and highlight windows
Does anyone need to go on the roof?
Not for the film. It goes on the room side of the glass, so the work is done from inside the house. Access means a ladder or a platform in the room, which is why we measure the height.
Will the kitchen feel darker?
A little less bright under the skylight, which is usually the point: the glare off the bench goes first. The room still gets its daylight from above, and we go through how each film looks before you choose.
Our skylight is over a two-storey void. Can you reach it?
Often, with a platform set up inside. We look at it on the measure and write the access on the quote. If a pane cannot be reached safely from inside, we tell you rather than guess.
Is a tubular skylight worth filming?
Often not. Many have a plastic dome and let in a small, diffused patch of light. We look at yours and tell you if film is the wrong fix.
The house is in a Ku-ring-gai conservation area. Does that matter for a skylight?
Film on a skylight at the back does not change the street front, but council decides what needs its approval, not us. If your place is a listed heritage item or sits in a heritage conservation area, check with council before any change you are unsure of.
Renovated kitchens we measure
More glass at the back: sliding doors and pavilions and glare in the home study.
Reference
- Your Home: Skylights, the Australian Government's guide to comfortable homes. Covers how skylights and roof windows gain heat in summer, what they are made of, and why roof glazing takes more heat than a west window.