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Indoor Air Quality

Replacing an old, bubble skylight

See how easy it is to replace an old, plastic skylight with a new VELUX No Leak Solar Powered Fresh Air Skylight.

With a toddler and a second child on the way, Jen and Derek bought their first house three years ago with an eye on creating a happy home for their growing family.

The mid-1980s, two-story home came with an old plastic bubble skylight in the master bathroom, but it had seen better days. The bubble skylight was heavily discolored and based on the amount of dried caulking on its frame, had been repaired in the past.

The light well was also streaked with mildew stains from trapped shower condensation. And the sky view was nonexistent because the plastic was discolored from years under the sun.

So when the old bubble skylight began leaking, Jen made a call to local skylight installer, Mike Townsend, owner of The Solar Shop in Charlotte, N.C. She considered repairing instead of replacing the old skylight until Townsend told her about the benefits of replacing her old bubble skylight with a new VELUX No Leak Solar Powered “Fresh Air” Skylight.

“The new VELUX skylight has much better performance that those old bubble skylights,” Townsend said. “The glass is insulated to prevent heat from passing through to the room, and you can add blinds for light control. Plus, you can open the skylight to bring in fresh air and allow moist air from the shower to escape.”

And replacing the old skylight was simple: The installer simply removed the old bubble skylight and placed the new VELUX skylight. Then, he installed all-weather underlayment and VELUX engineered step flashing, which assure the skylight will be weather-tight, and re-installed] the roofing material removed earlier in the process.

The whole job was done in a single morning.

Now Jen’s and Derek’s bathroom is filled with bright natural light and fresh air. Bath time for their two little ones has never been so much fun!

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