Skylight are known to brighten up dark rooms, even if it is a small unit it can make a great difference in the way that room looks and feels. There are many styles and brands to choose from. It is advised to try avoid the inexpensive units that have plastic glazing. Although these units cost less initially, they usually don’t last very long and many of them tend to leak. It is better to have a look at the higher quality curbed skylights that are energy efficient glazing and have a factory flashing kit made for them. The kit is not going to add a lot to the cost of the skylight but it will mean having a leak-free installation.
Many skylights can come as venting units, which are able to open or as fixed units that cannot be opened. A venting unit is great to have but it might be inconvenient to open and close if it is out of your reach. So unless you are installing the skylight in a place where it will be easily accessible, you should probably rather go for a fixed unit and save some money. This also applied to installing a skylight in a bathroom, where you will also have to ensure that there is enough ventilation in order to avoid condensation problems. A vent fan for a smaller sized bathroom should provide 1 cubic foot per minute of air circulation per square foot of floor area, or more or less eight air changes per hour.
Generally, skylights are available in sizes that will fit the standard 16 or 24-inch frame. Installing a large skylight will mean that the installer will need to cut one or more of your rafters in order to fit the unit. This installation process is pretty simple when the roof is conventionally framed, which means the rafters on the sides of the rough opening are doubled up and the headers are added at the top and the bottom of the opening. However, it is different when working with a truss roof. The trusses are carefully engineered to carry roof loads, and modifying them in the field is not always a good idea. If your home is built with trusses, you should ensure that the installer sticks with units that are made to fit in between roof members, or gangs many smaller skylights together in order to create a larger window.