A potential customer called me from downtown Toronto last week and said “I would like to book an appointment to have someone come by my home and provide me with a free estimate on replacing my 2 ft x 2 ft skylight”. When I asked her what problem she was having with the skylight she replied that there wasn’t any problem except that the existing skylight was not “Energy Star” approved and she felt that she was contributing to global warming by having an energy inefficient skylight on her home. A noble gesture indeed. She went on to tell me that she had already had 4 estimates done but felt that the price of each quote was high and she was hoping that my price would be more acceptable. I informed her that my company will not come to her home and provide an estimate for free but would be happy to give her a ball park quote if she would answer a few questions and provide her address to me. She inquired as to why I would not come to her home and provide her with a free estimate when 4 of my competitors had already done so. I explained to her that we were an environmentally conscious business and felt that by driving downtown to provide her with a free quotation on her skylight replacement we would be unnecessarily hurting the environment by polluting the air with my truck’s emissions and clogging up the road ways of an already congested city. Not to mention the roughly two hours it takes to get anywhere in Toronto these days with the state of road construction and the “war against the car” mentality that exists in this city. I explained to her that with the help of Google Earth/ Google street , digital photos combined with our experience and familiarity with the architecture in her neighborhood I would be able to provide her with a very accurate description of work and the associated costs without ever coming to see the job. I tried to tell her that anyone with enough experience to do the job correctly could easily do the same. She said that I did not respect her as a serious customer and hung up on me.

This customer is a shining example of people who have a twisted idea of what helping the environment is all about. By having 4 or 5 trucks come to her home to provide her with an estimate to replace what she feels is an energy inefficient skylight , she has already done more damage to the environment than the new energy efficient 2 ft x 2 ft skylight will undo over its 25 year life span. If she has an unrealistic idea of cost associated with the project she is likely to have even more quotes done. If this customer was thinking that the skylight replacement job should cost $500 when in reality the price to carry out such a job is $2000, no visit to her home will close that gap. So by driving there , polluting the air by consuming fuel and clogging the roadways , to deliver this message, a terrible injustice to the planet has been committed in the name of the “free estimate”. With today’s technology it is no longer necessary to violate the environment in such a way. With the use of digital photography and internet tools, any experienced contractor can easily provide customers with pretty accurate quotes without ever physically visiting the site. Photos of similar work, references, product websites, proof of insurances and experience can also be done electronically. This process can narrow the field by obtaining as many quotes as you wish from different contractors with minimal environment impact. Once the choices have been narrowed down to a couple of contractors then the site visits can be arranged. The big difference is that instead of 4-5 trucks visiting a site to give a quote, it has been reduced to 1-2 trucks visiting the potential job site by giving the customer a realistic idea of what the job will cost and why it will cost that amount. Only then does the environmental advantage of the energy efficient skylight become applicable. It is a common sense approach to protecting the environment using the technology that is available to everyone today.

On a similar note, the average life span of a good quality skylight is 20-25 years. We have been replacing skylights made by a certain manufacturer for the last few years. One of the selling features of this manufacture’s skylights is that they are “Energy Star ” approved. People buy them based on an advertising campaign that state they are “energy star” approved and leak proof. Both of which are true. There is however a problem with these skylights that is not advertised. They have a problem with condensation during the Canadian winter months. Most people do not care whether the interior of their home is being damaged by condensation water or leakage water, it is just being damaged and they want it to stop. In the case of this particular skylight the only permanent solution is replacement. So what we end up with is a situation where a certain amount of energy and materials have been consumed to make a product that is advertised as energy efficient but has a flaw that can only be corrected by replacing it with another product that does not have those issues. In most cases the original skylight is removed and sent to the landfill. We dissemble the skylights and recycle some of the materials but the major portion of them ends up the landfill site after only a few short years of use. When these skylights are not replaced there is usually ongoing repairs required to correct the interior damage caused by this condensation issue. Again we start with the 4-5 estimates to repair this damage and the environmentally disastrous cycle continues. In this case the environmental advantage of the Energy Star rating is not only ineffective, in a way it sanctions a large environmental footprint. It is my opinion that a closer look at at the entire performance of the product should be taken before declaring a product environmentally friendly. It’s a though we have created energy star approved landfill.

People shoudn’t be fooled by the “feel good” politics of a brand or a stamp. Take a closer look and ask some questions. Educate yourselves on what you are buying and weigh the environmental impact of those purchases. We live in the information age after all. Current information on just about everything is readily available.

“There are no passengers on spaceship Earth, we are all crew”
Marshall Mcluen, 1968

It is our duty to preserve the environment so that future generations can enjoy the same benefits of this beautiful planet as we have. A little common sense, education and research is all that is needed to steer us in the right direction.

Thanks for visiting our site.

Ron

It was a cold February morning, one of the coldest days of the year. I dropped my daughter off to school and decided to take the day off for some spiritual healing. We had been working hard as the weather had been kind, allowing us to catch up on our winter work schedule. Then the phone rang and, as always’ I answered it. It was one of my customers in Forest Hill. “Ron , my skylights are leaking. Please come a see whats wrong“. Without hesitation I drove to my shop, warmed up a truck , put on a ladder and drove to Forest Hill. Once inside his home it took one look to figure out the issue. It was condensation dripping from the corners of the skylights we had installed, at his request, during the summer months. He asked that I go up to the roof “just to make sure”. So to keep him satisfied I went to the roof…in the freezing cold…all at no charge. I informed him of the nature of the problem and gave him the tel. number to the manufacturers service line. He was told by the manufacturer that the problem was not an issue with the skylights but rather a result of the level of humidity in his home and if he reduced it the problem would go away. Once he reduced the humidity the condensation subsided. To his surprise the water stain from the condensation problem was still there on his new cedar trim. How could this be he thought, they said the problem would go away and now I have to fix my beautiful cedar trim. Frustrated, he went to bed. He faded off to sleep still perturbed by the days events. During the night he was awakened by the sound of his child coughing and his throat felt dry as well. His first thought was to crank up the humidity in the house. Then he realized that doing so on such a cold night would cause his skylights to start dripping again!! ” Oh if only I had listened to Ron when he advised against installing this brand of skylight.” he thought. “Why did I not heed his warnings that this might happen . I did my homework and all roads pointed to this brand of skylight. Now I must endure more interior damage to my property or explain to my little girl, and her mom, why I cannot turn up the humidity.”

Meanwhile in Rexdale a family of six are sleeping soundly in a well humidified home as the moon drifts slowly across the pair of Fakro skylights over the central staircase. In this home there is no condensation dripping from the skylights, no dry throats interfering with a good nights sleep. Just a stairwell filled with moonlight on one of the coldest nights of the year.

Which house would you rather to be in?

Condensation has been an on going issue with a certian brands of skylights for decades . Because of the lack of credible competition in the market some companies have sold thousands of these skylights in the GTA over the last few decades .There has been an acceptance created in the market place that interior damage resulting from condensation is a normal trait for skylights. Well it’s NOT. Of the many brands of skylights that we have installed in the last 20 years only one of those brands have a condensation issue under normal conditions. Some skylights have an added bonus. A continuous fastening bracket, made from metal , attached directly to the base of the skylight frame. Now we all know how great of an insulator metal is don’t we. People use it to insulate such things as………ah………….ah………wait a second, metal is a conductor not an insulator. Why would anyone introduce a thermal conductor at the base of a skylight that is already having an issue with condensation or even on one that isn’t for that matter. Please do your home work before you end up purcahsing this type of skylight and ask about specific warranty issues regarding condensation. Unnecessary repairs to paint and plaster damage each spring are a nusiance and are costly.

My company will not be installing these products again until we have seen a noticeable change in the quality. We believe there will be either a lot of dry throats or a lot of dripping skylights during the cold Canadian winters ahead as thousands of these skylights are being installed this year. Fortunately I will not be one of the people who will be needlessly driving around town, polluting the environment and contributing to road congestion just to identify a condensation problem with a skylight that should not be there. I wish all my competitors who are using these products well and truly feel sorry for those have chosen them . My customers will enjoy winters without any skylight concerns whatsoever and I am looking forward to a day or two of spiritual healing.

I have been in the skylight business for 20 years now and it still puzzles me how plastic dome style skylights ever became introduced into the market place. When my company installs a skylight in a commercial or residential property the minimum requirement is tempered glass over tempered glass. This make a lot of sense since falling objects (ice , hail, tree branches etc.) could enter the home and cause property damage or in a worst case scenario injure the occupants.

With tempered and laminated glass there is protection against this happening. With an acrylic (plastic) dome style skylight there is very little protection against this type of damage. We have seen numerous situations where an acrylic dome style skylight was installed on a first story roof below the eave of a second or even third story roof. There have been instances where huge pieces if ice have fallen from the eave above such skylights and entered the living space below. There exists a possibility of extensive property damage, personal injury or even death as long as plastic dome skylights are still used in such situations.

Plastic dome style skylights are also about 58% less thermally efficient than glass skylights. Unlike glass they fade quickly and there is usually seal failure withinin 5 years. Let’s face it, no one would install plastic windows in their home regardless of the discount. So why then is it acceptable to install plastic skylights when they are exposed to all the rain, snow and UV rays more so than any window ever is?
Please check your home and make sure that your family is not exposed to this unnecessary risk.