A Homeowner’s Guide to Windows in the Roof

Often called skylights, windows installed directly in your roof are one of the most effective ways to channel beautiful, natural daylight deep into your home. They’re more than just a piece of glass; they’re an architectural feature with the power to completely transform a dark, forgotten room into a bright, inviting space that feels bigger and full of life.

Bringing Natural Light Into Your Home

Think about that dim hallway you rush through, or a living area that always feels a bit gloomy, even on a sunny day. A window in the roof can change all that. It’s a simple concept with a profound effect, acting as a direct gateway for sunlight that fundamentally alters the character and atmosphere of a space.

This isn’t just a minor tweak. It’s an upgrade that can boost your mood, create a sense of spaciousness, and even help you save on your power bills by cutting down the need for artificial lighting during the day.

Your Path to a Brighter Home

As a leading Australian supplier, Vivid Skylights is focused on one thing: delivering premium double glazed skylights that transform Australian homes. We see these transformations every day, and our goal is to make it straightforward for you to bring that light into your home with our high-performance range.

A well-placed window in the roof does more than just illuminate a room; it connects your indoor living space with the sky, creating a dynamic environment that changes with the weather and time of day.

Whether you need a simple, elegant solution for a dark corner or one that offers ventilation, we have the perfect fit.

• Fixed Skylights: Our double glazed fixed models are perfect for places like hallways or stairwells where your main goal is to flood the area with light.

• Operable Skylights: We offer both electric and solar powered operable skylights, which are ideal for kitchens and bathrooms. They let you bring in fresh air with just the touch of a button, helping to manage steam and odours.

Quality Delivered Australia-Wide

We believe every homeowner should have access to top-tier products. As a leading supplier, we deliver our complete range of double glazed fixed and operable skylights nationwide in Australia. No matter where you are, a Vivid Skylights solution for enhancing your living environment with beautiful, natural light is within reach.

The Real Benefits of Installing Skylights

It’s easy to think of a skylight as just another window, but that’s selling it short. Think of it more as a strategic upgrade for your entire home. Installing a window in your roof does more than just let in a bit of extra light; it fundamentally changes how a space feels, functions, and even impacts your wallet.

The first thing you’ll notice is the quality of the light. Vertical windows often cast harsh, directional light that creates deep shadows and glare. Skylights are different. They bathe a room in soft, diffused daylight from above, creating a beautifully balanced and comfortable atmosphere that electric lights just can’t match.

Making Your Home Feel Bigger

Natural light has this incredible trick of making rooms feel far more open and spacious than they actually are. A well-placed skylight naturally draws your gaze upwards, creating a sense of height and volume. This can completely transform a room that once felt a bit cramped or closed-in, turning it into an airy, inviting space.

This is a game-changer for smaller rooms, narrow hallways, or those tricky, central parts of the house that are miles from an exterior wall. What was once a dark, forgotten corner can suddenly become the perfect spot to read, work, or gather with friends, effectively giving you more usable living area without knocking down a single wall.

A Boost for Your Wellbeing (and Productivity)

We all know that a bit of sunshine makes us feel better, and the science backs it up. Getting enough natural light helps keep our internal body clocks, or circadian rhythms, in check. This can lead to better sleep, more energy during the day, and a real lift in your mood. It’s a simple way to combat that cooped-up feeling you get in dimly lit rooms.

If you work from home, a skylight can be a massive win. Flooding your workspace with natural light has been shown to improve focus and productivity. It’s an investment not just in your home, but in yourself.

At Vivid Skylights, we’re all about delivering these benefits. As a leading supplier, we specialise in high-quality double glazed skylights. We offer classic fixed models for pure, uninterrupted light, as well as operable skylights—both electric and solar powered—that let you bring in fresh air too. Best of all, we can deliver them nationwide across Australia.

Real, Measurable Energy Savings

With energy prices always on the rise here in Australia, the financial side of things really stacks up. When your home is filled with natural light, you simply don’t need to flick on the lights as often during the day. This can slash your daytime electricity use by up to 30-50%, which you’ll definitely notice on your power bill.

And it’s not just about savings. Homes with skylights have been shown to have a 7-10% increase in property value, making them a smart long-term investment. You can find more data on the growing Australian skylight market and its benefits if you want to dig deeper.

At the end of the day, a quality skylight from a trusted supplier like Vivid Skylights isn’t just a building product. It’s a genuine lifestyle upgrade that pays you back every day with a brighter, healthier, and more energy-efficient home.

How to Choose the Perfect Roof Window

Picking the right roof window shouldn’t feel like you’re trying to solve a complex puzzle. It really just comes down to matching a solution to your home and your lifestyle. At Vivid Skylights, we’ve made this simple. As a leading Australian supplier, we specialise in a focused range of premium double glazed fixed and operable skylights, and we deliver them right across the country.

The best place to start is by thinking about the room itself. Are you trying to brighten a dark hallway with pure, uninterrupted sunlight? Or do you need to let the steam out of a busy bathroom? Your answer is the key to finding the perfect fit.

Matching the Skylight to the Space

Every room in your house has a specific job, and the right skylight will help it do that job better. A skylight over a kitchen bench has a very different role to play than one in a living room.

Here’s a simple way to think about our core range:

• Fixed Skylights for Maximum Light: Our double glazed fixed models are your go-to when the main goal is simply to let in as much natural light as possible. They’re brilliant for hallways, stairwells, or living spaces that don’t need extra airflow.

• Operable Skylights for Light and Air: For rooms that deal with heat and humidity—like kitchens, laundries, and bathrooms—an operable skylight is the answer. These models tilt open, allowing warm, stale air to escape and creating a much healthier, more comfortable home.

This quick visual breaks down the core benefits a new skylight can bring to your home, from boosting your well-being to increasing your property’s value.

As you can see, adding a skylight is more than just an aesthetic upgrade. It’s an investment that genuinely enhances your daily life, makes your space feel bigger, and can deliver a real financial return.

Choosing Your Power Source: Electric or Solar

So, you’ve decided an operable skylight is for you. Great choice. The next question is how you want to power it. At Vivid Skylights, we offer two fantastic options: electric and solar powered operable skylights, both engineered for convenience and total reliability.

To help you decide, we’ve put together a quick comparison of our skylight models. This table breaks down the features of each, making it easier to see which one aligns best with your home and needs.

Vivid Skylights Model Comparison

Ultimately, choosing between electric and solar really comes down to your home’s existing setup and your personal preference. Both options give you that brilliant push-button convenience and are built to the same exacting standards.

The Electric Opening Skylight is a brilliant, hard-wired solution. It connects straight to your home’s power, giving you rock-solid performance with a simple remote control. It’s a popular choice in a market that’s projected to grow from USD $3.08 billion in 2022 to over USD $4.44 billion by 2028 globally. Homeowners often report up to 40% better natural light, a massive win when the average Aussie household can spend over AUD $1,500 a year on electricity. You can learn more about the growing global skylight market and its drivers.

Alternatively, our Solar Powered Opening Skylights are a superb, energy-efficient choice. This model uses a small, sleek solar panel to charge an internal battery, meaning it runs completely off-grid. It’s the perfect solution for anyone looking to reduce their energy footprint or for installations where running new electrical wiring would be a hassle.

Features That Make a Real Difference

It’s often the small details that take a skylight from good to great. That’s why every single Vivid Skylight comes double glazed as standard. This creates an insulating barrier, helping keep your home warmer in winter and cooler in summer—an absolute must for dealing with Australia’s climate.

We also know that peace of mind is non-negotiable. Our opening models come equipped with an automatic rain sensor. If you’ve left the skylight open and a shower rolls in, the sensor detects the first drops of moisture and closes it for you. No more mad dashes to shut the window.

For total light control, you can add an optional block-out blind. These are perfect for bedrooms, nurseries, or media rooms where you need the ability to make the space pitch-dark on demand. With these thoughtful features built-in, you can be sure you’re getting a skylight that’s perfectly matched to your needs.

Planning Your Skylight Installation

Alright, you’ve figured out what kind of skylight you want—now for the fun part: deciding exactly where and how it will go. This planning stage is where the magic really happens. Getting it right is the secret to making sure your new window in the roof not only looks great but floods your home with beautiful, usable light. It all comes down to a few key decisions on placement, size, and how you’ll tackle the installation itself.

Think of it this way: a well-placed skylight can completely change the feel of a room, but a poorly positioned one can cause headaches with glare or weird shadows. The same goes for size—it’s all about finding that sweet spot for perfect brightness. Let’s walk through the practicalities of mapping out a brilliant installation.

Finding the Perfect Spot for Your Skylight

Where you put your skylight makes all the difference in the world. Here in Australia, a great rule of thumb is to aim for south-facing roof sections. Why? Because this gives you soft, consistent, and indirect light all day long. You get all the beautiful illumination without the intense glare and heat that a north-facing window can blast in during summer.

Now, think about how you use the room. Centring a skylight in the living room can create a stunning architectural feature. Popping one over a kitchen island brings direct light right where you need it for food prep, and positioning one in a dark hallway can make a cramped space feel open and welcoming. Take a moment to imagine the sun’s path across the sky and how that light will move through your space during the day.

Getting the Size Just Right

Choosing the right size is part art, part science. You want enough light to make a real impact, but not so much that it feels like you’re living under a spotlight. A handy guideline is to have the skylight’s glass area make up about 5-10% of the room’s total floor area.

Let’s break that down with a couple of examples:

• For a smaller room (say, 10 square metres): A skylight with a glass area between 0.5 and 1.0 square metres would be spot on.

• For a large, open-plan space (around 30 square metres): You could go for a single large skylight or even a few smaller ones dotted across the ceiling, totalling 1.5 to 3.0 square metres of glass.

At Vivid Skylights, we’ve got a huge range of standard sizes to fit just about any room. Our team is always here to help you nail the dimensions for your desired effect. And remember, whether you’re after a fixed model or an operable electric or solar powered one, we can deliver these premium double glazed skylights straight to your door, anywhere nationwide in Australia.

DIY or Professional Installation?

The final piece of the puzzle is deciding who’s going to install your new window in the roof. Your choice really depends on your comfort level with DIY projects, your budget, and how quickly you want it done. Both paths can lead to a fantastic outcome.

If you’re a confident DIYer, you’ll find Vivid Skylights are designed to be installed without too much fuss. Every single skylight we sell comes with an all-in-one flashing kit made for tiled roofs—the most common roof type in Australia. This kit gives you everything you need for a totally weatherproof seal, which takes all the guesswork out of the most critical part of the installation.

While tackling the job yourself can be incredibly rewarding, hiring a pro guarantees a flawless finish. An expert’s touch ensures perfect alignment, a rock-solid seal, and complete peace of mind.

On the other hand, if you’d rather leave it to the experts, hiring a professional installer is a brilliant move. They’ll handle everything from cutting the opening in the roof to perfectly finishing the light shaft inside. It’s the surest way to get a perfect, leak-free result without lifting a finger.

To get a handle on the costs, check out our easy-to-use online Pricing Estimator. It’ll give you a clear idea of what to expect for both the skylight itself and professional installation, so you can make a decision that feels right for you. Whichever way you go, our 10-year leak-free warranty has you covered, so you can just sit back and enjoy the view for years to come.

Understanding Skylight Quality and Performance

When you’re putting a window in your roof, it’s easy to think they’re all pretty much the same. But they really aren’t. While any skylight lets light in, the difference between a good one and a great one comes down to the clever engineering and quality materials that give you performance and durability for the long haul. This is where we at Vivid Skylights, as a leading Australian supplier, really focus our energy.

Let’s pull back the curtain on the technical stuff that genuinely makes a difference. We’ll translate the jargon into real-world benefits for your home so you can see why a quality skylight is a true investment, not just another fitting.

The Power of Double Glazing

Imagine trying to stay warm on a cold day wearing just a thin t-shirt. That’s a bit like single-pane glass. Now, picture yourself in a thick, insulated jacket—that’s the effect of double glazing. It’s a simple but brilliant concept: two panes of glass with a sealed air gap in between, creating an incredibly effective thermal barrier.

This isn’t an optional extra; it’s standard on every single Vivid Skylight. In the thick of an Australian summer, that air gap works hard to block the sun’s heat from getting into your house, keeping rooms cooler and giving your air-con a much-needed break. Come winter, it does the reverse, holding onto that expensive heat you’ve generated inside.

This isn’t just a minor perk. Good thermal efficiency is fundamental to a modern, energy-smart home. A double glazed skylight helps keep your indoor temperature stable and comfortable all year round, which you’ll definitely notice on your power bills.

This dedication to performance is why all our models, from fixed to electric and solar powered operable options, come with high-performance double glazing. As a leading supplier, we deliver these premium skylights nationwide in Australia, ensuring every homeowner has access to top-tier quality.

Smart Design for Lasting Durability

A window on your roof has a tough job. It has to stand up to everything the harsh Aussie climate throws at it—from torrential downpours to blistering sun. This is where smart design and tough materials become non-negotiable. At Vivid Skylights, we’ve specifically engineered our products to get rid of common weak spots.

A standout feature is our innovative frameless top glazing design. If you look at many older skylights, you’ll see a bulky frame around the top pane of glass. This creates a perfect little dam for water, leaves, and gunk to get trapped, which can lead to pooling and eventually, leaks. Our sleek, frameless finish lets water sheet off cleanly, keeping the glass clear and ensuring it stays watertight for years.

Built for Australian Conditions

To back up that durability, every Vivid Skylight is constructed with a sturdy, powder-coated aluminium frame. We chose aluminium for a reason—it’s the ideal material for the job. It’s incredibly strong, surprisingly lightweight, and won’t rust or corrode.

The powder-coating adds another layer of armour. It creates a tough, baked-on finish that resists chipping, fading, or breaking down under constant UV exposure. This means your skylight won’t just perform well; it will keep its clean, modern look for decades.

This careful focus on materials and design results in a product built specifically for Australian homes. Here’s a quick summary of how it all comes together:

• Double Glazed Panes: The core of our skylights, providing fantastic thermal insulation for year-round comfort.

• Frameless Top Glazing: A clever design that stops water and debris from building up, ensuring a clean and leak-free surface.

• Powder-Coated Aluminium Frame: Delivers exceptional strength and stands up to rust and harsh weather.

• Nationwide Delivery: We make it easy for homeowners right across Australia to get their hands on a premium product.

By concentrating on these critical performance details, Vivid Skylights offers a solution that’s reliable, energy-efficient, and built to last, giving you real peace of mind in your investment.

Why Vivid Skylights Is the Right Choice for Your Home

Choosing the right partner for a home improvement project is a big deal. When you decide to install a skylight, you’re not just buying a window for your roof; you’re making a long-term investment in how your home looks, feels, and functions. This is where we come in. At Vivid Skylights, we’re a leading Australian supplier focused on quality, performance, and genuine peace of mind for homeowners.

Our specialty is premium, high-performance double glazed skylights. We made double glazing our standard because it offers fantastic thermal insulation, keeping your home warmer in winter and cooler in summer. That means less strain on your heating and cooling, which is great for your energy bills.

A Solution for Every Need

Every home is different, so we’ve put together a curated range of fixed and operable skylights that covers just about any situation you can think of.

• Fixed Skylights: If you just want to flood a dark hallway or living area with pure, uninterrupted sunlight, this is your go-to. Simple, effective, and beautiful.

• Operable Skylights: Need ventilation? Our electric and solar powered models are perfect for rooms like kitchens and bathrooms where clearing out steam and circulating fresh air is a must.

This approach means you don’t have to compromise. You can get the perfect skylight for your specific needs, whether that’s brightening up a gloomy corner or bringing in a fresh breeze at the touch of a button.

Unwavering Commitment to Quality and Convenience

Our promise doesn’t end when you buy the skylight. We back our products with an industry-leading 10-year leak-free warranty, giving you the confidence that your investment is built to last, especially with Australia’s unpredictable weather. It’s our way of showing you we stand by our materials and our engineering.

We believe every Aussie homeowner should have access to the best. That’s why we offer nationwide delivery in Australia, bringing top-quality skylights right to your door, wherever you are.

We’ve designed the whole process to be straightforward. You can browse our range online, use our simple tools to get a clear idea of the costs, and have your skylight delivered, ready for installation. Think of Vivid Skylights not just as a supplier, but as a reliable partner in making your home a better place. When you choose us, you’re choosing a brighter, more comfortable home backed by a team that genuinely cares.

Your Top Questions About Roof Windows Answered

Thinking about putting a window in your roof is an exciting prospect, but it’s completely normal to have a few questions before you jump in. To help you feel confident about your decision, we’ve tackled some of the most common queries we get from homeowners right here in Australia.

What’s the Real Cost of Skylight Installation in Australia?

The truth is, the cost to install a skylight can vary quite a bit. It really comes down to the model you pick and the unique layout of your roof. For instance, putting in an electric opening skylight will naturally cost more than a simple fixed model because it needs a bit of wiring work.

While ballpark figures are out there, the only way to know for sure what it’ll cost for your home is to get a detailed estimate. This is the best way to avoid any budget blowouts later on.

To make things easy, we built a handy online Pricing Estimator. It gives you a clear, itemised quote based on the exact product and installation you need, so you can plan your project with real numbers.

Are Skylights Prone to Leaking?

This is probably the biggest worry for homeowners, and for good reason! Nobody wants a leak. Thankfully, a modern skylight from a reputable supplier is engineered from the ground up to keep water out. At Vivid Skylights, we’ve staked our reputation on building products that last.

Every single one of our double glazed fixed and operable skylights comes with an industry-leading 10-year leak-free warranty. We can offer this because of our purpose-built, all-in-one flashing kits, which are specifically designed to create a completely weatherproof seal on typical Australian roofs. When it’s installed correctly, you can look forward to years of beautiful daylight without a single drop of worry.

Can You Put a Skylight on Any Type of Roof?

Skylights are incredibly versatile, but they work best on certain roof types. Our skylights are designed to perfectly fit the most common roofs you’ll see across Australia, from standard pitched roofs to low-pitch tiled ones.

Our flashing kits are made specifically for these roof styles, which guarantees a snug fit and a watertight seal. So, whether you’re after an electric, solar-powered, or fixed skylight, we have a premium solution ready to be delivered nationwide in Australia. If you have a more unusual roof, it’s always smart to have a quick chat with a professional installer to make sure it’s a good match.

Ready to bring beautiful, natural light into your home? Vivid Skylights is a leading Australian supplier of premium double glazed fixed, electric, and solar-powered operable skylights, delivered directly to your door anywhere in Australia. Explore our range and discover the perfect fit for your space today.

Learn more at https://vividskylights.com.au