Value. Is it worth it?

Posted on September 27, 2010 by joe

Waco, TX- To start with, I am biased.  I think the Solatube residential product line performs the best  in its class.  And for about what it costs for a top quality paint job, a customer can have the Solatube effect,  that is at the top of the list of dramatic transformations a homeowner can do for their interior spaces.  Solatubes give a tremendous boost to the homeowner’s enjoyment of their home, and add value to the home.

Of course, we base value in comparison with something familiar to us.   Statements like “that is expensive.  I could buy a couple of electric fixtures for that price.”  is really saying, “The $ cost is equivalent to 2 electric light fixtures”  (depending on the fixture.)

But $ cost is only one aspect of value.  For example, if you want to provide full-spectrum sunlight light in a home with no electric consumption,  the traditional electric fixtures are worthless.  They don’t do that.  Or if you are trying to bring the ambience of nature into your home through streaming natural daylight with all the nuances of shadows of a cloud, the rising of dawn, the setting of dusk, lightning flashes, moonlight, etc…. again, the electric light is not very useful.

In my opinion, if you are unfamiliar with the performance of a Solatube in real experience, you need to talk with customers who actually live with one in their home.  They know by experience, the benefits it brings to their home life. In fact, once a customer has one installed, they look at it day after day, enjoy the benefits, and start visualizing it in other dark corners of their house.

So, value is a matter of personal budgets and taste.  But if you are unfamiliar with a Solatube, go to a showroom close to you, or ask us to come with our Room Brite trailer with a Solatube 290DSe unit installed in the front section.  I am fairly confident that you will be surprised, as many others have been, at how bright, vibrant, and well-diffused the light is from a Solatube.

Again, as always, smile, and Let a Little Light in.   :)  Javajoe

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Solar Stars cool the attic and lower A/C cost

Posted on September 3, 2010 by joe

Hewitt, TX-A few days ago my phone rang. Mrs. S, a customer, was telling me how she was convincing another friend of how much money her Solar Stars were saving her.     We had installed them last May.  A couple of  months  before that we had installed three Solatubes to light up her dark living room, dining room, and kitchen.

As with many customers, Mrs S was interested in whether the Solar Stars had saved her money on her electric bill by lowering the demand on her air conditioning system.  She had two months of summer electric bills to compare side-by-side.  It turned out that she saved almost $50/month on her electric bill.   That is about $25 per unit.

Mrs S. also said her last electric fan (which we removed to install the SS) had lasted less than 4 years.  In fact, her husband’s greatest concern was that the electric fan bind up, short out and cause a fire.  He had a bad experience once with that.  With solar powered attic fans, the DC power poses almost no fire hazard.  And the Solar Stars are whisper quiet.

Nice to have Room Brite customers in the Waco area who are so satisfied with our products and workmanship that they are telling friends and acquaintances about their smart choices.

BTW, I talked to a builder last year at the Belton TX  Home & Garden Show.  He said the two electric-powered units in his own house were costing him about $20/month to run.   For my rule-of-thumb purposes electric attic fans are a wash.  They used almost as much electricity as they save.  They may be cheaper initially,  ie… cheaper to purchase, but their advantage ends there.  They are more expensive to install, because of the electrical feed.  And they cost money every second they are running.  To compute the $ cost, who knows what energy costs will be next year?  The beauty of the design of a Solar Star is that it starts running as soon as the sun rises.  It pulls the cooler morning air into the attic, cooling the mass of your attic structure.  When the heat of the day comes, it is ahead of the game.  In contrast, with the electric powered fans, you have to decide what temperature is low enough to save you electricity and high enough so that it doesn’t run all day.  I’ve seen the fans set by the homeowner literally run most of the daylight hours and on into the evening.    In that case, $20 wouldn’t be even close for an estimate of the cost of running the electric powered attic fans.

I am confident that when you consider the Solar Star and its features and cost savings, you will be convinced, as I was, that it is a best solution for today’s conservation conscious consumer.  And to help with the affordability, it qualifies for a 30% Energy Tax Credit program.    If you have any questions, go to  Roombrite.com, or the premier Dealer in Austin TX  at solartexonline.com.

Let the savings begin!

javajoe

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Solatubes transform a dark room into a bright, cheery Living Space

Posted on August 31, 2010 by joe

Waco, TX- Just this week, we installed two Solatube 290DSEs (tubular skylights)  in a nice house in Woodway, TX.  The home was built in the 1980s and had the familiar post 1970s-energy-crisis layout…small windows, dark paneling and an imposing fireplace.

The foyer  opened into the center of the living room.  The whole area was cut off from natural light.   The previous owner had added a nice addition to the house some years earlier.  The original design had allowed sunlight to stream through the Patio Doors, but the addition had cut off this source of sunlight.

After briefly looking over the project, we brought our SimuLites into the room and worked with the owner to find the right mix of placement and light dispersion.  In this particular case, we took extra care in the planning process.

The room had several challenges.  The room was rectangular with a beautiful built-in bookcase  on the right end and a large fireplace with mantel to the left.   The walls were covered with stained wood paneling with some intricate trim work  The ceiling was vaulted and had ceiling fans hanging in the center on either end.  After installation, the Solatubes would shine into the living space at a 30 degree angle.  This required more care in placing them a bit further away from the fans to avoid a strobing effect if the fan blades passed through the path of light.

First we tried putting both Solatubes in the center,  on opposing sides of the vaulted ceiling.   But the roof of the addition intersected with the house at that place and made the roof penetration difficult.  Then we tried placing them on the same side of the vaulted ceiling, about 36″ up from the wall.    The 30 degree angle of the ceiling, along with the diffusers in the solatubes dispersed the light into the living space very nicely.  And by placing them closer to the ends of the room, both feature walls were washed with beautiful sunlight.  The owner was pleased with this arrangement and gave her approval to begin installation.

Another interesting dynamic in the decision process was, what to do with the dark paneling.  Should she paint the paneling a lighter color?  The typical wisdom with dark paneling in a dark space would exactly be that solution: paint it a light color to brighten the space.

Instead, the Solatube becomes a versatile weapon in the decorator’s arsenal for working with an existing house and enhancing its beauty.  The bright,  full-spectrum sunlight streamed in to the room and brought out the beauty of the natural grain in the wood.  And in less than a day, with little mess and fuss,  a dark, foreboding, and uninteresting room was transformed into a bright, cheery atmosphere for fun and relaxation.   When we left, it was neat, clean, and needed no painting or repairs.

Voila!  The wonder of the 2 HR Skylight!  Usually installed in less than 2 hours.    So, for about the price of a quality paint job for a room, Room Brite can install a Solatube and enhance your home’s beauty for years to come.

As always,  smile, and Let a Little Light In!

javajoe

Waco, TX

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Welcome

Posted on August 30, 2010 by joe

2HR SKYLIGHTS

Room Brite sells and installs 2 HR Skylights.  Architects would call them  “tubular daylighting devices” (TDDs).    The average ‘Joe’ on the street would call them tubular skylights.  This Joe likes to call them 2 HR Skylights because they can be installed in as little as 2 hours.

I fell in love with 2 Hr Skylights a couple of years ago.   One of my customers asked me to install a traditional skylight in their dark living room.   The usual thoughts started rolling through my mind, heat, cobwebs, leakage, 2 days of mess, etc.  

So I told them  the best solution for them would be a tubular skylight.  It would be smaller, look better, stay dust and cobweb free, wouldn’t leak, and would be maintenance free.   Also, no chance for a peeping Tom to be staring from above  :)     In fact,  it dawned on me that TDDs are one of the best-kept untold secrets in home lighting solutions.

After being indoors for a long time, man-made lighting can be tiring to the eyes and subdue the emotions.  Several light bulb makers have tried to come up with light bulbs that copy the benefits of sunlight.   But they come up short and use electricity.  

Solatube International has come up with an energy efficient product that solves this problem using natural light. The effect is quite awesome.

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