Skylights and rooflights are excellent options for homeowners and business owners to introduce more natural lighting into the home. The value of this can’t be understated, as natural light is shown in various scientific studies to contribute to improve mood and contribute to better working and living conditions, as well as lead to the synthesis of vitamin D, which is important to human health. Additionally, skylights and rooflights can be a great architectural design choice, improving the look and feel of a building. There are various types of rooflights that differ in terms of their size and the materials they were made with, and one of the ways that they differ is if they can be opened or not.

A skylight that can open up doubles up as a source of ventilation for your home. This can be a great way to help keep the air temperature low during the summer months, but it can also be used in a kitchen to help to keep steam or smoke from building up in your home. Some product options include a polycarbonate skin that will prevent water from infiltrating the inside through the opening while still allowing the steam or smoke to escape. With skylight variants, it is usually difficult to find sun tubes that are able to be opened up, however you can find them quite readily when looking at flat skylights. You can also get larger roof lanterns that having openable sections, so both are good options for increasing the ventilation in your indoor space.

Openable skylights are also beneficial for other purposes too, namely, as a potential access hatch. It is not uncommon for modern builds to build in an access hatch to a flat roof section, so that maintenance of the roof and any other apparatus in the space can be maintained. If you’re going to have a section of roofing that is designed to work as an access hatch, the thinking is that you may as well use it as a skylight as well, thereby getting an additional benefit of an increase in natural lighting. These products will typically come with various other components, such as a hand rail or a small ladder that you will have installed alongside it.

The way openable skylights is as you probably imagine; with hinges. The complexity of the mechanisms involved are twofold. Firstly, opening a window and opening a skylight are different processes because opening a normal window doesn’t require that you actually lift the entire window, whereas that is the reality with an openable skylight. Secondly, an openable skylight is great, but because of their placement in the roof they are often unreachable by hand. As a result of this fact, most of these products are sold as electric skylights, in that they are mechanically operated through electrical switches that can be placed in arms reach. An electric skylight is a fundamental requirement when you want a rooflight that can offer high quality insulation but will also open up when required.

Many homes don’t have room for a home office, however a viable alternative for many people is to have a home office built elsewhere around the property. This could be in the garden, in the form of a log cabin or annexe, or a garage or outbuilding may be converted to turn it into the office space. When designing and building an office space, it’s important to make sure all style considerations are thought about before, and one of the key ones is going to be cladding.

Offices that are built in outbuildings will have quite a rustic appearance, in which case, more rustic wooden cladding is usually preferred. This could be shiplap cladding, waney edge cladding, or a similar idea where the quality of the wood and the knots in it are brought out through the way that it’s cut. Discuss cladding and external appearance with the building contractor from the start.

A home office can help you work more productively, get more done and produce a better quality of work as well. It gives you a space you can dedicate to your work, away from the rest of your home. A log cabin could produce the perfect environment for you to work in.

Log cabins are similar to normal buildings but they are also a more rustic construction, blending in with their surroundings and looking very attractive. This is perfect if you are going to build a log cabin in your garden and you don’t want it to detract from your green space. It’s also the type of structure that can be built quite quickly due to its log construction – the logs are laid on their sides and used to build walls. A good log cabin can be quiet, temperate and very peaceful, making it a perfect decision for an office environment.

One of the benefits of a home office is that you will have space to work somewhere that is convenient for you. No long commutes, no noisy household – it’s a place to shut yourself away and get some of your best work done. In order to do this, you need to create the right kind of environment to spur you on.

Design is important in choosing the look and feel of your home office. It should be a place you look forward to coming to, one where you love your surroundings and feel inspired. However, this does need to be underpinned by practicality as well. Consider your layout, your equipment needed, and then you can move on to thinking about how these might look aesthetically. The two elements will work together to ensure you have a highly usable, beautiful space that you can enjoy working in every day of the week.

Do you live in a south facing home? Maybe you live in a flat that is flooded with sun in the summer? Do you have a conservatory that you just need to keep cool? All of these options mean that you could benefit from vertical blinds, which will keep the sun out and the temperature down when you need to keep your space cool. The idea of having sun in your home all the time sounds wonderful, but in reality, it just isn’t an option. You need to be comfortable, and avoiding the glare of the sun is important. It will be much more enjoyable this way.

Vertical blinds offer a sophisticated option for shading your property, shop front or other type of building. You can draw them down over your window when you want to, so the shading option isn’t permanent. This allows you to choose when you want some shade, and when you want the sun to come flooding back in. It’s a highly versatile way of enjoying your property. Blinds give you the option of picking and choosing depending on your mood, the position of the sun and whether you want some privacy.

So what are vertical blinds, and how do they work?

1. Vertical blinds are fitted onto the outside of your property. They can cover the windows and doors on the outside as needed, giving you shade, privacy and a better living environment.
2. They are usually electrically operated. It is easy for you to operate your blinds with a remote control as they are electrically operated, making it simple to draw them across the whole of the window, door or balcony.
3. They will be made from a strong and robust material. Window blinds are made to last, withstanding harsh weather and very much lasting you into the future. They should be considered a good investment.
4. They can be used as, or in conjunction with, an awning. You can get different blind shapes and designs if you want some light to come in at the bottom, creating more of an awning-like shape. If you want to use the blinds with an awning or shelter of some description, you can – you just need to make sure you specify exactly what you need when ordering. This is a popular option for shops and other commercial premises as opposed to homes.
5. Blinds can also offer you protection from the weather. If you choose a zip design, this can offer you shelter from wind and rain. You might use this kind of design for a balcony.

Remember that no two blinds are the same; every home or business will require a slightly different, tailored solution. Think about what you need to get from a blind, like privacy, or shade at certain times of the day, and talk this over with a window or door blind specialist. They can ensure you find the perfect blinds for your house, shop, flat, holiday home, conservatory, or anywhere else that could benefit from a professional vertical blind fitting.