Skylights under Brisbane's sun
Lots of sunshine to work with
Brisbane averages about 2,989 hours of sunshine a year, and Your Home says tubular skylights work best in sunny, clear climates. Solatube rates its 250 mm model to light about 19 m2 with the dome in direct sun, so a small tube goes a long way here.
Roof glass collects a lot of heat
Your Home says roof glazing takes in almost twice as much heat as an unprotected west-facing window of the same size. Brisbane's hottest day on record reached 43.2 °C, and CSR Bradford says a roof space without ventilation can hit 70 °C in summer. Keep glazed skylights modest and pick glazing with a low heat gain.
The NCC caps the size
Outside NSW, the NCC Housing Provisions limit roof lights serving a habitable room to 5% of that room's floor area, with limits on heat loss and heat gain too. Your Home suggests about 3 to 5% of floor area for conventional skylights and roof windows, and just 1 to 2% for good tubular ones.
High ceilings mean longer tubes
Queenslanders have high ceilings, so the run from roof to ceiling is longer. Solatube's tubes reach up to 6, 9 or 12 m depending on the model, and Velux rigid sun tunnels extend up to 6 m, so check the length suits your house before you buy.
Tubular skylight or roof window?
Tubular skylights (sun tunnels) are a small dome with a reflective tube, and they suit hallways, bathrooms and laundries. Roof windows give you a view of the sky and can open for airflow. Velux makes fixed, manual, electric with a rain sensor, and solar-powered versions.
Velux says its flashings suit roofs pitched from 15 degrees, so on a flatter verandah or skillion roof, ask what the installer will use. On low-pitched metal roofs, BlueScope says a penetration that blocks the sheet channels needs a head gutter above it to divert the water.
In Queensland, installing skylights is covered by the QBCC roof tiling licence, flashing them into metal roofs by the roof and wall cladding licence, and the plumbing and drainage licence also includes skylights.
Questions for a Brisbane skylight installer
- Tubular or glazed, and what size, for this room?
- What's the glazing's heat gain rating, and is it rated under the Window Energy Rating Scheme?
- How will you flash it into my roof's pitch and profile?
- What's the dome or glass made of, and how does it handle hail?
- Which QBCC licence covers the job, and who warrants the installation itself?
What we'd put in
For a dark hallway or bathroom in Brisbane, we'd start with a tubular skylight: plenty of light, very little heat. We'd only choose a glazed roof window where you want sky views or airflow, and then keep it small and shaded. The national skylights page compares the types, and the Brisbane hub covers what else is different here.
Want a roofer to take a look?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match it with a Find My Roofer certified roofer who specialises in that kind of work, and they call you to quote. Your number goes to them alone.