ᐅ On which side of the roof should a skylight be installed in the attic?

Hello,

we have a converted attic in our older house. It is about 10 meters long, has no knee wall, only a sloping roof with a steep 55-degree pitch, and standing height over a width of 2 meters (6.5 feet). The ridge is roughly oriented east-west, so one side of the roof faces south, the other north. Light enters through a nearly fully glazed gable on the east side and a porthole window about 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter on the west side. The west side is not very bright because two masonry chimneys run through the room there.

At the moment, we mainly use the attic for bookshelves under the sloping roof and for drying laundry. To use the west side as an office in the future (if we have more children and the office downstairs has to be given up), we are considering installing skylights.

Additionally, we plan to install a photovoltaic system on the south side within the next few months.

Regardless of the side, the window would have dimensions of about 0.7 meters (28 inches) wide and 1.5 meters (59 inches) high to fit between the existing rafters.

Now we are wondering which side (north or south) would be better for a skylight. Here are our thoughts so far:

Advantages of the south side:
Additional warmth in winter
More natural light

Disadvantages of the south side:
Requires good external shading in summer
Reduces space for the solar panels; installation only possible before the photovoltaic system is mounted

Advantages of the north side:
Interior shading/privacy likely sufficient since the sun barely reaches over the gable, making it more cost-effective
Installation independent of the solar system

What are your experiences with something like this? All comments and suggestions are welcome.

Best regards,
Michael

miho schrieb:
At the moment, we mainly use the attic space for bookshelves under the sloping roof and for drying laundry. In the future, to be able to use the west side as an office (once we have more children and might have to give up the office downstairs), we are considering installing roof windows.
Additionally, we plan to install a photovoltaic system on the south side.

Books and drying laundry—how does that work together?

Would it make sense to have the roof window serve as a maintenance access point on the side with the photovoltaic panels?

As a right-handed person, I would prefer natural light coming from the left side of my desk in the home office.

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11ant schrieb:
Books and drying laundry, how do those two go together?

So far, no problems. When a load of laundry is hanging, the room is regularly ventilated. The hygrometer never shows more than 60%.

11ant schrieb:
Would the roof window possibly be useful as a maintenance exit on the photovoltaic side?

I will ask the installers about that. The window would be near the upper left corner of an 11m (36 feet) long and about 7m (23 feet) high surface. One half of the surface could be accessed quite well, but it probably wouldn’t help for the other half.

11ant schrieb:
In the study, as a right-hander I would prefer light coming from the left side of the desk.

That can be somewhat adjusted through clever furniture arrangement. Most of the work would be done on the computer, where this preference isn’t as crucial. But it’s still good to keep it in mind.