Better than LEDs
 

If you live in an area that has a lot of sunshine, you might want to consider a solar tube for lighting your sewing room. I had one installed about a month ago, and the only time I turn on the lamp is at night or on a rainy, cloudy, dark day. There is so much bright light in that room, you want to turn off the light when leaving, but there is no light on. It's all coming from the sun. Amazing!! It takes less than two hours to install, it's about ten inches in diameter, and is flush on the ceiling. Just thought you might be interested in knowing this is out there.

Does it cause the room to heat up? I've been intrigued by them

Wish I could. I can't even have a ceiling light or fan. As stupid as it sounds, we have electric radiant heat in the ceiling, in a rancher. Not like it's even a 2 story house. Guess it was something they thought was a good idea in the 50's.lol Would love to have something like that.

Intriguing concept - never heard if these - will have to investigate - thanks for the heads up.

We call them 'skylights' here. We have a round tube one in the dining room, a square one in the hallway leading to some bedrooms and one big square one in the end bathroom (it has no exterior windows). They are fantastic, we have never had one leak and they don't seem to contribute to overheating in the summer (it is not a glaring light as the top bit on the roof is generally opaque. Our tube one could do with replacing (it is over 35 years old), but the others are fine.

When I first moved in to this house (they were installed by former owners), for ages I would try and 'turn the light off' in the dining room....the kids thought it was hysterical.

Interesting. So many new inventions from solar.

I liked them for the light but be sure your contractor knows exactly what he is doing and ask for other homes he has installed them in and call and ask about leaking or roof damage.

We call most of them skylights here, too. "Solatube" is a brand name for the round tubular kind of skylight. As near as I can figure, skylights are square or rectangular, and solar tubes are round. :p

I have radiant ceiling heat in my house too, and I love it. However, we were able to install a 14" Solatube in the main bathroom several years ago. It does not transfer heat or cold at all. Originally, the bathroom's only source of heat was an infrared lamp; there are no wires running through the ceiling, so installation was no problem. I LOVE that Solatube. Not only does it light up the bathroom, it lights the hallway too. The laundry room is at the end of the hallway, and it has a window. So I replaced the hollow-core laundry room door with an interior glass-paned window, and put sheer lace curtains on it to block the view of the laundry but let light in.

Between that Solatube and the glass-paned door, what was once a long, dark hallway is now light and bright. :)

p.s. Sandy (the OP) said "If you live in an area with lots of sunshine". You do not need lots of sunshine for a solar tube to work well. I live in the Portland metro area, very gray and rainy, and the Solatube works well.

We installed a Solatube in our upstairs kids bathroom about 15 years ago. Love, love love that thing. I can't tell you how many guests have asked us how to "turn off that light" It brightens up that bath wonderfully and does not heat up the room. It has never leaked water either. I would highly recommend one if you need some light and do not have another floor above it.

If you get a solar tube for sewing room, make sure to get UV coating added to it & any windows in the room to protect fabric.