Warehouse Skylight – Daylighting Furniture Row

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• Project Type: New Installations
• Project Status: Completed
• Products Used: Acrylic Skylight, American Skylights, Dome Unit Skylight, Self-Flashed

Adding Light with a Warehouse Skylight Installation

Ekco Construction had a warehouse skylight problem. They were referred to Skylight Specialists, Inc. by our good friends Horizon Glass. Horizon Glass is an award winning firm specializing in commercial and residential glazing.

This warehouse is owned by Furniture Row , a prominent furniture store chain. The warehouse suffered from inadequate electrical lighting and Ekco was responsible for improving the situation.

Furniture Row also owned and sponsored a NASCAR Racing Team—number 78, driven by Martin Truex—based in Denver. The only NASCAR team headquartered west of the Mississippi. Unfortunately, 2018 was the last season for the team.

Daylight Design is Critical

Ekco called us to bring some much needed light into one of the existing warehouse. The needs of each warehouse space varies and depends on the tasks being done in the warehouse. Here, it was the front of house retail area that needed additional lighting. Going with natural daylighting instead of increased electrical lighting has also shown to increase sales by up to 40%. We determined that 20 – 5’x6′ skylights would provide the light needed in this particular warehouse skylight installation.

In most warehouse applications we use a formula to give us the desired light transmittance at the floor level. We calculate the square footage of the warehouse and the lighting areas, figure in the desired dimension of the skylights. This gives us the exact number of skylights that will be required for the optimum light transmittance either for the space where daylighting is desired or to the entire warehouse space.

Based upon site conditions it was determined we would utilize the existing framework. We added steel support between the existing rafters for the insulated self-flashed skylights.

The Process

Layout of the skylights required the use of a scissor lift. This allowed us to penetrate the roof from the inside to mark the four corners of each skylight.  Done properly, the EPDM can be rolled back and reused—reducing the roofers work load in making a weather tight curb. This also reduces the cost to the owner.

Skylight Specialists mounted the skylights on site-built wood nailers to get the proper required height off the roof deck.  We also recommended that we add aluminum cladding to  the interior of the wood nailers, with white metal, to give the skylights a finished look.

In the end, Ekco Construction added dramatic daylighting to a previously dark and dreary retail/warehouse space with this warehouse skylight installation.

Warehouse Skylight Used:

• (20) American Skylights insulated, self-flashed skylights.
• CLEAR over WHITE ACRYLIC.
• 5’ x 5′ w/9″ CURBS.

Results:

• Turned a dark space into a more inviting space
• Can show their displays to customers that are much more inviting

Benefits:

• Correct the daylighting and solar heat levels required for the space.
• Reduce dependence on electric lighting—increase energy savings.
• The owners love the energy savings provided by the new skylights.
• Increase the facility’s property value.
• Healthy, natural daylight in the space with soft translucent light and accurate color rendition.
• No required maintenance or re-coating costs—individual exterior panels  are easily replaced.
• In work environments, increased daylighting has been shown to increase productivity.
• In retail environments, increased daylighting has been shown to increase sales by as much as 40%.

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