After I saw the sunlight pouring in the loft windows, months and months ago, I realized that the downstairs kitchen and bathroom areas were going to get pretty dim once the loft floorboards were installed. I began brainstorming about piercing the loft floor in some way so as to take advantage, passively, of the loft daylight, or even lamplight. I thought it would be nice to have some light filtering down, if for no other reason than to avoid the necessity of turning on a light to go down to the loo at bedtime. Various ideas came to me, including one I really liked -- putting little diamond-shaped stained glass windows in rabbeted notches cut in the edges of the floorboards. However, stained (or fused) glass squares, I finally decided, would not actually let as much light through as would some totally transparent clear material. Then I found an inexpensive leftover piece of Lexan about 12" x 6' at the Covington Re-use Center. Eventually the current design was arrived at, and Kyle cut the slots and rabbets.
There won't be huge oceans of light pouring down, but I like the look of these rays of daylight, and it will definitely make a difference.
Here Kyle is measuring the slots after he screwed down the floorboards, checking to be sure of a little wiggle room in the slot-width, so the Lexan strips will drop in easily. Beneath him may be seen the folding screens I have brought over to up-cycle into partitions for the kitchen and bathroom areas.
Testing the fit of Lexan strips, and marking just one short portion where the strip was too wide for the slot. Note the pencil in Kyle's hand, yes!
This view shows the beautiful job of cabinetry-quality work that Kyle did on the skylights. We plan to leave the protective paper on the Lexan for some time, and I may decide to glue the strips down later. First I would like to see how it is to have them there and live with them.
One evening, as we were preparing to leave for the day, the only light was from a solar lantern I had brought in previously, and it was shining up through the Lexan strips, protective paper and all, as I looked down at the loft floor from atop the step ladder. Looks cool!
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Thank you for commenting on my blog. I think this message is for anyone who comments, to let you know, in my case, that there is no knowing when, if, or how I may respond directly to your message!! To quote a famous wizard; "I can't come back! I don't know how it works!" And a famous poet, "We walk backwards into the future." Anyway, I have a feeling this thing is going to grow on me, so we'll be in touch, eventually. Thank you again.