[Noisebridge-discuss] skylight plastic

[Andy Isaacson]

On Sun, Dec 05, 2010 at 10:14:15AM -0800, jim wrote:
>    are there instructions (i.e. a plan)? 
> e.g., cut the plastic to size, use <this> 
> tape to tape the edges of the cut plastic 
> to the ceiling edges of the skylights. 

Good questions!

The Duck window packs come with double-sided tape.  It worked well
enough last year to stick the plastic to the edges of the skylights.
I'm a little worried about the damaged paint / plaster being more of a
problem this year, but we'll burn that bridge when we get to it.

IIRC, each plastic is big enough to cover one skylight, but not two.
After doing two skylights, you can tape together two remnants to cover a
third.  You can either use the double-sided tape, or you can use regular
clear packing tape.

You have to cut a passthrough for the sprinkler pipes.  The easiest way
is to cut a straight line from the nearest edge, and then reinforce
around the sprinkler with packing tape -- the plastic will continue to
tear along the line of the cut, if not reinforced.  Tape the cut shut,
as well, with packing tape.  Either the tearable or the clear cuttable
packing tape from Walgreens works great.


If you've never lived in a $300/mo house in snow country, you may not
have encountered this stuff before.

The point of the plastic is to reduce -- not *stop* -- the flow of heat
out the skylights.  The product we're using is marketed to homeowners
who can't afford to install double-paned leakfree windows, and use this
as a stopgap.

In the Noisebridge case, we lose a vast amount of heat out the
skylights; heat rises, and most of the skylights have vents.  Reducing
that convective flow gives the solar influx and ambient heat from
electronics and our downstairs neighbors' refrigerators a chance to keep
us warm.

-andy