How to Cover a Skylight from the Inside: Your Simple Step-by-Step Guide

Want to block or soften the light coming through your skylight without climbing onto the roof? Plenty of homeowners face the same need, looking for easy indoor fixes that tame brightness, heat or prying eyes without major renovation work.

There are several simple interior treatments can help you control the incidence of sunlight the way you need.

Why Choose Inside Covers for Your Skylight?

Comfort and control are the main reasons people reach for an inside cover. In bedrooms, extra morning light can ruin sleep schedules, while in home offices a harsh glare on screens makes reading and typing frustrating.

Also, in case of extremely hot summers, an interior layer can cut excess heat gain yet still let filtered daylight creep in, keeping the room pleasant without locking out the benefits of natural lighting.

Privacy is another important consideration when you have a skylight. If people in nearby buildings or on rooftops can peek in, you'll want a way to cover the glass, especially over bedrooms or bathrooms. During hail or other rough storms, an interior shield also gives your home another layer of protection and lets you relax.

Skylight Blinds for Interior Coverage

Inside the room, roller blinds still rank as the go-to cover for most homeowners. Mounted on or just inside the frame, they pull down to hide the whole opening or lift slightly to soften glare. New models even offer spring or motorised lifts, so you don't need an extension pole or a ladder every time you want to adjust them.

The real charm of roller blinds is the choice they give you. Pick dense blackout cloth for total darkness, sheer weaves that scatter daylight or thicker thermal versions that reduce heat loss in winter. Most skylight rollers also add side channels, shutting down those pesky leaks of daylight around the edges.

Pleated blinds give you a fine alternative, folding up like an accordion and leaving the ceiling above tidy. Fabric thickness ranges from sheer to blackout, so you can dial in the exact amount of daylight you want. The honeycomb style in particular traps air between the layers, adding real insulation while still moderating incoming light.

If you lean toward classic looks, simple metal or wood venetian slats can work in some skylight frames. Tilt them to flood a room or angle the beams sideways without losing the view just know they show fingerprints and aren't as popular as roller or pleated styles overhead.

Cellular Shades for Energy Efficiency

Cellular shades, often called honeycomb shades, excel at keeping rooms warm in winter and cool in summer. When air gets trapped inside each tiny pocket, it slows heat transfer, making your HVAC system work less. So, if temperature control ranks first on your list, these layered fabrics are hard to beat, even when light-blocking alone would suffice.

Skylight cellular shades are sold with single, double or triple cells, and the extra layers tighten the seal against heat loss. You can choose light-filtering cloth or blackout fabric, and many suppliers add a top-down feature that suits angled glass. That layered setup insulates all year, keeping rooms cooler during heat waves and cosier when cold winds blow.

Roman shades give a more stylish approach to the same job. When you pull them up, the cloth tumbles into neat pleats, and you can pick any fabric that echoes your room's colors. They don't block light quite like a dedicated blind, yet they still shield glare while lifting the overall look of the space.

Simple DIY Solutions for Skylight Coverage

If you prefer a no-tools fix, magnetic panels stick to metal frames when you need coverage, just cut blackout cloth to size, attach magnet strips along the edges and the sheet snaps on and off in seconds. It's a smart and low-cost trick for renters or anyone who only occasionally wants the glass covered.

Velcro strips give you an easy-on, easy-off way to seal a skylight. Attach heavy-duty loop tape to the frame, stick matching hook strips to the fabric cover, and you'll get a tight bond you can peel loose whenever adjustments or cleaning come up.

Tension rods work well on big skylights set flat or at a gentle slope. Slip a curtain or cloth panel over the bar, then slide it back and forth like drapes across a window. They lack the polish of store-bought skylight shades, yet their low cost and simple setup still win over many budget-minded DIYers.

When you want to shut out almost every ray, a fixed panel does the job. You can order sheets of frosted acrylic, rigid boards wrapped in light-colored fabric or attractive veneered panels that snap or screw into place and let just a soft glow filter through.

Some people turn these permanent covers into artwork that softens the whole room. Options include prints backlit like tiny windows, etched glass scenes or layered shapes that cast shifting shadows while keeping solar heat and glare well in check.

Getting exact measurements is vital when fitting an interior skylight cover. Record the skylight opening's width and length, note how deep the frame is and identify whether the frame is metal, wood, or uPVC so the new cover seals well and moves freely.

You can install most covers either inside the frame for a sleek, low-profile finish or on the ceiling around the frame when extra mounting depth is scarce.

Frame material usually dictates the fitting method. Metal frames accept magnetic strips or clip-on brackets, while timber needs screws or brackets that bite into the wood grain. For uPVC, use low-torque screws and avoid over-tightening to prevent cracking.

Also think about the height of your ceiling and how often you intend to move the cover. High ceilings may call for a motor kit or a long extension pole, so adjustments don't mean climbing a ladder each time.

Most flat roof skylights work with standard blinds, and their simple shape makes measuring, installing and operating the cover quick and forgiving.

Pitched skylights may require specialised mounting systems or custom solutions to ensure proper fit and operation on angled surfaces. The angle can affect how covers hang and operate, so it's important to choose systems designed for angled applications.

Operable skylight models add another layer of complexity because the cover can't block the hinge or lift arm. Premium kits integrate with the rooftop hardware, sliding out of the way whenever the sash swings open.

Oversized units might need separate panels or reinforced tracks to cope with the extra weight and span. Long spans can flex under wind and snow, so every anchor and rail must be solid.

Clear Aside Misdirected Efforts for Simple Maintenance Solutions

So many simple methods can make a difference in heat management, like reducing uncontrolled heat transfer over gaps and cracks with weather stripping. It minimises hot air intrusion over the summer and heat emission during the winter, while also preventing unwanted energy loss through the gaps in isolation over the frames.

Simple maintenance tasks, like regularly cleaning the skylights can assist in further reducing energy consumption by increasing the rate of light transmission through the windows into the room. In addition to that, clean windows, as compared to dirty ones, tend to increase heat blockade efficiency.

Cleaning skylights assists in increased light entry into the room, as well as improves energy conservation by reducing the usage of electric lighting during the day. By choosing the most suited remedy to your specific case from the aforementioned paragraphs, it is easy to maintain the optimal temperature in each case.

While external shutters greatly increase the blockage of sunlight entering rooms through windows or other forms and maintain good control over the windows, they severely limit natural light flow into the rooms which lowers comfort level in the house.

Think about your boundaries budget for the blinds or shutters, comfort set for the amount of light required by you, and the working temperature in your house to help you juxtapose between preferred outcome and light blockage. With time, many users have pointed out that the best improvement outcome is achieved with the use of multiple targeting devices at once.

Final Thoughts

Thermal comfort during summer months does not have to come at the cost of enjoying natural light emitted through skylights. As long as the right approaches are deployed, the welcoming conditions that are so valuable to skylights can be maintained.

If you're replacing or planning to install new skylights, advanced glazing can maintain ideal control of excess heat for a long time. When choosing your skylight or roof lantern, hhis is what you need to keep in mind:

Low-Emissivity (Low-E) Glass

Low-E glass is made with a thin metallic coating that reflects infrared radiation while letting visible light through. It helps in keeping the homes cool in summer and warm in winter, thus providing year-round energy efficient advantages. It is a great investment for new installations or replacements.

Double and Triple Glazing

Unlike single panes, double and triple glazing have two or three layers of glass with air or gas in between them. This construction helps with heat retention in winter and also prevents heat from entering in the summer. Areas with extreme temperatures greatly benefit from triple glazing due to its superior insulation.

At Rooflights and Skylights UK, our experts will work with you to devise a plan tailored to your specific requirements. We are ready to talk to you today about solutions to optimise your home's comfort while preserving natural daylight that beautifies your interiors.