Sure, you can have it taken out, although it would be costly to patch everything. Sorry you had this problem, but glad to hear it because I had considered one for my sons bathroom.

As far as a skylight goes, I would not switch. My parents have had nothing but problems with theirs.

Is a sun tunnel the same thing as a solatube? I've heard great things about the solatubes and was interested in checking them out.

I recently had three of these put in when I had a new roof put on the house. Two in a 25x15 family room that previously had light only on one end, another in an interior bath (master). It is possible that what you are seeing as far as the "pattern" is actually dust on the lens from installation...I seem to have a small amount of that as well. They definitely do not bring in the amount of light that they advertise, particularly in a large room or when the room has high ceilings. I was disappointed with the ones in my family room, as they do not bring in very much light. And you are right, the light is blue-ish, I think because the light is reflected off a metallic surface, it's not the same as it would be if it were coming in directly from a regular skylight or window. It's not truly "natural" light. I am considering painting the wood panelling in the FR a light color, and hoping that will make a difference as far as the darkness of that end of the room.

On the other hand, I am happy with the amout of light it brings in in the master bath. It's also blue-ish, but going from completely dark to a light as if I has a small window makes a huge difference. It is, however a small bathroom with 8ft ceilings and light colored tile, so there's lots of close, light surfaces for the new light to bounce off.

All that being said, it is not impossible to "undo" the suntunnel installation, but as newhomebuilder says, it'll cost ya'. Honestly, I would consider putting in a real skylight, if possible....there's nothing like real true natural light!

HTH!

I am not sure but I think there may be some differences between the velux one I got and the solatube. There weren't any solatube dealers in this area so I didn't look into them. Maybe those are the ones I have seen in the past that I liked. He said the patterning was from the tape etc inside the tube.

We have one, I think it's called "Tru Light", and love it. The light looks like natural daylight and it makes the entire bathroom bright. Our ceiling is 8' though, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Is there anything they can do to mediate the issues you're having?

I forgot to answer your question! Yes the ceiling can be repaired as well as the roof if you decide to take it out.

We had 9 Velux Skylights in one of our previous houses and had no problems with them. The quality of the fixture and the installation make a big difference. I would not hesitate to install skylights in any future house.

Thanks everyone for answering. After looking at the Solatube website, it looks like a much better product with different lens that give a more natural light. And, the tru-light looks interesting too. If only I had done more research before hand. But when you are building a new house...so many decisions and things to do, I let this go without the proper looking into. So...lets see, we did this to our new house without asking permission from the neighborhood czars like we were supposed to....and now that we have made a hole in the roof and somehow will have to patch outside and inside...the builders roof warranties are negated, I imagine. And, we paid $700 to get it put in and who knows how much to take it out and repair it. Whew. I am not good at this. Do you think I should ask the installing company to take it out if they even will - or just get a roofer to do it and fix the hole? I will try to get the installers first thing in the morning, and I will tell them that I am not satisfied, but I am not sure what to hope for from them. What do you think? On my side - The estimator recommended we put two in, saying it would make a difference, but when the other guy came to install, he said there's so much duct work in the ceiling , it would be hard to put the second one in. So, I said to just do one. I guess I could argue that point. Or just get over it and hire a roofer and pay. I really do appreciate all your ideas... And, for goodness sake before you get any of these, take a look at some installed in similar situations in someone elses house. I think some are great in the proper places.

I don't know anything about suntunnels or suntubes, but I do have 2 skylights. One is in a hallway, and one is in a bedroom. They are both great, and we haven't had any trouble with them. Ours are both fixed, meaning non-openable, but I am thinking of converting the one in the bedroom to a skylight that will open.

They bring natural light into what would be a dark hallway, and a dark bedroom. We installed shades on tracks on both of them, so that in the summer, when we don't want all the light and heat, it is a quick zip to darken them.

I would consider the conversion to a skylight if you want natural light in the area.

I've had a 3 x 5 skylight in my kitchen for 20 years, with never one problem. Installed correctly and correctly flashed, it should be trouble-free indefinitely.

We have a good sized fixed skylight in our kitchen...and it has never leaked. We've been in this home for 13 years...skylight came with the house and has been in place at least 15 years...perhaps longer.

You all are so helpful. I have tonight to decide whether or not to get it changed to a regular skylight or fix it all back. The man is coming to the house tomorrow and he told me on the phone that this is a first...in other words noone has ever been unhappy. Maybe. So...the ceiling where it would be is very high...a steeply sloping two story ceiling. So the skylight would be only about three feet from the roof. And, it would be very visible from everywhere...open floor plan. Do any of you have that kind of a situation? We had a regular skylight in our bathroom in our last house and I absolutely loved it...seeing the moon and stars at night. But, this is a different situation roomwise. I guess I am paranoid now after making such a bad decision. I do appreciate all the hand holding. :-)

I looked into these earlier and found this post on gardenweb. I will copy the solution and link the post Hope this helps:

Posted by siena_s_dad (My Page) on Wed, Dec 5, 07 at 14:52
Just want to report back the results of my experiment. Taking oruboris's advice, I consulted my photograher friend. He picked out the yellow Rosco lighting gel for me. It is a 24''x24'' thin square piece of film at a cost of $6.95 each. The staff at the Palo Alto photograhy store also agreed that yellow gel was the best to neutralize blue light. I went with it since our bathroom is painted yellow. There are many Rosco series. I just pick up whatever they have in store. You can also order online.
I had the contractors cut them and place them right over the diffuser. Lo and behold, the light coming down the celing warmed up instantly. There is about a 15% loss in the brightness. But the blue is gone and the tone is softer and warmer. Wife is happy.

So $14 and this board do the job of what would have been a $1,500 replacment. Thank you for helping, guys.

Here is a link that might be useful: blue light from sun tunnel

As is asked in the thread posted by kjmama, are you sure the installer removed the blue protective film after installation?

Gee thanks for doing research KJmama. I think he did take it off, but tomorrow when "the man" meets us at the house I will ask. Thanks for the info

marc_ia, I think I have the same Velux suntunnels as you do, and like I said in the earlier post, I seem to have the same problems. If it were me or I could do it all over (that is, if I had the time, patience, $$$, and courage to piss off DH with yet another project, lol!) I would have them changed to true skylights. I've never seen the solatubes in real life, and they weren't available to me when we put in the Velux's, but I'd be hesitant to switch to another brand based on the picture on the website. But if you remove the suntunnel altogether, you still have the original issue of darkness. Worth it to switch to something that's actually going to make you happy in the long run, right? Anyway, jmho....I hope it helps. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Oh, one more thought, to answer your other question....I think regular skylights would look fine in a room with high ceilings and open floorplan. I have a similar set-up at the other end of the FR. If you picture it like a long rectable, the far end (where we put the two suntunnels) has no windows & was comepletely dark, whereas the opposite end has a sliding glass door and two 2x4 "regular" skylights in a slightly angled ceiling. Now those two skylights, I love! =D

Can you switch to a Solatube? Ours has the "warm effect" lens, so no blue cast to the light, and certainly no weird patterns. We even have the optional light kit inside, but it still looks like an innocuous, normal round light on the ceiling.....

We have two Velux suntubes on our screened porch and we love them -- no blue light and no weird patterns and they do let in a lot of light. I didn't read all the comments so I don't know if anyone mentioned that where they are positioned (which direction) makes a difference in how much light you will get; (e.g., if it's in a darker, north-facing area of the roof, you won't get as much light in).

If they are more of an off-brand, you could have issues, or possibly the installation wasn't good? Good luck!

Thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions. The man came today and was nice. He said he would like us to be happy and said that he could take it out and patch the roof. He said he could use it in a display or something (i am guessing it will go in someone elses roof) and offered to give us back $425 of our $685. We will have to get someone to fix the ceiling. I wasn't expecting anything from him so that was nice. We said we would get someone to take it out since he cant do it for a couple weeks and he said he would rather do it so it isn't damaged. So...I think they are great in the right places but in our two story high ceiling it really didn't bring in much light besides looking weird. My bad. Thanks everyone.