@ chookchook2 Very funny play on words! What about some of those lizards with suction caps on their feet...or frogs...although not mammals, still animals, they walk up vertical surfaces...and...just to make this light...in Charleville, Far Nth Qld. big green frogs live under the rims of toilets and.....yep, I screamed my lungs out when a couple attached themselves to my bare behind! I was the brunt of jokes at the pub for weeks! @ Luke Buckle....still copies of animal skins...what is it with people who need to have what I regard as a "trophy of the kill" on their wall or wear the skin...even if its imitation? Crocodile skin shoes? UGH. Fake Lepoard skin trim on boots...double UGH...Graphics of animal skins to stick on things? Still don't like the idea. Have a friend here at present...she likes the patterns and has a leopard skin patterned dress and a pair of boots.....I asked her what the attraction was....just the pattern, she loves animals, especially cats...but still there's this hunter thing....don't get it but each to his/her own. Glad I'm not married to a man who loves animal kill trophies..couldn't stand it. But then...I buy only leather shoes and I eat meat and love leather upholstered furniture...where do I think that comes from? MMMM Tis a puzzlement! Could never come at a real animal skin on the floor...but I like my lambswool underlay and my wooly sheepskin mat????? Double standard hypocrit? Pot calling the kettle?

Can understand it fills in the green untill it grows, but surely theree better ways to screen untill then. If a complete block out is needed, I'd go a rock wall, even a rock cladding, or buy established plants! I do know someone who is planning on putting a fake grass rug into their garage! It will double as a summer room, so I like that. Walls? There might be a reason you don't see this often :)

Ours never leaked. We'd installed it, then lived in the house 7yr. The previous skylight was leaking badly when we bought the house, it was one of those plastic dome ones- revolting. It was pretty easy to work out why the flashing had corroded in the old skylight- it was chock full of leaf compost. After that- every year the husband would get up and clean the roof gutters and the gutter of the skylight. Like anything regular maintenance will prevent leaks. I'm not sure what the rules are with cyclone-zones. Velux are made from toughened glass. I'm sure their website would give you this detail. Yeah- they get dirty, then it rains and they are clean again! At one stage we got a little bit of lichen growing, but then in Summer it died and just went away! The dirt/dust never bothered us....it's not like you walk around staring up all the time. It doesn't lessen the impact of the extra light and height.

We installed a skylight over shower (velux fixed) in a tiny ensuite and I would highly recommend. It looked absolutely amazing and was heavenly to shower under the sky. We only had the house for a year and sold it (about to install another skylight over shower in our new house), so I can't comment on the long term, but no mould problems or condensation drips. I think if anything the sunlight was actually helpful to dry up moisture. We live in Tasmania so I'd doubt condensation dripping would be a problem elsewhere. We had a fan installed not in the cavity with the skylight but just on the ceiling next to it. In the second bathroom we put in a skylight over bath and put an extractor in the skylight cavity as the ceiling was higher. Could not feel a draught- so I think the question of where to put fan really depends on ceiling height. Do the skylight over shower!! You will not regret it. It really takes your bathroom to another level and there are really no maintenance problems if installed properly with custom flashings. I found velux quite repellent of dirt etc, we did not need to clean after a year (one flat roof skylight, one very large sloped) and I have seen velux skylights looking great with no cleaning for 7 years plus.