THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 22, 1995 TAG: 9511210145
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Dick Culbreth's business is to bring light where there is darkness.
As the owner of Innovative Sky Lights, Culbreth spends his days selling and installing a new type of tubular skylight called Solatube.
``A lot of people have lived in dark rooms so long they don't realize they're living in a dark room,'' said Culbreth, 61. ``This product will light up a house like you won't believe.''
The ``product'' is a small round skylight that features a reflector in its clear dome top that captures natural light from dawn to dusk.
The reflector directs light down through the tube and through a diffuser that distributes the light evenly into the room.
The company claims each Solatube can light about 100 square feet of space.
Robert Keys installed two of the lights in the kitchen of his Kempsville home last summer.
``We had one small window before. You used to walk in and have to cut the light on,'' said Keys, a retired phone company employee. ``Now, when you walk into the room you think you've left a light on.''
An added bonus for Keys was that installing the device didn't cause structural damage to his roof.
The clear dome top juts out about a foot from the top or side of the house. The molded flashing, the part that surrounds the dome, comes in different styles to match the house and, because it's one piece, helps to direct water down the roof, Culbreth said.
The reflective flexible aluminum tubing allows it to be installed in walls or ceilings as far as 7 feet away from the light source.
Culbreth said the light that comes through the Solatube has little or no UV rays because of the diffuser and that it does not reflect heat into the home or office.
The product is warranted for 10 years and is guaranteed by the manufacturer not to leak or rust.
Installation takes two hours. Culbreth will either sell the customer the Solatube kit for do-it-yourself installation or he'll install the unit himself.
The cost for the skylight kit is $335. With Culbreth doing the installation, the cost is $435.
``It's an inexpensive way to bring natural light into your home or office,'' said Culbreth, who retired from the Virginia Port Authority as public relations director in 1991.
He opened his Innovative Sky Lights office off Witchduck Road in the Bonney Square Shopping Center in July. So far, he's sold about 125 Solatubes, mostly to folks who had them installed in dark bathrooms or room additions.
Currently, Culbreth is the only local distributor of the light. His area encompasses all of Hampton Roads down to North Carolina, up to Williamsburg and across to the Eastern Shore.
The company he formed to sell the new skylights is his own and not part of a franchise. He is considered a sub-dealer of the product and gets his materials from a dealer out of the Harrisonburg area. Solatube Inc. is based in Carlsbad, Calif.
Culbreth came across the new product when he read an article in a North Carolina newspaper. He spent three months checking into it and talking with other dealers before he decided to leave the full-time job as a real estate agent he'd had for two years.
``I was trying to find something different to do,'' said Culbreth, a Pennsylvania native who lives with his wife, Mary Anne, at the Oceanfront. ``It was a product that was innovative, would make life more enjoyable in the home or office and the price was right. It was something that people could afford.''
Culbreth said he looks at the Raleigh-Durham area as a model. The area's demographics closely mirror Hampton Roads and Culbreth said that the Solatube dealers in that area are installing and selling between 350 to 450 a month, an average he hopes to eventually reach.
So, when Culbreth answers the phone, ``Innovative Sky Lights, how can we brighten your day?'' he's not kidding. MEMO: Innovative Sky Lights is at 345 S. Witchduck Road. The phone number is
557-0034.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Dick Culbreth sells Solatubes, a tubular skylight that lets the sun
brighten a room.
by CNB