Published on January 22, 2014 in Roofing, Skylights Comments Off on Skylights Get A Bad Name
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Skylights Get A Bad Name

Are skylights a good idea? This is a common question. Skylights get a bad name from installer error 95% of the time.
This is what gives skylights a bad name. This skylight was designed for a shingled roof. The velux skylight leaked from the day it was installed. It was installer error. The roof cement on the sides was the way a few handyman tried to fix the leak. It is a temporary fix. Installing the correct skylight is the only permanent solution.

Wrong Style Skylight Installed

Here we are removing the old skylight. Taking a little time to plan exactly where the curb will sit, saves a lot of time and makes for a nicer looking job.

Time To Remove Old Skylights.

We installed a 6” curb for this roof. On a flatter pitch 8” is recommended. This makes sure no water will makes it way under the skylight.

This is where the planning shows. The roofing material fits around the new curb. We can flash the curb without fixing the deck sheet. We screwed the new curb to the roof deck using deck screws.

Frame Curb-mounted Skylight With 2×6 Lumber

Because of the weather conditions we chose to flash the skylight in with edpm rubber. Cold process asphalt roll roofing would have been used if it were late spring or summer. We used uncured edpm so that we could use roof cement to tie the two different materials together.

Flash curb with edpm rubber.

Velux curb mounted skylight designed for flat roofs.

The skylight is installed on top of the curb. Screws are used to fasten the skylight to the curb. The picture below shows  the roof cement with embedded cotton fabric. The cotton fabric embedded in the roof cement keeps the roof cement from cracking from expansion and contraction from the temperature changes.
The difference in size from the old skylight to the new skylight was minimal. The inside could be finished off with a piece of quarter round molding. This also saved the added expense of having a custom fit skylight made. If you install larger or smaller size skylights you will also have to do structural framing and change some of the insulation. These changes will also add to the cost of installation.

If there is not a stock size to fit your existing opening, we can have one custom-made to fit. These custom fit skylights are very reasonable. The biggest difference is lead time in having custom skylights made and delivered.

No more worries. No more buckets. No more slipping on the wet tile floor. Let it rain. Let it rain.

Finished Velux Curb-Mounted Skylight