Aluminum-framed skylight tilted open on a shingle roof under blue sky

Skylight repair in Lewisville, TX

Skylight repair usually means the flashing around the unit. The glass gets blamed for it.

Skylight leak

Photograph the ceiling around the skylight and a roofer knows where to start.

What leaks

Skylight repair in Lewisville, TX usually means flashing

A skylight is a hole cut in a roof, and everything about keeping it dry happens at the edges. The unit itself rarely fails first; the flashing kit, the curb it sits on and the seal at the glazing all fail sooner, which is why a leaking skylight so often gets replaced when it did not need to be.

Proving where the water comes in is the difference between a repair that lasts and a new unit that leaks in exactly the same place.

The flashing kit: the metal skirt tying the unit into the shingle courses
The curb: the raised frame the unit sits on, and the deck around it
The glazing seal: the perimeter of the glass, which is usually the last thing to go

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Metal flashing frames a rectangular skylight built into a gray shingle roof

Scope

Curb, flashing kit, glazing seal and the deck around a Lewisville skylight

Four failure points, in the order they usually go. Working through them in order keeps a repair from becoming a replacement.

01Flashing kit: Head, sill and step pieces woven into the shingles. Most skylight leaks live here, and a kit matched to the unit matters.
02The curb: The raised frame around the opening. Rot in the curb means the repair is carpentry before it is roofing.
03Glazing seal: The perimeter seal at the glass. On older units this hardens and lets water past, which is a genuine reason to replace.
04Deck around the opening: Checked once the flashing is off, because a long-running leak damages sheathing before it shows inside. Soft sheathing found here turns a flashing repair into carpentry.
05Interior shaft: The lined well between the roof and the ceiling. Staining here often maps where the water has been traveling.
06Condensation: Not a leak at all. A poorly ventilated shaft drips in winter, and it wants ventilation instead.

Whoever makes the repair carries the workmanship warranty on it.

How it is found

The leak gets proven before the unit is blamed

Water testing, in order, so the replacement decision rests on evidence. Each stage rules out a cause before the next one is tried. A leak here is usually flashing, not glass, and the unit is cheapest to swap during a replacement.

Step one

The interior staining is read

Where it appears in the shaft points at which side of the unit water is arriving from.

Step two

The flashing is inspected

Head and step pieces, the laps, and whether the kit was ever the right one for this unit.

Step three

The unit is water-tested

Run in sections, low to high, so the entry is isolated rather than assumed.

Step four

Repair or replace, on the finding

Flashing repair where the unit is sound, replacement where the glazing seal or the curb has gone.

What to watch for

A Lewisville skylight leak looks like a roof leak from below

The stain rarely sits directly under the unit, which is why the glass gets blamed for it. Roof leak repair covers the wider tracing when the skylight turns out to be innocent.

A ring on the ceiling below the shaft that darkens after rain
Condensation between the panes that never clears
Daylight or a draft at the edge of the frame
Staining down one side of the light well only
Flashing that has lifted at the uphill corner

Two jobs, one symptom

A skylight leak prices on whether the glass or the curb failed

Two very different jobs share one stain on the ceiling. A roofer opens the flashing to see which it is before quoting either one.

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A failed seal at the frame is flashing work, not glazing work
A failed unit means the skylight is replaced, and the opening reframed if it has moved
Deck rot around the curb is common, and only shows once the shingles come back
Age matters: a unit near the end of its life is rarely worth reflashing twice

On a roof here

Hail finds a Lewisville skylight before it finds the field

The unit and its flashing stand proud of the roof, which puts them in the way of whatever comes down. A roofer water-tests the unit before replacing anything.

01Flashing first: Most skylight leaks come from the metal around the unit; the glass is usually innocent.
02The curb: Rot around the opening only shows once the shingles come off.
03After a storm: An impact can craze a pane without breaking it, and that shows up later.

Good to know

Resealing, replacing, and doing it during a tear-off

The ones that come up early. One of them saves real money if it comes up before the roof work is booked.

Can the skylight just be resealed?

Sometimes, and only where the failure is a seal. Sealant applied over failed flashing is the same short-lived non-repair it is on a chimney, and it makes the proper fix harder to reach later.

Should I replace it while the roof is being done?

If the unit is old, almost certainly. Replacing a skylight during a re-roof costs far less in labor than doing it alone, because the surrounding shingles are already off. A twenty-year-old unit under a new roof is a leak scheduled for later.

Is it the glass or the flashing?

Flashing, on the balance of cases. Water testing settles it in an hour, and it is worth doing before buying a unit that may not have been the problem.

My skylight drips only in winter. Is that a leak?

Often that is condensation rather than a leak. Warm moist air meeting cold glass in a poorly ventilated shaft produces water that behaves like a leak and is not one. The cure is ventilation, and a roofer should be able to tell the two apart.

Can a skylight be removed and roofed over?

Yes, and it is a legitimate answer when a unit has failed repeatedly and the room can spare the light. The opening is framed, decked and roofed to match, and the ceiling below is closed up.

Brown shingle roof and covered porch on a cream two-story house

The next step

Photograph the ceiling around it, not just the glass

The staining in the shaft carries the evidence. Where it appears tells a roofer which side of the unit water is arriving from, which narrows the test before anyone is on the roof.

Prefer to talk? Call now: (469) 240-5301

Repair or replace is your call, so take the finding and think it over.

Skylight leak

Show the shaft and the ceiling, and a roofer works out which seal failed.