Skylights · Salt Lake City & surrounding counties
Skylight Repair
Fixing the flashing around a skylight that has started to let go.
What skylight repair involves
We pull the shingles back, rebuild the flashing correctly and reweave.
Most skylight leaks are flashing failures, not glass failures.
What matters on skylight repair
Sequence, not sealant
A skylight stays dry because the flashing kit was installed in the manufacturer’s sequence and the shingles were woven around it in the right order. Every skylight leak we have chased was a sequence that got rushed.
Doing it during a re-roof
The cheapest time to deal with a skylight is while the surrounding roof is already off. Flashing can be set properly instead of worked around.
We work Salt Lake City & surrounding counties, 9 counties in all, with 27 years in the trade and the last 8 as Hancock Signature.
How the system goes together
Ice-and-water shield, and where it goes
This is the single most important membrane on a Utah roof. It is a self-adhering sheet that seals around nail shanks, and it belongs at the eave, in every valley, and around every penetration.
The eave measurement people get wrong
Code language is about coverage past the interior wall line, not a flat number of feet. On a house with deep overhangs that means more courses than a builder might assume.
Valleys get it too
A valley carries water from two planes. It gets the membrane whether anybody asks for it or not.
Pipe boots and roof penetrations
The rubber collar around a plumbing vent is the shortest-lived thing on most roofs. Ultraviolet at this elevation cracks that rubber long before the shingles are tired, and the crack sits directly over an open hole in the deck. Lead boots or a metal collar with a replaceable seal last considerably longer.
Everything that comes through gets a plan
Furnace flues, swamp cooler curbs, satellite mounts, solar standoffs. Each one is a hole somebody has to detail correctly.
What we check
- Curb height and condition
- Flashing kit installed in the maker’s sequence
- Decking around the opening
- Condensation staining on the inside frame
How we approach it
Look first
We get on the roof and read what is actually happening before quoting anything.
Say what we find
Photographs and a plain explanation, including when the answer is that you do not need us yet.
Built in sequence
Crews we hire and run, working the right detail in the right order.
Leave it clean
Magnet over the yard, container gone, walked with you.
Hail does not always look like damage
Hail here can be pea sized and harmless or big enough to bruise a mat. A bruise is a soft spot where the granules are knocked loose and the fiberglass underneath is fractured. You cannot see it from the ground, and from a ladder you often have to feel for it with a thumb.
Soft metal tells the truth
Before we call a roof hit, we check the soft metals: vents, gutter aprons, the fins on a swamp cooler. Dents there are the honest record of what fell.
A slide onto a walkway
A loaded slope above a front door or a side path is a safety matter before it is a roofing one. Snow releases in one piece, and a hundred pounds landing on a step is how people get hurt. It also tears at the gutter on the way past and bends the hangers out of the fascia.
Fixing it means changing the geometry
Retention hardware, or a small roof over the entry to break the fall, or moving the path. Something has to change, because the slope will keep doing what slopes do.
Where roofs go wrong
The shortcut we see most
A skylight flashed with sealant instead of the manufacturer’s kit, or the kit installed out of sequence with the shingle courses.
What good looks like instead
Curb built, kit installed in sequence, shingles woven around it so water is shed over the flashing rather than into it.
Signs worth a look
- Staining on the interior frame or surround
- Condensation between the panes
- Shingles lifted or loose around the curb
- Sealant cracked or peeling at the flashing
What to expect
Choosing a unit
Fixed, vented and tubular units solve different problems. The right answer depends on the room below, the roof pitch and whether ventilation is wanted as well as light.
Doing it with the roof
The cheapest time to install or replace a skylight is during a re-roof, while the surrounding field is already off and the flashing can be integrated properly.
Expected life
The unit outlasts its flashing detail in most failures we are called to. Getting the flashing right at install is what determines how long it stays dry.
Related work
Skylights covers more than one job, and they are not interchangeable. These are the others in the same family, each on its own page.
Questions we get asked
Not the question you had? Call the shop and ask a person. We would rather talk it through than have you guess from a website.
(801) 382-8898Do skylights always leak eventually?
No. They leak when the flashing sequence was rushed. Installed in the right order with the manufacturer’s kit, they stay dry.
Can you replace a skylight during a re-roof?
That is the best time to do it, while the surrounding shingles are already off and the flashing can be woven in properly.
How do I know when a roof is getting close?
Granules collecting in the gutters, tabs lifting or curling at the edges, shingles that look bare in patches, and daylight or staining in the attic. Any of those is worth a look.
How long does a roof replacement take?
Most houses in this valley are a one to two day job once the crew is on site. Steeper pitches, multiple layers to strip and complicated roofs with a lot of valleys take longer, and we tell you which yours is before we start.
What happens if you find bad decking?
We show you. The decking is only visible during a tear-off, so that is when soft sheathing gets found and replaced. We photograph it rather than just add it to a list.
What makes a Utah roof different?
Snow load, ice at the eaves, canyon wind and high-altitude sun, all on the same roof. A crew that learned roofing somewhere mild has to learn it again up here.
Talk to Hancock
Ask about skylight repair
Call (801) 382-8898 or send a note. We will look at the roof and tell you straight what it needs.