Skylight Installation & Repair

Somewhere under most Georgetown skylights lives a homeowner who loves the light and half expects the drip. Fair enough: skylights earned that reputation in the era of acrylic bubbles and improvised flashing. A modern unit, flashed with its manufacturer kit by someone who installs them weekly, is not a leak waiting to happen. It is a roof penetration with better engineering than most of the roof around it.

Settle the diagnosis first

Most misbehaving skylights in this climate are not leaking. Winter mornings produce condensation drips when indoor humidity meets cold glass, common during hard freezes and gone by lunch. Flashing leaks behave differently, tracking rainfall and staining the corners of the light shaft. Fog trapped between the panes means the insulated glass seal has died and the unit is finished, no flashing work required. Each has a different fix, so watch the timing and the weather before calling anyone: a humidity problem costs nothing but a fan, a flashing leak is a targeted repair, and a dead seal is a replacement.

Curb mount or deck mount

The two families, in plain terms. A curb mounted skylight sits on a raised wooden box: the roof flashes to the box and the unit caps it like a lid, which makes future swaps simple because the lid lifts off. A deck mounted unit fastens directly into the roof plane, sits lower, and sheds water cleanly through a factory flashing kit. Either works on Georgetown roofs. What matters is the factory kit matched to your roofing material and installed complete, because improvised step flashing and mastic is where the horror stories come from. When you are replacing like for like, the existing style usually decides for you; changing styles adds framing work and cost.

The reroof rule

If a roof replacement is coming, every skylight past its warranty should be replaced in the same week. The reasons stack. Flashing has to come off during tear off anyway, and reusing tired flashing under new shingles undermines the new roof. The unit price sits at its lowest with crew and access already on site. And a 15 year old skylight under a brand new roof all but schedules a standalone project later, at standalone prices, through a finished ceiling. Roofers watch owners skip the swap to shave the quote, then meet them again at the first stain on the light shaft.

When repair is the right size

Not every symptom means replacement. Flashing rebuilds, gasket and seal service, shaft drywall repair, and blind or motor fixes all price like ordinary roof repair work. The dividing line is the glass and the factory seal: fogged panes, cracked glazing, or a failed unit seal mean the skylight itself is done, because those parts are the skylight. Bring photos of the shaft, the glass, and the exterior curb to the first call and you will get a straighter answer faster. A good roofer prices both paths and says plainly which side of the line yours is on.