Signs your skylight needs replacement
- Leaks around the frame that keep returning after resealing
- Fogging between glass panes, which means a failed insulated glass seal
- Cracked or crazed glazing, or yellowed and brittle acrylic domes
- Rotted wood frames or rusted curb flashing
- Heavy condensation, often from older single-pane units
- Venting skylights that no longer open, close or seal
Replace the flashing, not just the glass
If a skylight leaks, the flashing is usually at least partly to blame. Reusing old flashing with a new unit carries the problem forward. Our skylight replacements include removing the surrounding shingles or membrane, installing new ice-and-water membrane and a new manufacturer flashing kit, and tying the roofing back in. If the roof itself is aging, replacing skylights during a shingle roof replacement avoids patching new roofing around old units.
- Framed opening: headers carry the roof load around the cut rafters.
- Ice-and-water collar: self-adhered membrane sealed to the deck and up the curb, under all metal flashing.
- Head flashing on the uphill side tucks under the shingles above.
- Apron (sill) flashing on the downhill side lies over the shingles below, so water always flows onto the next layer down.
- Insulated, low-E glazing limits heat gain and condensation.
- Light shaft carries daylight to the room below.
Step flashing on the sides of the skylight, woven course by course with the shingles, is not visible in this section.
Upgrade options
Replacement is a chance to switch from fixed to venting units, add rain sensors, switch to low-E glazing to cut summer heat gain, or add blinds. If you are thinking about adding daylight elsewhere, see skylight installation. For leaks that are not coming from the skylight, start with roof repair.
The skylights local homes actually have
What we replace around Bethesda and North Bethesda falls into a few recognizable groups. The largest is acrylic dome and bubble units installed on ramblers, split-levels and mid-century homes from roughly the 1960s through the 1980s, often on site-built wooden curbs. Acrylic yellows, hazes and eventually crazes into fine cracks under decades of UV, so the light it delivers turns grey and the panel becomes brittle enough to fail under a falling limb. The curbs underneath are usually the real problem: built from framing lumber, flashed with mastic rather than metal woven into the shingle courses, and now soft at the corners. The second group is the first generation of fixed glass units on 1980s and 1990s additions, where the seals have failed and the glass is permanently fogged between panes.
The local timing argument is straightforward: replace skylights with the roof, not on their own. A modern unit comes with a flashing kit designed to integrate with the surrounding shingle courses or membrane, which means proper installation involves opening the roof around the opening. Doing that in the middle of a sound, recently replaced roof means cutting into good work. If a reroof is anywhere within a few years, doing both together costs far less than doing them separately, which is why we raise it when quoting roof replacement and shingle roof replacement. Our skylights overview explains how curb height and glazing choices differ between steep and low-slope roofs.
The upgrades worth paying for here are specific. Laminated or insulated glass with a solar-control coating handles our humid, high-sun summers far better than old clear acrylic, and it is quieter under heavy rain and safer under falling branches. Factory flashing kits matched to your exact roof pitch replace the site-built curb and mastic entirely. On porch roofs, rear additions and other low-slope surfaces, the replacement curb is built taller above the membrane than the original ever was, which is the single change that stops wind-driven rain from getting in; that work is coordinated with flat roof repair on the surrounding roof. One caution worth knowing before you spend money on a new unit: if the glass itself is sound and the staining appears at the corners of the shaft or on the ceiling nearby, the leak is likely in the flashing or the result of condensation in an unsealed shaft, in which case roof repair or a re-flash solves it, and a correctly specified skylight installation is what prevents a repeat.
Skylight Replacement across Bethesda, North Bethesda and Chevy Chase
We provide skylight replacement throughout southern Montgomery County, including Bethesda, MD (20814, 20816, 20817) , North Bethesda, MD (20852) , and Chevy Chase, MD (20815) . Each area page covers the housing types, permit considerations and storm history particular to that community.
Frequently asked questions
Can I replace a skylight without replacing my roof?
Yes. We remove and replace the roofing immediately around the skylight and blend it into the existing roof. If the roof is near the end of its life, replacing both together is usually more economical.
Is my skylight leaking, or is it condensation?
Condensation forms on cold glass when indoor humidity is high, often in bathrooms and in winter, and drips like a leak. A leak typically appears during or after rain and stains the shaft below the frame. We can tell the difference during an inspection.