Skylight Installation and Repair

Skylight installation is a roofing operation first

Skylight installation is a roofing operation first and a window operation second. The unit matters, but the flashing kit, curb detailing, underlayment integration, and placement relative to rafters and valleys decide whether it stays dry for twenty years.

We help you choose the right unit and placement, explain what the install involves, and the work is installed through our trusted partner network, with the flashing documented in photos before it disappears under shingles.

A wet ceiling near a skylight has

A wet ceiling near a skylight has four possible causes: the unit seal, the flashing, condensation, or the roof above it sending water down. Skylight repair starts by finding which one it actually is, because replacing a skylight to fix a roof leak solves nothing.

We diagnose the source, photograph it, and fix what needs fixing. If the skylight is fine and the flashing failed, you will know. If the unit itself has failed seals, we will show you and lay out repair versus replacement honestly.

Step flashing at the sides

When a skylight leaks, the assumption is usually that the unit has failed. Occasionally that is true. Far more often the glass and the frame are fine and water is entering around them, through the assembly that ties the skylight into the roof surface. That distinction is the difference between a modest repair and a full replacement, so it is worth getting right before anyone orders anything.

A skylight is a hole in a roof with a curb around it, and the sides are shingled against that curb in overlapping steps. When a previous roof was installed over old flashing rather than through new flashing, the steps stop working in the order they were designed to work. This is the single most common cause we find.

The head flashing at the top. Water arriving from uphill has to be diverted around the skylight, and the top edge takes the whole load. A head flashing that was face-nailed, sealed rather than lapped, or crushed during a previous repair will pass water every time it rains hard enough.

The seal between glass and frame. This does fail, and on units past roughly twenty years it is a reasonable suspicion. It shows differently: condensation between panes, or a leak that appears without rain when humidity swings.

Condensation mistaken for a leak. A cold glass surface in a humid Texas attic produces water that runs down the frame and drips exactly like a leak. It correlates with temperature rather than weather. If the drip appears on clear mornings and not during storms, this is usually why, and no amount of resealing will fix it.

Repair makes sense

The honest answer depends on three things: the age of the unit, whether the glass seal is intact, and whether the roof around it is due for replacement anyway.

when the unit is sound, the glass is clear, and the water is entering at the flashing. Rebuilding the flashing correctly is real work, but it is a fraction of a replacement and it lasts.

Replacement makes sense when the seal has failed, the frame is deformed, or the unit is old enough that reflashing a component near the end of its life means doing the work twice.

Timing matters more than either. If the roof is being replaced within a couple of years, replacing the skylight during that job is dramatically cheaper than doing it alone, because the surrounding roof is open anyway. If the roof has fifteen years left, the skylight gets treated on its own schedule.

What we will not do is decide that from the ground. A skylight leak is diagnosed at the skylight, with photographs of what is actually there, and the report tells you which of the four causes above you have.

The curb is built, not improvised

A skylight is one of the few roof penetrations where the installation detail matters more than the product. A good unit flashed badly leaks. A modest unit flashed correctly does not.

The skylight sits above the plane of the roof so that water moves around it rather than against it. A unit mounted flat to the deck is relying entirely on sealant, and sealant is a consumable.

The flashing kit matches the unit and the roof covering. Manufacturers supply flashing designed for their own frames and for the profile of the material it is going into. Shingle flashing on a tile roof, or a generic kit adapted on site, is where callbacks come from.

Underlayment is carried up the curb. The layer beneath the shingles is the actual water barrier. If it stops at the deck instead of turning up the curb, the assembly depends on the top layer being perfect forever.

Every stage is photographed. Deck condition before the unit goes in, the underlayment turn-up, the flashing sequence, and the finished detail. You receive that record. If a problem appears in five years, there is evidence of what was underneath.

Cost depends on the unit, the roof covering, the pitch, whether a curb has to be rebuilt, and whether the work is standalone or part of a larger job. For a figure specific to your roof, ask Shepherd AI, which can size the job from your address and tell you what is driving the number.

Hail is the risk people underestimate

Within ten miles of Round Rock the NOAA Storm Events archive records 219 hail events between 2000 and 2026, 71 of them at sizes generally associated with roof damage, with a largest recorded stone of 4.0 inches. Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 10 mile radius, 2000-01-01 to 2026-12-31. Modern skylight glazing is tougher than most homeowners expect, but the flashing and the frame take impacts too, and damage there is easy to miss while attention is on the glass.

Heat is the slower problem. A skylight assembly cycles through a wide temperature range every summer day. Sealant hardens, fasteners work, and the joint between two materials that expand at different rates is where that shows first. It is a large part of why a twenty year old installation starts weeping without any single event to blame.

Sun exposure is a comfort question as much as a leak question. South and west facing skylights deliver considerable heat gain in a Texas summer. If a room has become uncomfortable, glazing choice and shading are worth discussing before assuming the unit is faulty.