Resealing, reflashing and replacing skylights and roof access hatches on low-slope and pitched roofs across the area.
Fastest: call (833) 751-2102. Or send this and we call you back.
Most leaking skylights are not leaking through the glass. The water gets in at the curb, the flashing or the seal between unit and roof covering, which is why the repair is a roofing job. Philadelphia Roofing sends a local roofer to open the detail and find out which. Call (833) 751-2102.
A skylight or a roof hatch is a hole in the roof with a lid on it. Everything about keeping it dry happens at the edges: the curb it sits on, the flashing that marries it to the covering, and the way the membrane or shingles are dressed up against it.
On a low-slope rowhouse roof that detail has a harder life than on a pitched slope, because water does not run past it quickly. A curb that is too low, or a membrane upstand finished short, will leak whenever the roof holds water.
Access hatches have the same problem with an extra wrinkle: they get opened. Hinges, catches and seals wear, people stand on the curb climbing out, and the covering around a hatch takes foot traffic that the rest of the roof never sees.
Because the waterproofing is in the flashing, not the glazing. The unit is a lid; keeping water out depends on the curb height, the flashing laps and how the roof covering is dressed against it. A failed sealant bead or a short upstand leaks regardless of how good the glass is.
Sealant is the giveaway. Where a bead of mastic is doing the job a flashing should be doing, you have a detail that was never right and has simply reached the end of the caulk's life. Renewing the bead buys a season.
On a near-flat roof the standing water makes it worse. A curb that would be fine on a pitched slope is submerged for a few hours after a cloudburst on a roof falling a quarter inch per foot, and anything below the top of the upstand finds its way in.
Quite often, and the two look similar from inside. Condensation appears in cold weather, spread evenly across glass and frame, worst in bathrooms and kitchens, and can be heaviest when it has not rained. A leak follows rain and runs from a defined point, usually at one corner.
A skylight is the coldest surface in the room, so indoor moisture finds it first. Extract ventilation, how the light well is finished and whether the roof space around it has any airflow all feed into it.
That is why the first visit looks at the house as well as the roof. Where the problem is moisture rather than water ingress, attic and roof ventilation is the relevant page, and sealing the skylight harder would achieve nothing.
Reflash where the unit itself is sound, because the leak is nearly always in the detail around it. Replace when the glazing seal has failed and the panes have misted, the frame has distorted, or a hatch no longer closes against its seal. The curb is rebuilt either way if it is soft.
Replacing a unit without correcting the curb and the flashing is the common mistake: a new skylight on an old detail leaks in the same place as the old one. If a unit is coming out anyway, that is the moment to raise the curb on a low-slope roof.
Timing with other roof work helps. If the covering is due for renewal, the skylight detail is designed into a flat roof replacement or a shingle roof replacement rather than paid for twice.
Scope decides it. Resealing and reflashing an existing unit is maintenance; cutting a new opening is structural work and a different conversation with Licenses and Inspections. On a designated property, anything visible from the public right-of-way may also need Historical Commission review.
The Commission's roofs guidance favours work that is inconspicuous from the street, and a new unit on a street-facing slope is about as conspicuous as it gets. One behind a parapet, invisible from the pavement, is generally treated more simply. The Commission confirms for the address.
Outside the city, the township, borough or New Jersey municipality is the permit authority instead. Either way the question is asked before the saw comes out, not after. Our guide on roof permits in Philadelphia covers how the filing works.
Never put weight on a skylight or on the glazing of a hatch, and never assume an old unit will take a foot. People fall through rooflights, and on a low-slope roof a dusty skylight can look much like the deck around it. Keep off a roof to investigate a leak and do not lean out of a hatch to reach the detail around it. Inside, keep clear of a light well with water running down it if there are fittings nearby, and do not put a ladder up to a wet ceiling. Call (833) 751-2102 and have it opened up properly.
Water only in rain, following a path from one point, means a leak. Water in cold weather, spread over the glass and frame, usually means condensation, which is a ventilation and humidity question rather than a roofing one.
Water is introduced at the lowest part of the detail first, then progressively higher up the curb and flashing, with someone watching inside. That ordering is what identifies the actual entry point instead of confirming that the roof leaks somewhere.
The roofer lifts the covering and flashing around the unit to see the curb, the upstand height and the condition of the timber. Short upstands and sealant used in place of a flashing are the two most common findings.
A soft or rotten curb cannot hold a fixing or a seal, so it is repaired or rebuilt, often taller than it was, before new flashing goes on. On a low-slope roof the extra height is frequently the fix.
The detail is rebuilt with proper flashing and a dressed membrane upstand, or the unit is swapped if the glazing or frame has failed. Then it is wet tested again and the inside is checked before the roofer leaves.
The usual rowhouse arrangement: a unit sitting on a raised timber curb with the membrane turned up it. Height and the quality of the upstand are everything, because water sits around this detail rather than running past it.
On a shingled or slate slope the unit is flashed into the courses with a kit or with soldered metal, and water is moving past it quickly. Leaks here are usually at the head or at the side steps, and often date from an installation rather than from wear.
Access to a roof deck or for maintenance, with hinges, a lid seal and foot traffic on the covering around it. Hatch prevalence on this housing type is not something this site claims to know; what is clear is that where one exists, it is a detail that needs checking.
Tell us what's happening and we'll tell you honestly whether it's a quick fix, and what skylight and roof hatch repair should cost.
Rowhouses are deep and narrow, which is exactly why skylights exist here. A middle room with no outside wall gets its daylight from above, so skylights over stairwells and bathrooms are common across the rows of Queen Village and Bella Vista, South Philadelphia and Fishtown.
Newer infill changes the picture. Townhouse development in Northern Liberties and Fishtown often includes roof decks, and where there is a deck there is an access hatch or a stair bulkhead, with its own curb and flashing to keep dry.
Wind, not hail, is the local hazard to a lid on a roof. The Weather Service recorded microbursts gusting 60 to 70 mph crossing parts of the city within about half an hour, and a hatch or a skylight that is only held by tired hardware is what a gust like that catches first.
Repairs to flat and very low-slope membrane roofs on Philadelphia rowhouses, twins and converted buildings, starting at the drainage path.
Tracing a leak to its actual entry point on flat or pitched roofs, then repairing the detail that failed.
Intake and exhaust ventilation on pitched twins and suburban homes, including blocked soffits and moisture in the attic.
Stripping and rebuilding a low-slope roof on a rowhouse, twin or loft conversion, with the drainage and parapet details redesigned rather than reused.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Usually yes. Most repairs are reflashing work around a unit that stays in place, with the covering lifted and dressed back. The unit only comes out when the glazing or the frame has failed, or when the curb beneath it has to be rebuilt.
The seal on the glazing unit has failed and moisture has got into the cavity. That is a unit replacement rather than a roofing repair, though the flashing around it is worth correcting at the same time.
Occasionally as a temporary measure, to get through weather while a proper repair is arranged. As a permanent fix it fails, because sealant is being asked to do the job of a flashing and it has a much shorter life.
Partly. Hinges, catches and the lid seal are hardware, but a hatch that no longer sits square usually has a curb that has moved or softened, and that is roof work. Both get looked at together.
It is a common request on a deep plan with dark middle rooms. It involves structure and the roof covering, so it is a design and permit question rather than a repair, and the curb height has to suit a roof that holds water.
Yes. A stair bulkhead onto a roof deck has walls, a small roof of its own and a door threshold, and all three are waterproofing details. They are inspected as part of the roof rather than as joinery.