The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum
"Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"

Roof Cleaning New Jersey · Oct 15, 2010

My First Leaking Skylight

Chowell77 · Guest

I'm not sure but just a theory here. We install skylights using a double sided butyl tape on the base flashing to keep it from leaking if water penetrated the flashing. I'm wondering if maybe the love could eat away any sealants used to waterproof it? Is it a curb mounted skylight or a self flashing unit?

guest

Ed so many people have leaks with their skylights that they are doing away with them, they are generally nothing but a problem.

Guest

Man sorry to hear that ED! We have not run in to this yet, But I tell the customer before we do work that in no way does our NON-pressure roof treatment cause leaks, raise shingles etc. If a leak happens we did not do anything to the roof to cause this. It was already there we just happen to find it.

I was thinking about putting it in our contract?

Roof Cleaning New Jersey · Oct 15, 2010

The structure if the installation looked pretty tight. There is no real defense when something never leaked, you're the guy standing on the roof with a hose and now it's leaking. The guy was at work. The wife discovered it and thankfully she didn't flip out. He sent me an email and noted our crew handled it professionally. One for the lesson book.

Roof Cleaning New Jersey · Oct 15, 2010

Chowell77 wrote:

I'm not sure but just a theory here. We install skylights using a double sided butyl tape on the base flashing to keep it from leaking if water penetrated the flashing. I'm wondering if maybe the love could eat away any sealants used to waterproof it? Is it a curb mounted skylight or a self flashing unit?

Dude it could of been a 4 speed with fuel injection and I wouldnt know the difference.

SEE OUR WORK HERE!!! · Guest

Hey Ed,

With the rain we had in the area recently, I am getting alot of calls for leaks where the homeowners never had leaks before. The amount of rain and direction of wind blowing could result in a once in a lifetime leak that only leaked because of these perfect conditions, if this is the case you may not directly be the cause of the leak but it probably isn't worth the arguement with the homeowner. I would of most likely took responsibility also, that kind of commitment goes a long way with the customer, they don't want to hear it's not your fault, they just want it taken care of.

Roof Cleaning New Jersey · Oct 15, 2010

It looks pretty solid

guest

ED while we was in Charleston You owed my 5.00 bucks and it was like pulling teeth to get it out of you, and you just open your wallet to a stranger? I need my roof cleaned too. biggrin

-- Edited by Roof Cleaning NJ on Friday 15th of October 2010 05:43:57 PM

Guest

It is a curb mounted sky light and looks like its in good condition. If the leak is coming in from the top of the skylight it could be that the water is puddling up on the back on top of the roof, when the roofing company I sold roofs for installed a skylight we always built up the back section of the roofing a bit so the water would drain off the shingle kinda like a v that usually prevented any water from puddling and then wind blowing water back under the shingle and leaking in the skylight. I hope that makes sense. well good luck with that one.

Chowell77 · Guest

I'm sorry for your misfortune with this one. It got me to thinking about someothing though and I'm wondering if anyone knows the answers or how to find them? With all the various sealants used on roofs (Elastomeric, Silicone, Tar, plastic cement etc etc) how does the love interact with those or does it?

Roof Cleaning New Jersey · Oct 15, 2010

Roof Cleaning NJ wrote:

ED while we was in Charleston You owed my 5.00 bucks and it was like pulling teeth to get it out of you, and you just open your wallet to a stranger? I need my roof cleaned too.

-- Edited by Roof Cleaning NJ on Friday 15th of October 2010 05:43:57 PM

This job was over 700. Im hoping the repair is under $200. If I walk away with 5 and change I'll consider it a win. If I argue I can wind up with nothing plus a bill for skylight repair. Do you think Judge Judy would take your side on this one?

guest

Roof Cleaning New Jersey wrote:

Roof Cleaning NJ wrote:

ED while we was in Charleston You owed my 5.00 bucks and it was like pulling teeth to get it out of you, and you just open your wallet to a stranger? I need my roof cleaned too.

-- Edited by Roof Cleaning NJ on Friday 15th of October 2010 05:43:57 PM

This job was over 700. Im hoping the repair is under $200. If I walk away with 5 and change I'll consider it a win. If I argue I can wind up with nothing plus a bill for skylight repair. Do you think Judge Judy would take your side on this one?

Ed your right,

-- Edited by Roof Cleaning NJ on Friday 15th of October 2010 07:55:31 PM

Ugly Shingles LLC · Oct 15, 2010

It looks like a velux skylight. We use ice guard all around it to help seal them even though it is not necessary. The skylight does not look that old, I am surprised that the soft-wash was able to find a way in? If soft-wash can find a way in then a hard rain can, but that don't matter now.

I could see it leaking if the guys rinsed with water or if the skylight was improperly installed?

That is a main reason I do not like to rinse because you are shooting water at the roof at different angles that it’s not use to, just asking for trouble. not saying that the guys rinsed just making a statement.

It looks like your stuck between a rock and a hard place with only one way out!

A few hundred bucks to durabond 20, prime and re-paint the ceiling. The big question is the leak make sure to hire someone responsible to seal it or you will be fixing the ceiling forever or replacing the skylight... yuk!

Good luck Ed

velux

-- Edited by Bob Jr on Friday 15th of October 2010 11:18:37 PM

Bud Fogleman · Guest

New to the forum but not to skylights and roofing. If you did hit it with forced water from the bottom up it definitely could have allowed water to leak in. If the skylight (yes, a Velux) was installed properly it will have no sealant, depending on when it was installed it may have ice & water shield wrapping it to provide a secondary line of defence against wind driven rain and ice damming.

FYI...newer Velux skylight are date stamped on the glass and come with a 10 year leak warranty covering each light with up to $1000 in replairs....the newer ones should not leak. period.

No damage can be seen in the photo, everything looks to be in tack and the lowest piece of flashing (the apron or bib) is exposed which allows water to freely flow (beware of any 'buried' flashings (skylight, chimneys, pipe collars...). If the lowest side is buried it can build up with dirt and cause a dam, water gathers behind the dirt dam and capillary action kicks in, hence a leak. I haven't fixed one of these for 2 days now, I see it alot.

Very likely your skylight will function properly under normal weather conditions.

One last thing, take notice to the exposure at the bottom of the shingles. The bottom of the exposed edge should come to the top of the 'cut out', the installation is poor due to the shingles being held up too high. Not a real big deal but keep in mind that if the guys putting it on couldn't get that right they may have missed some other things. (I'm repairing one of these issues next week)

Hope I helped

Guest

Bud Fogleman wrote:

New to the forum but not to skylights and roofing. If you did hit it with forced water from the bottom up it definitely could have allowed water to leak in. If the skylight (yes, a Velux) was installed properly it will have no sealant, depending on when it was installed it may have ice & water shield wrapping it to provide a secondary line of defence against wind driven rain and ice damming.

FYI...newer Velux skylight are date stamped on the glass and come with a 10 year leak warranty covering each light with up to $1000 in replairs....the newer ones should not leak. period.

No damage can be seen in the photo, everything looks to be in tack and the lowest piece of flashing (the apron or bib) is exposed which allows water to freely flow (beware of any 'buried' flashings (skylight, chimneys, pipe collars...). If the lowest side is buried it can build up with dirt and cause a dam, water gathers behind the dirt dam and capillary action kicks in, hence a leak. I haven't fixed one of these for 2 days now, I see it alot.

Very likely your skylight will function properly under normal weather conditions.

One last thing, take notice to the exposure at the bottom of the shingles. The bottom of the exposed edge should come to the top of the 'cut out', the installation is poor due to the shingles being held up too high. Not a real big deal but keep in mind that if the guys putting it on couldn't get that right they may have missed some other things. (I'm repairing one of these issues next week)

Hope I helped

Bud, That is great info thank. Also welcome to the forum. We look foward to your roofing knowledge and we are here to help you with the cleaning side of course after you do your homework though.

Oct 15, 2010

Ed thats a tough break but I agree you have no choice. Did you guys rinse the roof? We may want to inspect the inside ceilings of homes with skylights in the future { when possible }just to see if there is already a water stain...

Roof Cleaning New Jersey · Oct 15, 2010

Thanks for all of the feedback guys. This leak came to light before any rinsing of the skylights tok place. I didnt rinse with any pressure. I used my soft truck brush that I use for gutters by dunking into fresh water and basically a wipe down. Again Im glad I handled it properly and it was noted. This is the email I recieved earlier:

Ed,

Thank you for the e-mail. My wife did inform me about the damage - I agree that it is strange. A decent amount of plaster fell from the skylight (see attached photo). We will have the handyman repair, he is fairly inexpensive and I cannot imagine that it will take long to fix. I will obtain a receipt from him for the work and submit to you along with our payment, with the repair costs deducted.

Your crew was very professional about the matter.

Thank you,

Jeff

guest

Bud is their any way our cleaners could have any negative effect on any type of sky lights? If we are simply applying cleaners how could we possibly be at fault for a leaking sky light, I don't see how as long as you didn't rinse.

If Ed didn't rinse and drive water upwards how could he of been responsible?

Grizzly · Guest

I think Booz said he had a leak after cleaning away a heavy buildup of GM. Maybe it was clogging the void?

The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum "Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"

The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum
"Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"