What to Know About Installing Flashing on a Skylight

If you ever find yourself installing a skylight on a property, your team is going to instantly realize how vitally important the waterproofing step is. At its core, installing a skylight is compromising the original roof, but proper installation can leave it as good as new, except with more natural sunlight streaming into a commercial space. The process of installing flashing on a new skylight (or reinstalling it on an old or leaky one) is a satisfying job that ensures roofing is as good as new when you’re done. Skylight repair in Springfield, MA is a specialty of R & H Roofing, LLP, so we’re happy to offer some quick tips on our process that can help inform yours:

• Remove shingles: First and foremost, you need to clear the space on the roof where you’re going to be working. Use a pry bar to break the seal with shingles on top, and then start loosening the nails and pull them as you go. Be careful to not damage the other layers of the roof during this process, and make sure that you’re working from the top of the skylight down as you go.
• Remove the skylight: Next, you want to carefully lift the skylight off so you can take a look at the curb, which is the surrounding lumber on which the skylight rests. Skylight repair in Springfield, MA is largely contingent on paying attention to these types of steps—make sure all materials are in top working order before you continue on to the next step.
• Repair curb as needed: The curb of the skylight can deteriorate over time, so if the lumber needs replacing due to rot or wear, then now is the time to do it. You can easily replace the curb with some simple carpentry, and at this point you can also consider adding another layer to the curb, which can make the flashing far easier to work with.
• Peel and stick: Next, you want to add the peel-and-stick membrane. This needs to be done in a very specific order. Start at the bottom, then work your way up both sides, finishing up on the top portion of the skylight.
• Install metal flashing: When you finally install the metal flashing itself, the lesson from the previous step also applies. You need to apply it in a specific order if it is to function properly and effectively, so again you want to start at the bottom, then go up the sides and finish up on the top of the window.

Skylight repair in Springfield, MA is a vitally important job, because maintaining the integrity of the roof is one of the most important ways in which you can care for a structure. At R & H Roofing, LLP, we are proud to have this responsibility and consider ourselves industry leaders in diligence and professionalism. We are always happy to talk and exchange ideas with our colleagues, so feel free to give us a call any time if you have any questions about skylight repair.

Categorised in: Skylight Repair

This post was written by Writer