Not every leaking skylight needs to be torn out. Sometimes the fix is small. We would rather tell you that than sell you a replacement you do not need. As a glazing company, the repairs we do are the ones that involve the skylight itself, the glass, the seal, the unit, not your roof.
What we can usually repair
A failed seal on an insulated glass unit
If you see fog or moisture trapped between two panes of glass, the seal has gone. On custom architectural skylights, we can sometimes replace just the failed glass and bring it back to clear. Factory-sealed units, VELUX skylights and dome skylights, are sealed at the factory and cannot be opened up this way, so on those, replacement is the answer. We will tell you which situation you are in.
Cracked or broken glass
On a custom architectural skylight, a cracked pane in an otherwise good frame can often be replaced without replacing the whole unit. This is common after impact, a branch, a ball, foot traffic from another trade on the roof. On factory-sealed units this is not an option, a cracked dome or a cracked VELUX pane means replacing the unit.
Worn hardware on venting skylights
Venting skylights have operators, motors, and seals that wear out. Often the glass is fine and only the mechanism needs attention.
What is usually not a repair
Yellowed, brittle acrylic domes are not worth repairing. Once plastic has gone cloudy and stiff from decades of sun, there is nothing to fix, the material itself is spent. That is a replacement. And if water is getting in around a skylight that is otherwise sound, the problem may be the roof, not the skylight, which is a job for your roofer.
A typical call: A homeowner in Pasadena with a single cracked pane in a double-pane skylight, otherwise solid. Some companies quote a full replacement. We replaced the glass, kept the frame, and the cost was a fraction of a new unit.
Repair or replace?
The honest answer depends on the unit, its age, and what is wrong. A newer skylight with one broken pane is worth repairing. A forty-year-old yellowed dome is not. We help you decide. See repair vs. replace for how we think about it.
What it typically costs
Pricing depends entirely on what the job actually is, a glass replacement on a custom unit, a hardware repair, or a small fix that turns out to need more once we are up there. We do not advertise a flat call-out price because every situation is different, but we will always tell you the cost before any work starts, and if the honest answer is that replacement makes more financial sense than repair, we will tell you that.
How it goes
Call with the details, we set an appointment and come look. If it is a repair, we tell you what it takes. If it is not worth repairing, we tell you that too, and what replacement would look like instead.