Should You Replace Your Skylight When You Replace Your Roof?

Owens CorningPreferred Contractor

CertainTeedSidingMaster

14 Counties Served400+ Towns Across NJ

★★★★★ Rated 5 stars on Google

NJ HIC13VH14050100

In most cases, yes. If your skylight is more than a few years old and you’re putting a new roof on, the roof replacement is the best time you’ll ever get to replace it. The shingles around it are already off, the deck is open, and the new skylight can be flashed straight into the new underlayment the way the manufacturer intended.

Wait, and you’re looking at tearing up brand-new shingles later just to get the old unit out. Below we’ll walk through when a skylight should go, when it can stay, and what a proper swap looks like on a New Jersey roof. If you’re already planning a roof and want someone to look at the skylight too, call Nail Force at (973) 713-1053 for a free inspection.

Why the Roof Replacement Is the Right Moment

A skylight isn’t a separate thing sitting on top of your roof. It’s woven into it. The flashing around the unit runs under the shingles above it and over the shingles below it, with step flashing pieces layered in along the sides. Underneath all of that, a collar of ice & water barrier seals the deck to the skylight frame.

That’s why timing matters so much. To pull a skylight out of a finished roof, you have to lift or cut the shingles around it, take out the old flashing and then try to blend new shingles back in. On a roof that’s a few years old, the patch rarely matches. On a roof that’s brand new, you’re damaging work you just paid for.

During a roof replacement, none of that is an issue. Everything around the skylight is already off. The new unit goes in, its flashing kit goes on in the right order, and the new shingles get laid right up to it. One job, done once.

Signs Your Skylight Should Come Out

Some skylights are obviously done. Others look fine from the floor and aren’t. Here’s what we look for when we’re up on the roof and in the room below:

• Fog or haze between the panes. That means the seal between the glass has failed. It can’t be cleaned or fixed. The glass unit or the whole skylight has to be replaced.
• Water stains on the shaft or ceiling. Brown rings or peeling paint around the opening usually point to failed flashing or a cracked frame.
• Cracked, cloudy or yellowed plastic. Older acrylic domes get brittle and discolored from years of sun.
• Soft or dark wood around the frame. If the curb or framing has been getting wet, it needs to be dealt with while the roof is open.
• Old flashing that was tarred over. A thick layer of roof cement around the edges is a sign someone has been chasing a leak.
• A venting skylight that won’t open or close properly. Worn hardware and seals let air and water in.

One thing that is not automatically a leak: water droplets on the inside of the glass on a cold morning. That’s usually condensation from indoor humidity. It’s worth mentioning to your roofer, but it doesn’t always mean the skylight has failed.

What a Skylight Replacement Looks Like During a Re-Roof

On a typical job, the skylight swap happens right after tear-off, while the deck is exposed. Here’s the order we follow:

• Old unit out. The old skylight and all of its flashing come off, down to the framed opening.
• Opening checked. We look at the curb, the framing and the deck edges around the hole. Anything soft or rotted gets shown to you before it’s covered.
• New skylight set and fastened. The unit is sized to the opening and set level and square.
• Ice & water collar. Self-adhering membrane is wrapped up the sides of the skylight frame and onto the deck around it, before any shingles go down.
• Flashing kit installed in sequence. The manufacturer’s flashing kit goes on with the shingles, piece by piece, so water is always shed over the top of the layer below it.
• Interior check. We look at the shaft from inside and point out anything that needs attention.

That flashing kit is the part that decides whether a skylight stays dry. It’s matched to the skylight model and the type of roofing, and it’s why we don’t reuse old flashing on a new roof, even when the skylight itself stays.

That’s exactly what we did on this recent roof in Landing. The old skylight came out, a new VELUX skylight went in with its own flashing kit, and it was tied into the new underlayment before the Owens Corning Duration shingles went down around it.

When It’s Fine to Keep Your Skylight

Not every skylight needs to go. If yours was installed fairly recently, the glass is clear, it has never leaked and the frame is solid, it can stay in place. What shouldn’t stay is the old flashing. The new roof gets new step flashing and a new ice & water collar around the existing unit, and if the manufacturer makes a replacement flashing kit for that model, we use it.

We’ll tell you honestly which camp your skylight is in. If it’s got years left, we’ll say so and leave it. If it’s close to the end, we’ll explain why replacing it now saves you trouble later, and you decide.

Your Options: Replace, Upgrade or Remove

A roof replacement opens up a few choices you don’t usually get:

• Same type, new unit. A fixed skylight replaced with a new fixed skylight in the same opening. The simplest swap.
• Upgrade to a venting skylight. Venting models open to let hot, humid air out of kitchens and bathrooms. Some solar-powered venting units close automatically when a rain sensor gets wet.
• Add a tubular skylight. For a hallway or a small bathroom, a tubular unit brings in daylight through a small opening.
• Remove it and close the opening. If the skylight has been more trouble than it’s worth, we can take it out, frame and deck over the hole, and roof right over it. The ceiling inside then needs to be finished, which we’ll talk through with you.

Any change to the size of the opening or the interior shaft gets discussed and quoted up front, so there are no surprises once the roof is open.

What It Means for Your Roof Warranty

A roof warranty covers the roof. It doesn’t cover a skylight that was already failing when the new shingles went around it. If an old skylight leaks a year later, it can be hard to tell at first glance whether the problem is the unit, its seals or the flashing, and that turns into a frustrating back-and-forth for you.

When the skylight is replaced with the roof, everything around that opening is new and installed together. Nail Force installs every roof as a complete Owens Corning system as an Owens Corning Preferred Contractor, and the new skylight carries its own manufacturer’s warranty. You end up with a clear picture of what’s covered and by whom. Learn more about our roof replacement process and how we approach attic ventilation on the same job.

Why Northern NJ Homeowners Call Nail Force

We get on the roof and in the room below before we quote. Your estimate spells out the roof system, the shingle, and exactly what happens with the skylight, in writing.

Nail Force Contracting is an Owens Corning Preferred Contractor, licensed and insured in New Jersey, and five-star rated on Google. Our team brings 11 years of combined experience on Northern New Jersey roofs. See our skylight services and the full range of roofing services. Still deciding whether you need a whole new roof? Read roof repair vs. replacement.

NJ HIC #13VH14050100. Licensed and insured. Free roof estimates across Northern New Jersey.

Skylight and Roof Replacement FAQs