Recent skylight work
New York Skylight Installers replaces, installs and supplies skylights in Staten Island houses, cottages and additions. Official VELUX dealer, LIC# 2084179, skylights only since 2005.
Dongan Hills runs from the lower streets near Hylan Boulevard up toward the Dongan Hills Colony on the slope above it, and the housing changes as you climb. Detached and semi detached brick and frame from the 1920s through the 1960s nearer the water, bigger and later houses on wider lots higher up, and a great many rear additions and sun rooms added over the years. Most of the skylights we are called to here sit on one of those additions rather than on the original roof.
The job we get called out for most often in this neighborhood is a brown stain on a ceiling near a skylight, and the thing worth knowing before anyone quotes you is that water very rarely drips in where it got in. It enters at the highest failure on the roof, runs down the underside of the sheathing or along the top of a rafter, and drops at the first thing that stops it. A skylight curb is exactly that kind of thing. So the stain shows at the skylight and the skylight gets blamed.
That is why our first visit is a look, not a sale. We go up and check what is above the unit as well as the unit itself: the head flashing and the course of shingles over it, any penetration higher up the slope, the junction where an addition roof meets the main house wall, and the condition of the counter flashing where it is tucked in. If the skylight is sound and the real failure is three feet up the roof, we will tell you that, and a new skylight would not have fixed it.
When the unit genuinely is the problem, a straight replacement on a curb that is still sound is $2,287 installed, and the $1,760 standard replacement labor is already inside that figure. A brand new opening cut, framed, flashed and finished starts at $3,850. A fixed unit on a pitched addition roof with the required step flashing kit starts at $897 for the unit itself.
Two more things come up a lot on these additions. If the ceiling below is flat and the roof above it is not, there is a light shaft between them, and a stain at the bottom corners of that shaft in cold weather with no rain is usually condensation rather than a leak. And if what you want is air as well as light, a manual venting unit on a low slope addition roof starts at $1,092, or $1,295 on a pitched one with its flashing.
Leaking skylight in Dongan Hills? Start with a professional assessment from New York's original skylight specialists. Skylights are all we have done since 2005: licensed and insured (LIC# 2084179), VELUX Trained & Approved, an official VELUX dealer, 4.9 stars on Google, and a 10-Year No Leak Warranty on every unit we install. Roofers and handymen do skylights on the side; we are the specialists the roofers call. Water dripping from the skylight, a stain on the ceiling under it, a drip that only shows up in a heavy rain: none of that tells you what actually failed. We come out, find the real cause, and give you a straight answer and a price for the right fix, which is usually a new unit. Active leaks go to the front of the schedule. Read more about skylight repair on Staten Island.
Not on its own. Water gets in at the highest failure and then travels, usually along the top of a rafter or the underside of the sheathing, until something stops it, and a skylight curb is one of the first things that will. We have opened up plenty of these and found the actual entry point further up the slope. That is why we look at what is above the unit before we quote anything.
By reading the roof in the direction water moves, from the ridge down. We check the head flashing above the unit and the shingle course lapping over it, any vent or pipe higher up the same slope, the line where an addition roof meets the house wall, and whether the counter flashing is still tucked in or has pulled loose. Inside, we look at the run of the staining along the framing rather than only at the spot it shows.
Usually yes, and it matters. Additions on these houses are very often lower in pitch than the roof they were built against, sometimes almost flat, and a unit set on a low slope roof needs to sit up on a curb built proud of the surface so the flashing is never standing in water. A unit flashed as though the roof were steep is the single most common reason an addition skylight leaks.
That pattern is condensation rather than a leak. Warm moist air rises up the light shaft, meets cold glass, runs back down the shaft walls and shows at the bottom corners. Sealing the outside does nothing for it. What helps is a venting unit so the moisture has somewhere to go, insulation in the shaft walls, and running the bathroom or kitchen extractor properly to the outside.
Replacing an existing skylight in the same opening is normally maintenance and needs no Buildings permit. Cutting a new opening does, because that is structural work, and a new opening starts at $3,850. On landmarks the answer changes address by address across Staten Island, so we confirm it against your address before anything is ordered. Our NYC permits and landmark rules page sets out what is covered.
No. The assessment is free whether the answer is a new skylight or a repair somewhere else on the roof. We would rather tell you the unit is fine than sell you one that was never the problem.
New Dorp · Stapleton · West Brighton · Todt Hill
We cover every part of the borough. See skylights on Staten Island, our published prices, or NYC permits and landmark rules. Serving 10304 and 10305.