Recent skylight work
New York Skylight Installers replaces, installs and supplies skylights in Staten Island houses, cottages and rowhouses. Official VELUX dealer, LIC# 2084179, skylights only since 2005.
St. George is the one part of Staten Island built like a city. Three and four storey frame houses stacked up the hillside above the ferry terminal, Queen Anne and Victorian, most of them from the 1880s through about 1910, with steep roofs in slate and shingle, gables, dormers and the occasional turret. Nothing about that roof is like the flat postwar roofs further down the island, and the job that goes with it is a different job.
A steep roof takes a deck mounted unit and a step flashing kit woven into the courses, and the flashing is what decides whether it leaks, not the skylight. On a slate roof the slate is lifted back rather than broken out, and some pieces will not survive handling, which we say before we start rather than after. A roof window in the slope is $1,004 installed and it opens for air. 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 number.
The top floors of these houses were almost all finished at some point, and the light up there usually comes from one old skylight over the stair or a single sash in a dormer. Cutting a new opening in a steep roof, framed, flashed and finished on the inside, is $3,850. On a converted top floor a roof window in the slope does more than a flat unit, because it sits where you can see out of it and in the right size it satisfies egress out of a finished room.
St. George is also where the Landmarks question is real on this island. The St. George and New Brighton Historic District covers a run of these blocks and plenty of nearby streets sit outside it, so the answer changes house by house. Where a district applies, the Landmarks step comes before the Buildings permit and what can be seen from the street is what drives it. We confirm which side of the line an address falls on before anything is ordered, and the rules we work to are set out on our NYC permits and landmark rules page.
The last thing about this neighborhood is the hill. Houses are tight to each other on a slope, the yards are small and stepped, and a ladder set is not always the obvious thing it is in the rest of the borough. We settle roof access at the assessment so the crew is not working it out on the morning.
Leaking skylight in St. George? 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.
It depends on the block. The St. George and New Brighton Historic District covers part of the neighborhood and plenty of streets nearby are outside it, so the answer changes address by address. Where a district applies the Landmarks step comes first and street visibility is what drives the decision. We confirm which applies to your house before anything is ordered, not after.
Yes, and it is the part that separates a clean install from a callback. The slate is lifted back rather than cut out, the unit is set on the deck, and a step flashing kit is woven in course by course so water runs over it rather than behind it. Slate that old is brittle and a few pieces will break in handling, so we expect to replace some and we tell you that up front.
A roof window in the slope rather than a flat skylight. It sits at an angle you can actually see out of, it opens for air, and in the right size it satisfies egress out of a finished room. It is $1,004 installed with the flashing kit included. A solar powered version opens on a remote with a rain sensor and needs no electrician.
Fog between the panes is a failed edge seal on the sealed glass unit, so the moisture is inside the glass and nothing applied from outside will clear it. On some units the glass can be changed on its own. Whether that is worth doing on a unit of that age is a call we make with a hand on it, and we give you the honest answer either way.
Usually a ladder set from whichever side of the house has the flattest ground, and on these stepped lots that takes a look rather than an assumption. Where there is no safe ladder position we say so at the assessment and price the access honestly instead of discovering it on the day.
No. There is no Staten Island premium and no St. George premium. The published prices are the published prices and the roof decides the rest, which is what the free assessment is for.
Tottenville · Great Kills · New Dorp · Todt Hill
We cover every part of the borough. See skylights on Staten Island, our published prices, or NYC permits and landmark rules. Serving 10301.