Recent skylight work
Sunnyside is two neighborhoods with two kinds of roof. Sunnyside Gardens is the planned 1920s community of brick row houses around shared courtyards, a landmark district, and the houses are small, attached and dark in the middle. The rest of Sunnyside is attached brick two family houses and six story apartment buildings along Queens Boulevard and Skillman Avenue. Both kinds call us for the same reason: the hallway, the stair and the bath in the middle of the house get no daylight at all.
Most Sunnyside roofs are flat or close to it, so the job is a curb mounted glass unit on an insulated curb, from $2,079 installed where the curb is sound, or a new opening from $3,500. A sun tunnel is the other answer here, and it is a good one on these houses: a rigid reflective tube from a small roof dome down to a ceiling diffuser puts real daylight into a bath or a closet sized hallway for far less than a full skylight. The unit is $366.
In the Gardens, Landmarks reviews anything visible from the street or from the shared courtyards, and the courtyards count, so the question is not only the front. We look at the roof and tell you what will pass before you order. On the apartment buildings there is paperwork, and we have done enough of those on Queens Boulevard to make it routine.
Leaking skylight in Sunnyside? 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, 4.8 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.
Yes, the Sunnyside Gardens Historic District, and it is one of the stricter ones because the shared courtyards are part of what is protected. A skylight visible from the street or from a courtyard gets reviewed. A low profile unit set on a rear slope or a flat section often is not visible. We tell you which before you order.
It is often the best answer. The houses are small, the middle bath and hallway are dark, and a sun tunnel puts daylight there through a dome the size of a dinner plate on the roof. The unit is $366 and the roof penetration is small, which matters in a landmark district.
A curb mounted glass unit on an insulated curb. The roofs on the attached houses along Skillman and 43rd Avenue are flat, and a deck mounted unit meant for a pitched roof does not belong there. Replacement on a sound curb is $2,079 installed.
On a top floor apartment, with the building's approval, yes. The building will want a certificate of insurance, a written scope and an answer on the roof warranty. We put that package together.
Almost always the curb or the flashing rather than the glass. Water sits on a flat roof in a hard rain and finds the weak point at the base of the curb. We come out, find what actually failed, and give you a straight answer and a price for the right fix, which is usually a new unit on a rebuilt curb.
All of it: the Gardens, the blocks around Queens Boulevard, Skillman and Greenpoint Avenues, and Woodside next door. That is 11104. Our shop is in Brooklyn and Sunnyside is fifteen minutes up the BQE.
Astoria · Long Island City · Forest Hills · Ridgewood · Jackson Heights
We cover every part of the borough. See skylights in Queens, our published prices, or NYC permits and landmark rules. Serving 11104.