Every recommendation we make starts from five questions: What's the roof? What's the room? What's the light path? What's the structure? What are the rules? Here's how the answers map to the right product, the same guide our own team uses.
| Your situation | What we recommend, and why |
|---|---|
| Pitched shingle roof, new skylight | Deck-mounted fixed or venting skylight, always with the proper step-flashing kit, that's what makes a leak-free install possible. Solar-powered venting needs no wiring and closes itself in rain. Check your size → |
| Flat or low-slope roof (most of NYC) | Curb-mounted unit on an insulated curb, the only correct answer on a flat roof, raised above ponding water and snow. Fixed, manual, electric, or solar venting. |
| Replacing an old or leaking unit | Full-unit replacement matched to your existing mount, we will quote a dome or glass swap where the curb and flashing under it are sound, and a full-unit replacement where they are not. We will tell you which one your roof is. |
| Kitchen, bathroom, laundry | Solar venting skylight with rain sensor, moisture needs an exhaust path, and solar operation means no electrician. |
| Bedroom or media room | Fixed unit with a solar room-darkening shade, light by day, dark on demand, remote included. |
| Dark hallway, closet, small bath | Sun Tunnel, real daylight through framing a skylight can't pass, at a fraction of the cost. Installed in a day. |
| Attic or top-floor conversion | Roof windows, in-reach, opening units that bring a converted space up to full daylight and fresh air, with egress-rated sizes available. |
| Brownstone or landmark building | Copper pan-flashed classics and custom units spec'd to match the building and pass review, landmark work is approval-first. |
| Big opening (50"+ each way) | Often a bank of two to four skylights with combi-flashing, more glass, better look, and our multiple-skylight discount applies. The Finder suggests layouts automatically. |
| Terrace, roof deck, sidewalk vault | Engineered walkable structural glass, a floor you can stand on that lights the space below. Never a standard skylight. |
Ask what the room needs. If it needs light, a fixed unit is cheaper, simpler and has nothing to fail. If it needs air out, which means a kitchen, a bathroom or a laundry, you want venting. Moisture has to have somewhere to go or it ends up in the ceiling.
In most cases yes, and the reason is the rain sensor. A solar unit closes itself when the weather turns, needs no electrician and no wiring run, and can be operated from a room you are not standing in. A manual unit is the right call when the skylight is genuinely in reach and the budget is tight.
No, and this is the single most common mistake we are called in to correct. A flat or low slope roof needs a curb mounted unit sitting on an insulated curb, up out of standing water and snow. A deck mounted unit belongs on a pitched roof with a step flashing kit.
A sun tunnel wins where a skylight cannot go. Interior hallways, closets and small baths with framing and ductwork between the roof and the ceiling are exactly its job, and it goes in inside a day. If the room is a living space and you want a view of the sky, you want a skylight.
Past roughly fifty inches in each direction it is usually a bank of two to four units joined with combi flashing. It looks better, it spans the framing sensibly, and the multiple skylight discount applies. The Finder suggests layouts for you.
No, and this is a good moment not to. A fixed unit can become venting, a single can become a pair, and a fogged builder grade unit from the 1990s can become a solar venting unit with a shade. The one thing to avoid is putting a new dome on framing and flashing that already failed. If you have an old plastic dome, start here: acrylic dome skylights.
No. The federal solar tax credit for skylights ended on December 31, 2025. Anyone advertising thirty percent back on a 2026 installation is quoting a promise that has expired.