Why Most Roofers Fail at Skylights | Expert Skylight Repair Edmonton
The Common Skylight Leak Scenario
Typical scenario that you see all the time. So, someone has a skylight on their roof and they’re complaining about it because it leaks every winter. Anytime that it rains or it’s windy outside, they’ve got drafts and they’ve got leaks. They’ve got problems with it and it just can’t seem to be solved. And they want you to come in and get rid of that skylight. Let’s address that. What’s the problem with it? And what are your solutions?
Well, there’s a lot of things that could be wrong with the skylight. There’s a lot of things that could be wrong with the whole setup there. Uh if your question is simply put, can we just get rid of the skylight? Which we do get asked from time to time, the answer is yes, absolutely we could just get rid of that skylight. There’s a lot of stuff that’s involved with it that I think a lot of homeowners might not be aware of though. In order to take that skylight out, like that’s a big renovation on your home. The outside portion of it alone is, you know, a good day’s worth of work. take the skylight off, all the flashings, the shingles, everything else that’s there. It has to all come apart, the interior, all the vapor barrier, everything that’s going on in there.
It can definitely be done. The question just comes down to why would you want to lose all that light? If you’re having all sorts of problems with your skylight and nobody can figure it out, maybe it’s time to look for somebody who actually knows what they’re doing with that skylight. We were at one earlier this year. The gentleman had had his skylight looked at by two different roofers and it was still giving him grief. None of them had gone into the attic. Go in the attic. They had the vapor barrier on the outside of the insulation instead of on the inside. So, it was just trapping all of that moisture. Two pails of tar up on the roof. You couldn’t even look at it without coming off the roof and, you know, being clean enough to go into the guy’s house and you get into his attic and it was just a simple obvious thing right then and there. Fix the vapor barrier, put it where it needs to be. Problem solved. So, it goes from major renovation on your house, fixing the interior, fixing everything in there to let’s just insulate the skylight properly. Like, there’s a lot to it.
Why Typical Roofers Miss the Real Problem
Yeah. You pointed out something when you were just talking there that they had two different roofers look at it and they couldn’t solve the problem. What sets Alberta Skylights Elite Roofing apart from your typical roofer to where you knew exactly where to look to suss out the problem and you have the skills to fix it. So,
Well, imagine you’ve got a problem with your heart, for example. You’re going to go to your general practitioner, your doctor. He’s going to look at it and he says, “Oh, yeah, you have a problem with your heart.” He’s not going to do open heart surgery on you. He’s going to send you off to a cardiologist, a specialist. That’s realistically what the difference is. And not to brag or toot our own horns that we’re the, you know, cardiologists, but we kind of are. I am a roofer by trade. I’m a journeyman, ticketed roofer. I’ve been in this trade since 1999. and I love the industry, but roofers are trained to look at the roof. They are not looking at the whole thing. They’re not looking at the vapor barrier. They’re not looking at the insulation. They’re not looking at the framing. They’re not looking at how everything ties together. Your skylight is an entire system. There’s multiple components to it. And if any one of them fails, it could give you all sorts of problems. Take for example the one where the uh vapor barrier was on the wrong side of the insulation. They’re up there looking for leaks. that roof is not leaking. All that tar they put on there, all that damage, all that sabotage they did to your roof, zero effect on the actual problem.
When you take your car to the mechanic and he says, “Oh, yeah, it’s this. It’s going to be an $800 part.” And 3 hours later, put it in. And you say, “Yeah, okay. Go ahead and get it done.” And 2 days later, the same problem comes back and he says, “Oh, no, no, it wasn’t that. You know, it’s also this. That had to be changed, too, though.” And you’re thinking, “Come on, really? Are you sure?” They just fire the parts cannon at it and hope for the best thing. That’s what a lot of roofers do. Their idea, a lot of roofers, what they do, their idea is simply put, let’s just throw some caulking on it. Oh, let’s just put some ice and water shield, some leak barrier on there. That’ll solve all your problems. Not realizing they don’t even know what the problem is to begin with.
Leak or Condensation? Understanding the Difference
That’s kind of the big difference. We get to a skylight, I take a look at the roof and I can see there’s nothing here unless they’ve got two gallons of tar on there. But I would take a look at it. There isn’t anything on the roof or on the outside that actually looks like it should leak. So if it’s not there, maybe I should look somewhere else. And a lot of roofers, they’re just not willing to put their head in your attic. They’re not even if they did, they wouldn’t know what they were looking at anyhow. So that’s the real difference.
So the big problem isn’t really a leak in a lot of cases. It’s condensation, right?
Condensation is definitely a big issue from a roofing perspective. If you were to take and look at water coming into your house, it would be a different analogy than what a homeowner would see. A homeowner is going to look at it and say, “There’s water on my ceiling. That’s a leak.” From a roofer’s perspective, nah, maybe not so much. I define a leak as water that was outside is now inside. There’s only two ways that’s going to happen with your skylight. There’s something wrong with the system or you’ve got an ice dam. If there’s nothing wrong with the system and you don’t have an ice dam and there’s water in your house, that’s water that’s getting formed inside. That’s not a leak. That could be from atticraine. That could be from condensation. That could be from all sorts of things that are getting in there. High humidity in your house. If you’re taking a look at your skylight system from the outside for a leak that’s happening on the inside, water that’s created inside, you’re never going to find it. You’re just going to waste buckets of tar and countless hours of frustration. So, what is the solution then?
The Real Solution: Proper Diagnosis
The solution is a proper diagnosis. You can’t just take and throw a pacemaker on somebody because they’ve got a little bit of a problem. You’ve got to know what’s actually happening with it. If the guy goes up there, takes one look at it, and says, “Oh, yeah. All skylights leak.” That’s your first clue. He’s not the right guy for you. Get rid of him. Run away. You should believe that guy when he tells you, “All skylights leak.” Because every skylight he touches does leak. Maybe that should be an indicator he’s not the right guy for you. Take a better look. If somebody can’t show you with actual proof what’s happening, maybe it might be time to get a second opinion.
Yeah, I agree 100%. And you know, if you guys are looking for some solutions, look no further than Alberta Skylights Elite Roofing in Edmonton, Alberta, and they can cover any of these problems. Come out and suss out what’s wrong with your Skylight. Find the real source of the problem. Ask the professionals. Ask the quote unquote cardiologist of the roofing industry here in Edmonton. And that’s Ryan with Alberta Skylights Elite Roofing.