Serving Salt Lake City, UT & Nearby Areas
(385) 438-3591
Serving Salt Lake City, UT & Nearby Areas
(385) 438-3591
Worth it, when the roof has a right spot and the installer can prove they know skylights. Skylight leaks are installation failures, not product failures: modern units are excellent. We're VELUX certified and we paid a lot of tuition to learn skylights the right way. Most roofers never do.
Say yes to a skylight only when the placement works and the installer's certification checks out.
Skylights fail at the installation, so a proven installer removes most of the leak risk.
Ask your installer which skylight type fits and how it's waterproofed.
Utah has the daylight; your roof needs the right spot and a proven installer. Get both and a skylight is a 20-year upgrade, not a gamble.
Mattie Tueller, Master Roofing
A well-placed skylight changes a room in a way no light fixture can: real daylight in a dark kitchen, a stairwell, or a north-facing room that never gets sun. Done right, it delivers that for the life of the roof without drama.
Done right also means engineered right, and that expertise has a dollar value. One commercial client came to Master Roofing holding a $180,000 quote for skylight replacement. By engineering the job with residential units and framing, Master Roofing delivered it for well under half that figure. It turned out great. Knowing the product spec is not trivia; it is the difference between those two numbers.
The leak risk lives in the installation, not the skylight. Modern units from the major manufacturers are excellent. What fails is the flashing and integration work around them, done by installers who never learned the system.
The three skylight types are each waterproofed differently:
Each type has its own kit and its own spec. That's why a crew that has only ever shingled around a curb gets the deck-mounted install wrong. VELUX backs installations done with its flashing systems by trained installers with a published installation warranty. Why so many skylights leak, and where one can go on a roof, each get a full answer in this cluster.
The worth-it question comes down to three checks, in order. If all three pass, a skylight is a 20-year upgrade, not a gamble.
Skylight calls come to me carrying the same two feelings: the family loves the light and fears the drip. Both are earned. The fear just points at the wrong suspect.
Most roofers are too scared to install skylights. That fear is informative: they know their crew has never read the spec. Master Roofing took the other road. We got VELUX certified, trained at the factory in Reno. We paid a lot of tuition to learn what each skylight type needs. A skylight is worth it when the person installing it can prove they know skylights. That proof is the entire decision.
One of my rules is knowing what work to say no to. A roofer who says no to skylights is being honest with you, and I respect it. What you should not accept is the roofer who has never installed one and says yes anyway. Make anyone who wants to cut your roof open prove they have earned it. That proof is what keeps the light without the leak.
This article is general information about Utah roofs, not an assessment of yours. Every roof is different, and no article can tell you what is actually happening on your specific house. Have a licensed roofing contractor look at it in person before you act on anything here.
No. A correctly flashed skylight in a correct location lasts with the roof around it. The reputation comes from decades of bad installs: wrong flashing, wrong placement, sealant standing in for spec. When a skylight does leak, the flashing and integration work is the suspect, not the glass. Fix the install and the skylight stops being the villain.
Both work. A re-roof is the ideal moment because the flashing integrates into brand-new underlayment and the whole system ages together. But a retrofit into an existing roof is routine for a qualified installer. Waiting years for a re-roof to get daylight is unnecessary. The installer's competence matters far more than the timing.
Yes, with the right unit and a curb built for the pitch. Low-slope skylights are their own discipline: the unit must be rated for the slope. The curb integrates with membrane roofing rather than shingles. That combination is specialist work twice over. So the installer question matters even more there than on a pitched roof.
Not a modern one, chosen well. Current units carry low-E glazing and ENERGY STAR performance ratings. Options like tinting and shades manage summer sun. Orientation matters: a north-facing skylight gives soft steady light, while a big south-facing unit needs the glazing package to match. That is a selection conversation, and a real installer has it with you.
It opens. A venting unit lets the hottest air in the house escape from the top floor. That works with Utah's cool evenings: open it after sundown and the upstairs dumps heat fast. Fixed units cost less and never leak air, so the choice follows the room. Kitchens and baths tend to earn venting units; hallways usually don't.
We're here to see what's going on with your roof. A real assessment starts with your history and your attic, not a number from the driveway. You'll get a straight answer about what's up there, what it needs, and what it costs. Sometimes the honest answer is: your roof looks great.