Skylight installation and repair in NJ. The flashing kit installed in the right sequence — or the leak you've been chasing for two winters.
A skylight is a hole in your roof with a window over it. Done right, that hole gets sealed by a layered metal flashing kit installed in a specific sequence — head, sides, sill — woven into your shingle courses with proper underlayment and ice & water shield. Done wrong, you get a leak that nobody can find, "fixed" with caulk every spring. Craftsman installs new skylights and re-flashes failing ones the way the manufacturer specifies, with photos and a written warranty. Family-owned, NJ-licensed, based in Fairview.
Fairview, NJ
Most "leaking skylights" aren't leaking skylights. They're failed flashing kits.
When a homeowner calls about a leaking skylight in NJ, nine times out of ten the skylight unit itself is fine — the failure is in the flashing kit around it. The head flashing has slipped behind the shingle course it's supposed to tuck under. The side flashing was face-nailed instead of woven in. Ice & water shield was skipped under the unit because the original installer was a framer, not a roofer. The result is the same regardless of which corner cut got us here: water under the curb, water down the wall, water on your hardwood, and a different "skylight specialist" every spring with a tube of caulk and a different theory.
A real skylight install or repair is a roofing job, not a window job. It needs the right underlayment, the manufacturer's flashing kit installed in the prescribed head/side/sill sequence, the shingle courses woven correctly, and — depending on slope — proper ice & water shield extending past the curb. That's what we do. New installs, re-flashes on existing units, and full skylight replacements when the unit itself is finally past its 20-year service life. Skylight detail is fundamentally roof flashing repair work — and we approach it that way.
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Four things to know before you call the next "skylight guy" with a caulk gun.
Where skylights actually leak from. The kinds of units you'll see on NJ roofs. When to repair the flashing versus replace the whole unit. And what our written warranty actually covers.
The leak is almost never the glass. It's one of four flashing details around it.
Head flashing failure: this is the upper piece of metal that has to tuck up underneath the shingle course above the skylight. If the original installer face-nailed the shingles down on top of it instead of weaving them, water runs down the deck above the skylight, hits the head flashing, and goes behind it instead of over it. This is the single most common skylight leak we see. Side step flashing failure: the L-shaped pieces along each side of the curb have to step up the slope, one per shingle course, woven into the field. When they get replaced with one continuous bent piece — the "easy" way — it works for a season and then water finds the seam.
Sill flashing failure: the lowest piece, which has to lay over the shingle course below. If it's tucked under instead of over, water tracks behind it onto the deck. Curb-to-roof seal failure: the rubber or butyl seal between the skylight curb and the underlying flashing dries out at around the 12–15 year mark in NJ weather. None of these are skylight problems. They're flashing problems on a skylight, which is why the right answer is rarely "replace the whole unit" — it's strip the flashing back and rebuild it correctly. If you're chasing the actual ceiling stain rather than the flashing detail, our roof leak repair page covers the full water-trace process.
Five categories cover almost every skylight on an NJ roof. They each install — and fail — a little differently.
Fixed skylights: a sealed glass unit that doesn't open. Simplest install, fewest failure points, longest service life. Most NJ residential skylights are fixed. Vented (manual) skylights: a unit that opens with a crank or pole, usually for a bathroom or kitchen ceiling that needs venting. The hinge gasket is an additional failure point at the 15-year mark. Vented (electric/solar) skylights: motorized open/close, often with a rain sensor. Velux's solar-vent unit is the common one. Same flashing concerns, plus the wiring or solar charging panel. Curb-mounted skylights: the unit sits on top of a built-up wood curb framed into the roof. Easier to flash, easier to re-flash, generally the older approach.
Deck-mounted skylights: the unit sits flush on the roof deck with no built-up curb, which gives a lower profile but requires a more precise flashing kit. Most newer Velux residential skylights are deck-mounted. Each manufacturer ships a different flashing kit for its specific units, and the kits are not interchangeable. We name what's on your roof, identify the manufacturer's correct flashing kit for that unit, and install or repair to spec — not to whatever happens to be on the truck.
Most skylight problems are flashing problems. Some skylight problems are skylight problems. We'll tell you which is which.
The honest answer most of the time is: re-flash, don't replace. Skylight glass units typically last 20–25 years in NJ weather. If the unit itself is younger than that, the seal between the panes hasn't fogged, and the curb is sound, the right work is almost always pulling the existing flashing kit off, replacing any failed components with the manufacturer's kit, and reinstalling correctly. That's a fraction of the cost of a full unit swap, and it solves the actual problem.
The cases where the unit itself is the problem: visible fogging or condensation between the glass panes (failed seal), a cracked or chipped acrylic dome on older bubble-style skylights, a rotted curb where the skylight meets the deck (water has been getting in long enough to rot the framing), or a hinge or motor that's mechanically failed on a vented unit. In those cases the unit gets replaced — and the right time to do that is during a full roof replacement if the roof is also approaching end-of-life, because doing both at once means a single, properly integrated flashing job rather than two separate ones five years apart.
Manufacturer warranty on the unit. Craftsman warranty on the install. One year minimum on a re-flash.
On a new skylight install, the manufacturer covers the unit itself — Velux, Wasco, and Fakro all carry their own multi-year unit warranties — and we cover the install workmanship, including the flashing kit and shingle integration, for a written one-year minimum. If the install is part of a full roof replacement on a GAF or Owens Corning system, the workmanship integrates into the system warranty for that replacement, which on full systems extends out to 50 years on the manufacturer side plus our workmanship coverage on the install.
On a standalone re-flash of an existing skylight, the warranty is one year minimum on our work — meaning if the same flashing detail leaks again within that window because of how we did the work, we come back, we fix it, no charge, no argument. Skylight flashing is forensic work and most failures get caught earliest during a routine roof inspection, which is the cheapest possible time to deal with them — before the deck rots, before the wall sheathing rots, before the ceiling drywall rots.
The crew that treats skylights as roofing — not as windows that happen to be on a roof.
Skylights leak when they're installed by people who aren't roofers. They stop leaking when they get re-flashed by people who are. We're the second kind. Manufacturer-spec install. Photos in your file. Written warranty.
- NJ-licensed, NJ-insured, family-owned, permanent Fairview address
- BBB A+ Accredited, GAF and Owens Corning manufacturer-certified roofers
- Manufacturer flashing kit, installed in head/side/sill sequence — not improvised
- Photos at every stage of the install, kept in your file
- One-year minimum written warranty on every re-flash
- Honest repair-vs-replace conversation — most leaks are flashing, not the unit
Six steps from first call to written warranty in your file.
Every install or re-flash follows the same disciplined sequence — diagnose first, install or rebuild second, document last.
Call & One-Hour Window
Call or fill the form — we set a one-hour appointment window. No "between 8 and 5" nonsense. We show up when we said we would.
Inspect & Diagnose
Hands-on roof walk to identify the unit, the flashing detail, and the actual failure mode. Photos taken from the start.
Itemized Quote
Written quote naming the unit, the failed detail, the manufacturer kit components, the labor, and the warranty terms.
Strip & Install To Spec
Strip the failed flashing back to clean substrate. Install the manufacturer's kit in the correct head/side/sill sequence.
Reweave Shingle Courses
Reintegrate the shingle courses around the new flashing kit so the skylight sheds water the way the manufacturer designed it to.
Walkthrough & Warranty
Final walkthrough with photos, full cleanup, and the written one-year minimum warranty handed over the same day.
The credentials behind every detail we install or rebuild.
NJ-Licensed, NJ-Insured, Fairview-Based
Family-owned with a permanent NJ address. The same crew that installs your skylight today is the crew that comes back if the warranty ever calls.
BBB A+, GAF & Owens Corning Certified
BBB A+ Accredited and certified by both major shingle systems — the credentials that say we know how skylights integrate into the roof, not just how to nail one in.
Manufacturer Flashing Kits, Correct Sequence
Velux, Wasco, Fakro — we install the manufacturer's kit for your specific unit, in the head/side/sill sequence it was engineered for.
Services often booked alongside skylight work.
Roof Flashing Repair
Skylight flashing is one specific case of roof flashing. The same strip-and-rebuild approach applies to chimneys, walls, valleys, and vents.
Learn MoreRoof Ventilation
Skylights affect attic temperature and ventilation balance. We assess the whole attic when installing or replacing a skylight.
Learn MoreRoof Maintenance
Annual maintenance catches skylight flashing issues at the cheap-fix stage — before water sits in the curb and rots the framing.
Learn MoreAcross Bergen, Morris, Somerset, and Central New Jersey — wherever there's a leaking skylight and a homeowner tired of caulk.
Three steps from leaking skylight to written warranty.
Book the free inspection. Get the itemized quote. We strip, re-flash to manufacturer spec, and warranty the work — same crew, every time.
Free Skylight Inspection
One-hour appointment window. Hands-on walk of the unit and the flashing detail, photos taken, plain-English diagnosis.
Itemized Written Quote
Unit named. Failed detail named. Manufacturer kit listed. Labor priced. Warranty stated. No "miscellaneous skylight work" lines.
Install, Re-Flash, Warranty
Manufacturer kit installed in correct sequence, full cleanup, photos in your file, and a written one-year minimum warranty before we leave.