Leaky Skylight Repair and Flashing Fix in Staten Island

A leaky skylight is one of those problems that looks minor from the inside - a little stain on the ceiling, maybe some dampness around the frame. But up on the roof, the story is usually a lot worse. That was exactly the case here on this Staten Island home.

When we stripped back the old shingles around the skylight opening, we found what years of failed flashing and cracked sealant will do to a roof deck. The wood underneath had taken on water long enough to cause real damage. Rotted decking, deteriorated underlayment, and old flashing that had completely given up doing its job. None of that shows up from your living room.

This is why we always pull back far enough to see what we're actually dealing with. A surface-level patch on top of compromised decking is just buying time. We cleared out all the damaged material, replaced what needed replacing, and re-flashed the entire skylight perimeter correctly - step flashing integrated with the new shingles the right way, not just a bead of caulk around the frame.

The finished result is a skylight that's properly tied into the roof system, not just sitting on top of it. Clean shingle layout, solid flashing all the way around, and no more water finding its way in. That's what a real skylight repair looks like - not a band-aid, but work that actually holds up through fall rain and whatever comes after.

If you've got streak marks running down your roof near a skylight, or you've noticed any soft spots or staining around the frame on the inside, don't sit on it. Water moves fast once it finds a path in, and the longer it runs, the more it costs to fix.