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March 28, 2023 in Skylights

What to Consider Before Installing a Skylight

Skylights offer homeowners many different benefits. When you want your home to be brighter during the day, but you’d also like to avoid raising your power bill, a skylight or two may be the perfect answer. 

Brighten Those Winter Blues

Sunshine can help ward off seasonal depression, and a skylight will bring that sunlight right into your room. This can be especially beneficial if the room doesn’t already have any windows providing adequate amounts of sunlight.  

Skylights Make the Room Feel Bigger

Do you have a room in your house that feels a little too cramped? Bringing some natural light in will help make it feel larger than a dim room. Even the smallest of dens will feel more welcoming with a skylight!

5 Things to Consider Before Installing a Skylight

• Shape—The shape of this “ceiling window” will determine how much the light stretches throughout the room. If it has wide flares, it causes the light to expand across the entire space. A narrow skylight concentrates the light more directly, allowing you to focus it on a particular spot.
• Glare—Before you install a skylight on your roof, be aware that it can give off a glare. This has the potential to hurt your eyes, and can make the room feel too hot. To counter this, consider adding tinting or some other filter to the glass.
• Material—Using the right materials helps you control the temperature of your room. Today’s skylights are made from double-insulated glass that’s designed to give you extra light. They also filter the UV rays, so the room won’t feel hot and stuffy. 
• Climate—Different types of skylights work better depending on your location and climate. In warmer places, consider vented skylights to let in fresh air and reduce the heat. In colder climates, make sure your skylight isn’t made from acrylic, as this is more likely to crack or break from snow, ice, or extremely cold temperatures.
• Installation Time—When looking at the entire skylight installation process, you’ll want to set up an installation timeframe so you can know what to expect. Usually skylights take anywhere from a few hours to three full days to install.

Conclusion—Adding Extra Light

When you’re looking to bring in natural light while avoiding buying another lamp or using more electricity, a skylight may be the solution. If you’re looking for a contractor for your skylight installation, PJ’s Roofing in Frederick Maryland is here to help you. We’re experienced, trusted, and dedicated to giving you the service you deserve. We proudly perform all aspects of the installation process and will be glad to give you a skylight installation quote. Contact us today.

October 31, 2022 in Skylights

5 Common Myths About Skylights

Beams of natural light illuminating your home’s rooms. Breathtaking views of the winter night sky or technicolor treetops. Cool breezes on spring afternoons. Traditional skylights placed properly can achieve these transformative benefits in your home’s larger, more open areas.

Just looking to bring some concentrated sunlight to a smaller area of your home? Do you have interior spaces like hallways, lofts, or smaller rooms that would benefit from natural light? A sun tunnel, a rigid or pitched cylindrical skylight, can brighten these smaller areas, making the spaces more livable, saving you money and reducing your carbon footprint.

Choosing the right product for your needs and installing it properly are the keys to making your life a little brighter. You’ll want to consult an expert for advice, and PJ’s Roofing is here to help.

There’s plenty of misinformation out there about skylights, so start by reading a few articles that will help you separate fact from fiction.

This post summarizes the 5 most common myths about skylights:

Skylight Installation is a Nightmare

Modern skylights don’t require custom fitting between rafters and joists. No major ceiling or wall repairs are needed. Instead, newly-designed skylights fit between your home’s framing components using adjustable tubes, angle adapters and a patented fastening system. In the hands of a factory-trained installer, the process is most often trouble-free.

Skylights Need Constant Maintenance

Leaves and other debris do build up on flat panel systems, but skylights with newer design features, like domed panels, are self-cleaning. Their impact-resistant, completely sealed assemblies have no moving parts that need maintenance or repair, giving homeowners no reason to climb up onto the roof for an inspection.

All Skylights Will Eventually Leak

Earlier skylight designs weren’t as water-tight as the modern versions, nor were they always installed with as much knowledge as reputable roofers like PJ’s have today. The innovative systems PJ’s recommends have leading edge moisture controls, including water-tight features that shed rain water, protecting your home from water damage over the long haul.

Skylights Allow Excessive Sun, Causing Interior Damage

Most people enjoy the benefits of the natural light a skylight brings into a home, but too much sunlight can cause furniture, rugs, and other finishes to fade. Now that modern skylights are designed with features that filter out these damaging UV rays, homeowners can enjoy glare-free, even natural light without concern for damage to furniture and finishes.

Skylights Aren’t Adjustable

Modern skylights and sun tunnel systems are engineered for top-notch thermal performance and highly rated by Energy Star for their ability to allow natural light while not causing heat loss in the winter or heat gain in the summer. Concerned about too much natural light flooding in if you’d like to sleep late or watch television during the day? Many skylight systems that PJ’s recommends come with a “daylight dimmer” that allows homeowners to adjust the amount of natural light with the flip of a toggle switch.

Ready to bring more natural light into your home? Reaching out to PJ’s Roofing, a full-service roofing contractor in Frederick, MD with years of experience recommending and installing skylights and sun tunnels, is a great place to start!

November 16, 2021 in Skylights

How To Repair a Leaking Skylight: Diagnosis & Repair

Into everyone’s life, some rain must fall…but what if it’s falling into your hallway, dining room, or bathroom? Skylights are a great source of natural lighting and letting in a little fresh air, but what happens when it leaks? With winter right around the corner, it’s not just rain you need to worry about. Sleet, ice, and snow are common sources for this headache.

When these windows leak, it’s usually because of poor installation techniques, including improper flashing and sealing. Sometimes you notice it right away, but other times it can take quite a while before the leak is apparent. Remember that, unless you built the window into your roof during construction, skylights rely on cutting holes into your roof.

How to Repair Leaking Skylights

Before you panic, take a closer look at your skylights. Is it actually a leak, or has condensation built up inside the window, like a car’s windshield on a cold day? Many skylights have a tray to catch condensate moisture, but it’s possible for this to overflow. If this doesn’t seem to be the problem, it’s time to take a look at the window’s installation.

Carefully get up on the roof if you’re able to do so safely, and have a trusted partner with you. Check the skylight, looking for:

• Damages to the roof itself
• Previous repairs that are now failing
• Open seams
• Flashing fails such as gaps, cracks, and pinholes
• Signs that the window seams are failing, such as torn or worn seals

If it’s unclear where the leak is originating, you can pour water from a bucket or hose over the skylight and have someone inside see where the leak seems to be. Remember that water travels, however, and sometimes for quite some distance from the original leak source.

Let’s look at a few ways you can tackle a leaking skylight.

Clear Debris

Debris that has built up along the window can trap moisture, so make sure the roof is free of leaves, moss, and branches.

Cement Roof Flashing

Cement roof flashing will help repair the damaged existing flashing around the skylight. Follow the manufacturer’s directions for proper application.

Spray Foam

This is always worth a try, but again, may only be a temporary fix. Spray foam expands and hardens, making the skylight more leak resistant. Apply it at the base of the window from the outside, and add a bead inside around the window for good measure.

Replace Missing or Damaged Shingles

If the skylight’s surrounding shingles are missing or damaged, the gaps around it will increase and allow water to come in. If this is the case, you can replace the surrounding shingles and the flashing, but again, this is only a temporary fix. Missing shingles can also mean damages to the roof’s structure as well, and you may need to have that section replaced and the window reseated.

Check for Interior Issues

If you can’t locate the source of the leaking, there’s a possibility that there’s a problem with the drywall around the skylight. If this wasn’t properly insulated when the window was installed, it could be letting water in. Expose the area behind the drywall, and use your expanding spray foam in this area. 

Call the Skylight Pros

Unfortunately, the fixes we mention above are only temporary and in time, you’ll have the same problems you have now. Ultimately, a professional needs to come and look at the skylight’s installation and recommend permanent repairs. These can be difficult even for the best roofing contractors. In certain situations a complete uninstall and reinstall of the window may be necessary.

Contact us now so we can keep the winter moisture outside your skylight, where it belongs.

September 15, 2020 in Skylights

The Beauty & Benefits of a Skylight

Few architectural details are more beautiful or inspiring in a private home than a skylight.

A well-chosen, an expert skylight installation not only brings approximately 30% more natural daylight into your living space, it can even save you money on heating and energy bills. Some are designed to give your home better ventilation, drawing warm air up to vent through and cooling a room to bring in fresh air.

Thinking about installing one is exciting and inspiring, but it also should also give you pause. After all, you’re contemplating having a hole cut in one of your home’s most expensive and important features—the roof. You can count on us to help you get it right…the first time!

The most important thing you can do to guarantee a pleasant process and a positive outcome is to hire a reputable company that uses quality materials to do the work. It’s far easier to get the work done right the first time than to try to address damages or recoup lost fees when you’re dissatisfied, so choose wisely.

Here are four considerations you should think about and discuss with your contractor:

Location

Exactly where your skylight is installed within your home’s footprint determines how much benefit you derive from it. Your rafters have a lot to do with placement, too. Securing a blueprint of your home will help you and your contractor select the best spot for your skylight.

In addition to the location on your roof, the angle or slope at which the skylight is installed will also affect the amount of light and solar heat absorbed into your home. A low slope typically admits more solar heat in summer and less in winter—which is the opposite of what most people want. Setting the skylight’s slope at roughly 10 degrees more than the geographical latitude of your home is often a good plan.

Glass

Skylights typically have tempered or laminated glass—which can break. If you have a lot of trees around your home, you need to understand that there is a risk of breakage to the skylight should a branch or bough fall on it. While tempered glass shatters into small, smooth pieces that fall to the ground, the film on laminated glass keeps the broken glass shards in place within the skylight’s frame—which is much less risky.

Mounting

Skylights can be curb-mounted or deck-mounted. Curb mounting requires a box structure for the skylight to be set on. If replacement is needed, curb-mounted skylights may not always need to be re-flashed, as long as flashing remains in good condition. Deck-mounted skylights have no box structure under them, giving them a lower profile that frequently results in greater energy efficiency

Features

Do you want to be able to open the skylight for ventilation? If so, would you like an electric, manual, or even solar-powered means of venting it? Are you concerned about letting too much passive heat and light into your home in the warmer months? You may want to consider factory-installed blinds over your skylight.

There’s a lot to consider, but a trustworthy, experienced contractor can help you through the process. Choose wisely, ask the right questions, make sound decisions, and prepare to enjoy the beauty and benefits of your skylight for years to come.

May 17, 2019 in Skylights

Skylights: Five Advantages You May Not Know About

Skylights are an attractive feature to add to a home for a variety of reasons. If you have been thinking about adding a skylight to your current home, or if you’re trying to decide whether it is worth adding one to a home you are building, the five advantages we have listed below may help you make up your mind.

#1 – Privacy Benefits

Wait a minute – how can punching a hole in your roof actually improve privacy? Well, it comes down to how you are going to access some natural light inside your home. Most people enjoy natural light, and if you don’t have a skylight, you will need to keep your shades open in order to let that light in. With a skylight, however, you can keep your shades closed and still have some nice light entering the space. This might not be as big of a deal in the living room, where the shades will often be open, but it can be great for bedrooms and bathrooms.

#2 – Environmental Benefits

We would all do well to use less electricity. By reducing our dependence on the power grid, we can do the environment around us a big favor. Toward that end, letting in natural light through the use of a skylight will allow you to keep the lights in your home turned off more frequently in the daytime. Adding just a couple of skylights isn’t going to dramatically reduce your power usage, but every little bit is a step in the right direction.

#3 – A Great Look

If you take pride in the way your home looks and you work hard to keep it in good condition, you may love what a skylight can add. The light they bring it can illuminate your home in ways that just aren’t possible with artificial lighting. Of course, if it is the aesthetic that you are worried about above all else, consider working with a professional designer to place your skylights in just the right spots.

#4 – Feel Good

Letting more sunlight into your home can improve your access to vitamin D, and vitamin D has been shown to boost mood in many individuals. If you live a lifestyle that has you inside throughout much of the day, it’s easy to feel a little bit down – even if you don’t know why. While adding a skylight certainly isn’t a guaranteed way to feel better, getting more vitamin D through sunlight access may be beneficial.

#5 – See Clearly

Do you have trouble seeing in parts of your home from time to time, even during the day? Depending on the design of your house, there might be some dark corners that are hard to illuminate even with artificial lighting. A skylight may solve this problem, at least during the daylight hours. As long as it is placed in the right spot, you can use a skylight to make it easier to see some of those notoriously dark spots in your house.