As a homeowner, you may want to take care of your home and do a few repairs on your own. You may caulk a few cracks in your siding and enjoy painting the interiors, but taking anything more into your hands isn’t a good solution—especially skylight repairs, which can be harmful and costly.
You may not want to hear this but repairing the parts of a pitched roof is a complex process that requires professional training, license, skills, and experience. This article explains five reasons skylight repairs can be harmful and costly when you don’t seek professional help.
How Can DIY Skylight Repairs Be Harmful And Costly?
For safety and financial reasons, gathering all the information beforehand is essential. These five reasons mention everything you want to avoid when working on your skylights.
#1 Property Damage
When people don’t have the right experience, they can easily damage the skylight, roof, and home. Loose skylights can fall down the roof- into your home or on the ground, which can cause serious damage. Skylights are enormous and heavy with a glass coating that can break into tiny pieces that can pierce into the carpet, couch, grass, bed, or anywhere else they fall. This is generally due to improper handling, inadequate tools, and bad-quality roofing materials.
#2 Roof Damage
When homeowners attempt to repair their skylights, it may be a trial-and-error approach that can be messy. When people call us to rectify the errors, we see that many other roof components, such as shingles, underlay, and sheathing are also damaged. This will make it more expensive to repair or replace any issues. If we don’t fix it timely, it may result in massive leaks, rot, mold, and a weak roof structure.
#3 Void Warranties
You may think that flashing and nailing will repair the skylight, but there’s so much more to skylight repairs. Skylights are technical products tested by experts to ensure proper function and longevity. Your warranty can be void if you don’t use the manufacturer’s recommended materials or fail to follow their installation instructions.
Unauthorized installations can also void warranties of other roofing materials- new and old. And when you claim your insurance, an improper installation generally creates difficulties in the process and can get your claim denied.
#4 Skylights Damage And Failure
Improper nailing, weak flashing, and poor-quality materials result in air and water leaks. A faulty installation is the most common reason for skylight damage and failure. If the skylight isn’t fixed permanently, the attic, sheathing, and rooms can develop wood rot and mold growth. This also affects your home’s temperature and humidity levels. Moreover, defective skylights or bad-quality glazing can break easily when the weather is severe.
#5 Higher Energy Bills
Improper air circulation and too much moisture affect your HVAC units. During summers, hot air can leak through the flashing or frame of the skylight, and your air cooling appliances will take more time and power to maintain a cooler temperature inside. This is the direct reason why your energy bills increase dramatically. So when you think you are saving money on skylight repairs, you are actually shifting the load onto your HVAC systems, spending more on that than you should.
The smartest way to bring your skylights back into shape is to get professional help.
Who Do You Call To Fix A Skylight?
Skylights are roof fixtures, so you should contact a local roofing contractor. If you are wondering whether your handyman can repair it, ensure he has the right experience, an active roofing license, and safety equipment.
Why Do You Need Professional Help?
You get a roofing license only after proper education, training, and certification, as it is a technical and dangerous profession. A skilled roofing specialist wouldn’t let his talent and education fade away. As a homeowner, you would want to be sure that the people working on your home are solving the issues with your skylight- permanently and safely. Inexperienced people and no license will ultimately put you in a position where you have to replace the skylight and other roofing components by bearing the total cost yourself.
To avoid this, you must find a roofing company that has been around for years.
How To Choose The Right Roofing Contractor?
When choosing the right roofing contractor, take the time to read their reviews on Google, Facebook, Better Business Bureau, etc. Ask the contractors for references and meet the team before making any commitments. A local roofing contractor with years of experience in your area can repair your skylight better than anyone else.
If you wonder what they would charge for the repairs, you don’t have to research this for hours. Calling a roofing company for an estimate is the best way to begin. You can also take a look at the prices that people typically pay online. Below are the average skylight repair costs based on some common issues.
How Much Do Skylight Repairs Cost?
In the case of your skylight, the repair costs can range from $300 to $1,000. It depends on the type and extent of the issues. The most common problems are leaks, cracks, freezing, mold, and heat loss.
- Heat Loss = $50 – $800
- Mold$50 = $1,700
- Cracking = $300 – $1,700
- Ice Dam = $400 to $1,200
At Capital Roofing, we offer free estimates and inspections for homeowners in Oklahoma.
Need Help With Skylight Repairs?
At Capital Roofing, we have been helping homeowners take care of their homes for years. If you live in Claremore or any surrounding regions in Oklahoma, we have the best team of professionals for you. Our vision is to improve your home with honesty and top-quality services at fair prices.
DIY repairs can be a huge waste of time and money when you don’t have the required knowledge and experience with roofs and skylights. They can also cause more damage to your skylight and home. If you aren’t an expert, there are risks of injuries too.
We hope this article shines some much-needed light on the downsides of DIY skylight repairs. If you ever find yourself in this situation, contact us at (918) 260-4075. Our team is skilled in various services– from skylight repairs to roof replacements, and we will be happy to offer you a free consultation and estimate.
If you think getting a new skylight is a better option, you can also read our helpful blog on 12 things to know about skylight installation.
