Appleton Roof Pros provides professional skylights in Appleton, WI for residential and commercial properties across the Fox Cities. Skylights fail in this climate for two reasons: the unit was mounted flat to the deck on a slope that required a curb, or the flashing was assembled out of sealant instead of metal. Both are installation decisions, and both are avoidable.
Slope sets the method. On a normal steep field a deck-mounted unit with the manufacturer's own flashing kit is correct and reliable. Below roughly 3:12, which describes most of the places people actually want a skylight in an ell or a sunroom, the unit belongs on a site-built curb with the roofing turned up the curb sides and metal counterflashing over the top of that. Deck-mounted units below their approved slope leak the year the roof was replaced.
Curb height is not a detail to economize on. A curb needs enough height above the finished surface for the membrane or the pan to turn up and still stand clear of standing water and packed snow. Building it an inch or two short is the single most common cause of a skylight that leaks only in late winter, and there is no sealant that compensates.
Condensation is regularly mistaken for a leak, and telling them apart saves people money. Water appearing on the glass edge and running down the shaft on a cold morning, with no rain involved, is interior humidity meeting a cold surface. The answer there is the shaft detail, the insulation around it and the humidity in the house, not new flashing.
When a unit is genuinely past it, swapping it out while the roof is already off costs far less. Modern laminated glass units with factory-warranted seals and integral flashing are a different product from the acrylic bubbles of thirty years ago, and a solar-powered vented unit in a bathroom or over a stair is worth the difference. Two aged units done together, with the deck already off, cost far less than one done later.
Sometimes the honest answer is to remove it. A skylight over a low-slope rear addition, in a room that is now used for storage, on a roof that is being replaced anyway, is a permanent liability for very little benefit. Framing and sheathing the opening closed costs less than a new unit and we will suggest it where it fits. The room usually gains more than it loses.
Our licensed and insured team brings the right materials and equipment to every job — a pitch reading taken at every plane with a two-foot level, flat-lock metal pans soldered across a porch field, a granulated modified-bitumen cap sheet lapped onto a porch deck, apron flashing carried up behind the wall course above the roof, kick-out diverters at the low end of every roof-to-wall run, tapered sleepers built up to give a dead-flat ell some fall — and backs the work with a written workmanship warranty. We serve Appleton and nearby communities including Grand Chute, Greenville, Harrison, Shawano.
What We Handle
Everything our skylights in Appleton covers
One crew, one point of contact, and the full range of skylights work in Appleton, WI. If it is on this list we do it in house rather than handing it to a subcontractor:
- skylight installation appleton
- skylight replacement appleton wi
- curb mounted skylight low slope
- skylight leak repair wisconsin
- sun tunnel installation appleton
- skylight flashing kit
- skylight outagamie county
- shed dormer skylight
- skylight on flat roof appleton
- skylight condensation wisconsin
- skylight curb height
Not sure which one describes your situation? Describe it in plain words and we will sort it out — or browse the rest of our Appleton services.
Materials, equipment and how we do skylights
The difference between skylights that lasts and skylights that gets redone in three years is almost always preparation and materials, not the finish you see on day one. We work with a pitch reading taken at every plane with a two-foot level, flat-lock metal pans soldered across a porch field, a granulated modified-bitumen cap sheet lapped onto a porch deck, apron flashing carried up behind the wall course above the roof, spec them to the job instead of to the invoice, and write the material grades into the free estimate so you know exactly what you are buying.
Every Appleton job runs the same way: site walk and measurements, written scope and fixed price, protection of the surrounding area, then the work itself with a daily clean-up. Years of roofing work in the Fox Cities means we have already met whatever your property is going to throw at us — awkward access, older construction, an HOA with opinions.
Where we do skylights outside Appleton
Appleton Roof Pros covers Appleton and the surrounding communities of the Fox Cities. Crews run out to the same nearby cities every week, so an out-of-town job does not mean an out-of-town price.
- Skylights in Grand Chute, WI — Outagamie County, population 23,831
- Skylights in Greenville, WI — Outagamie County, population 12,687
- Skylights in Harrison, WI — Calumet County, population 12,418
- Skylights in Shawano, WI — Shawano County, population 9,243
- Skylights in New London, WI — Waupaca County, population 7,348
- Skylights in Buchanan, WI — Outagamie County, population 6,857
Start on the Appleton Roof Pros homepage for a free estimate, or call (844) 511-2320 and describe the job.
Why Appleton Chooses Appleton Roof Pros
- ✓We put a level on every roof section and write the pitch on the estimate, because the number below 2:12 is what decides whether a shingle is even permitted up there.
- ✓The front porch, the kitchen ell and the back stoop get their own line, their own material and their own price. One figure for the whole address hides the part that is actually failing.
- ✓Where a shallow roof meets a wall we lift a course of siding and put the flashing behind it. Metal slipped under the existing course and caulked along the top edge is the most common defect we find on the pre-1940 blocks.
- ✓We tell owners the main field has years left in it. Quite often the appendage needs doing now and the field does not, and writing that down costs us the bigger sale on purpose.
The standards behind skylights
Quality here is not a matter of opinion — it is written down. The skylights work we do in Appleton follows published industry standards: NRCA publishes the Roofing Manual, the industry's reference for details and slope minimums, and Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association sets the shingle application and ventilation guidance the warranties reference. If a contractor cannot tell you which standard a detail comes from, that is worth asking about before you sign.
Every skylights project in Appleton gets the same attention, whether it is a single room or a full commercial job. We show up on schedule, keep the site clean, and stand behind the work — the estimate is free and there is no pressure.
Ready to get started? Call (844) 511-2320 for a free skylights free estimate in Appleton, or request a quote and we'll get right back to you.