skylight leaking

mikelata

Hi all,

Quick question about leaky skylights. Any help would be fantastic!

It is a long story but the summary is that we built a house extension 2 years ago. We were badly advised by the builder and the roof pitch was not built with the minimum required angle. As a result, both skylights started leaking when there was a bit of rain

The builder came back and he changed the angle of the skylights. So, roof and skylights are not parallel to each other if you see what I mean...
Now, one skylight leaks but the other does not.

He came back as has tried to seal around the leaking skylight. Unfortunately, it still leaks. What I find very strange is that it does not happen all the time: with heavy rain, sometimes it leaks, sometimes it does not...

So, I don't understand what it is happening and the builder is gone...Any ideas of why a window/skylight will just "sometimes" leak?

Thanks!!!

Gumbo

mikelata wrote: »

Hi all,

Quick question about leaky skylights. Any help would be fantastic!

It is a long story but the summary is that we built a house extension 2 years ago. We were badly advised by the builder and the roof pitch was not built with the minimum required angle. As a result, both skylights started leaking when there was a bit of rain

The builder came back and he changed the angle of the skylights. So, roof and skylights are not parallel to each other if you see what I mean...
Now, one skylight leaks but the other does not.

He came back as has tried to seal around the leaking skylight. Unfortunately, it still leaks. What I find very strange is that it does not happen all the time: with heavy rain, sometimes it leaks, sometimes it does not...

So, I don't understand what it is happening and the builder is gone...Any ideas of why a window/skylight will just "sometimes" leak?

Thanks!!!

The reason it doesn't happen all the time, is that it needs the right mix of wind and rain. The wind drives the rain back up under the flashing and causes the leak.

mikelata

kceire wrote: »

The reason it doesn't happen all the time, is that it needs the right mix of wind and rain. The wind drives the rain back up under the flashing and causes the leak.

Thanks for the reply!

In that case, any idea of what the fix could be?
If the other skylight, installed on the same roof does not leak, I guess that something could be done on the leaky one ?

Thanks again

Gumbo

mikelata wrote: »

Thanks for the reply!

In that case, any idea of what the fix could be?
If the other skylight, installed on the same roof does not leak, I guess that something could be done on the leaky one ?

Thanks again

Yeah, get the tiles removed and inspect the flashing. Adjust if possible and maybe insert a mortar mix around the velux under the tiles. I've seen this done on roof's where the velux was retrofitted.

hatchman

Another thing to check is the hood part over the top of window. Mine wasn't tight to sash when window is closed and water was running back up the glass. Causing a leak when the wind and rain was coming from a certain direction

mikelata

Thanks guys (sorry I missed your replies)

I will check that out and see if I can get it fixed.
The problem is so sporadic that is difficult to know if I fix really worked, but I see where i can get

Thanks again

Wheeliebin30

Whats the pitch of your roof?

mikelata

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

Whats the pitch of your roof?

I am not sure of the exact pitch, but I guess I could calculate it when I get home...

what I know is that the pitch was less than it had to be for the skylights... so the builder had to increase the pitch of the skylights... and now they are not parallel to the roof anymore (they have more pitch)