Leaking Skylight

This skylight leaks at the far corner. ( top right of pic ) Can anyone tell EXACTLY why by the pic?

Hey thank GOD for people who think roofing is a no brainer......it keeps us workin. B)

natty: "They were probably put in by a remodeling CONtractor who thinks roofing is an after thought."

Yes, they were and a "handyman" came in behind them and put what appears to be brushable Geo-Cel everywhere.

I do what TCR does with the hem. Flatten it. The top saddles are short enough in the field plane without trimming any more off of them. You can though if you want to. We all have to use a little finesse on Velux stuff because it's soft and easily damaged. In my experience it's not unusual for some part to come out of the box slightly damaged during shipping. I find the curb-mount system much easier to deal with than the deck mount units but they make good products. (Although I do dislike their tile flashing kits.)

Chuck Said: One company installed the skylights a year ago but wouldnt return to fix the leak.

Why isn't this company being sued? This is terrible work and totally incompetent.

It looks like they used a vented skylight flashing kit on a fixed mounted skylight and the curb is way too short.

If that ain't enough incompetence, take off a couple of more rows of shingles above the skylight so you can get a better tie-in.

They were probably put in by a remodeling CONtractor who thinks roofing is an after thought.

I so often find the back pan not locked onto the upper lip of the skylight. It seems as if nobody knows how to add the proper cleats to lock it in place. I notice none of those are cleated into place.

I only have pix from a copper roof, but I do it on ALL Velux skylites. Two cleats can be seen. THey're attached with 1" or 3/4" nails on each side of the upper corners and folded over the rear lip.

I add a bit of gutter sealer in the premade corner on principle. In these two pix, you can see the cleats folded into place and clipped off for neatness. I never have to bother with nailing into the holes on the side of the back pan where if come around the corner. This method is foolproof.

I always flatten that kick down with my hammer and then put some peel and stick on top of it.

I even plan to use the same brand and color shingle that's on the roof. :dry:

Because the pans are so whacked up and the other guy put caulking all down the sides and all the way around all of them, I will be taking the tops off of all 3, taking all the shingles out from the entire area, installing Gaf storm guard over the entire area and installing new flashing kits. If the new kits have that curl back at the back pan, I plan to cut it off before installing them. If you think the skylights are bad check out the chimney flashing job! Someone doesn't know how to do siding maybe? :laugh:

There are 3 skylights side by side by side. Check out how pitiful the back pans are. Amazingly only one is leaking at the current time. But I don't think that's gonna hold up too much longer.

For whatever reason, this back flashing pan has a curl back at the top. It's not simply bent like roof to wall flashing but is curved. An attempt to prevent splash back I suppose. However, in this case it caused the leak rather than preventing it. They did a crappy job on the back pans as well but the water is entering above the back pan, just above the curl back.

Two shingles butt together under the tab of the old shingle at the top. The curl back ( along with the way they installed the back pan ) is damming up water. The water then enters the slot in the 3-tab shingle and tracks horizontally. Leaking underneath the back pan from there downward.

This is not my work. I hope no one thought it was. One company installed the skylights a year ago but wouldn't return to fix the leak. Another one came and caulked everywhere except the spot that would have stopped the leak. The cause of the leak is kind of a combination of what Old School and Lefty said.

Looks like the back pan is not installed right. That caulk is nowhere near the leak.

It is hard to see on that picture.

Me either but that's not why its leaking.