If you feel you don’t get enough sun from your windows, skylights are a great way to shed a little more light on a room. Dens, living rooms, and sunrooms can all benefit from some ceiling-level sunshine. By bringing more sunlight into the house, your energy bill can benefit, too. Unfortunately, that same sun that does so much good can also take its toll on your skylights. As UV rays, the rest of the elements, and other factors affect your roof, here are five signs that it’s time to replace your skylight.
Discoloration
A yellow skylight above your living room, is a cause for concern. Ultraviolet light can degrade an acrylic skylight, gradually yellowing it. This affects the quality of the light that enters your room. If you don’t want a yellowish cast upon your surroundings, it’s time to switch out skylights. You may have even gotten so used to it that you won’t realize how bad it got until it’s gone.
Cracks From the Cold
If you live in a part of the country that fully experiences all four seasons, you’re particularly susceptible to this damage. Heating and cooling cycles—not only from summer and winter but even from day to night—cause the skylight material to expand and contract. If their setting doesn’t accommodate these changes, they can crack under the stress.
Cracks From Hail
It’s not just changes in weather that can cause cracks. Ice storms and hailstorms are sworn nemeses of skylights, where particularly brittle construction is no match for hard-falling hail. Check your skylight in the wake of a hailstorm. Look closely for cracks that will only get worse with time.
Leakage
Is water pooling beneath your skylight? There’s no surer sign that it’s time to make some changes. Degradation of the flashing around your skylight can allow water in from above, an unpleasant development that frustrates homeowners. Problems with leaks around a skylight are seldom self-contained problems—they often occur alongside other roofing issues. RoofPRO’s skylight repair and replacement team can take care of any leakage issues your skylight has and identify other emerging problems with your roof as well.
Is There a Draft?
There are some signs it’s time to replace your skylight that you don’t necessarily see. Instead, you feel them. Is there a breeze where there’s not supposed to be—namely, beneath your skylight? Feeling a draft means making some repairs. As we round the corner into fall and winter, it’s especially important to make sure no cold air is entering your home via the skylight.
