Forum Archive: Skylight

As a follow-up to my skylight Forum post on Friday, I learned that the $2,700 quote we received from our roofer for the cost and installation of two fairly standard rectangular skylights on the top floor of our brownstone does NOT include the cost of cutting through the roof from the inside, which will also entail dealing with the electric that exists as we have ceiling lights in one of the two rooms. Since the roofer in questions does not do the inside work, we would have to engage a second company to do the work, which seems a lot more labour-intensive than what the roofer would do (i.e., simply dropping skylights onto the roof and building the drainage around it.

Questions:

1) Does the quote of $2,700 seem high to others?

2) Can anyone recommend a skylight company/roofer in Brooklyn that will do all of the exterior AND interior work and who is reasonably priced?

Thanks in advance.

We’re considering putting in skylights on the top floor of our brownstone (built in 1851). We already have one in a bathroom upstairs and love it. My only hesitation is the additional amount of heat it might generate, as it already gets very hot on the top floor (we do have air conditioning to blast if we need to, but we try not to overuse it). Does anyone have experience / advice around this? I believe they have shades and tinted skylights. Would that make a noticeable difference? The skylight in the bathroom is not tinted or shaded and it can get quite hot in there.

I also prefer not to cut through any of the beams in the roof, so we’re going to work around that and we’ll also have an electrician helping to ensure the installers don’t mess up the wiring.

Are there any other issues around doing this work? It seems to me that often these days when people do renos (and in new construction), skylights are added.

Any insight is much appreciated.

Stained glass cover for stairwell skylight, original to our 1896 brownstone. So pretty!

Colored glass is original, translucent glass is new. Basically very good condition, though the wood frame could use a coat of paint.

Dimensions: 30 x 43.5 inches

Asking $100

Please call 718 832 5786 if you are interested

I am looking for ideas to build a bulkhead and use it both to access to the roof and also to bring light to the stairs. I would substitute the zenithal light that comes from the skylight and just heats the top floor in summer for the south facing windows or glass to get light and heat in winter and light in summer. Anybody has done something similar or has any opinion about that?

I want to replace my old leaky skylights. I was going to get the old style replicated but with insulated glass; but I read an old forum post that recommends a Velux skylight instead of the “crappy” old-fashioned metal-frame pyramid style. Anyone have any experience with these and/or know a local installer?

My old skylights are open to the attic crawl space. I want to box them in with sheetrock so they look like the photo here (which I found in another forum post). Can anyone recommend a handyman or contractor guy to do this?

Hey all:

How do you prevent heat loss thru this skylite, which is over the stairwell. I’ve heard about the ‘build a plexiglas board’ underneath. THat would be very difficult, for any number of reasons, in this case. What about wrapping something around the opening? It would be something, anyway.

Denton mentioned in a recent post about heat loss through a skylight. I know that part of my upstairs tenant’s heat issues have to do with a leaky skylight. I could probably get on a ladder and try myself, but there might be somebody out there who actually repairs, caulks, replaces glass panels on skylights. I suspect that this is a big problem upstairs. I wonder if Denton or any other brownstoners have found good, inexpensive solutions and/ or tradespeople who can deal with leaky skylights. Thanks very much.

We are thinking of adding a skylight to the living room on the 4th Floor. There is currently a ceiling light in the middle of the room, where it would make sense to put the skylight. The room is pretty much square shaped. If we were going to put in a skylight:

1. What do we do about the beams supporting the roof? Is it OK to cut them for a 3×3 if we do appropriate interior framing?
2. Where should we put the skylight, if not in the center of the room? Near to the wall with the window to the front of the house? Or near to the wall where the door is?

Thanks!