Skylight Installation & Repair in Kalispell
Sisu Roofing handles skylight installation and repair in Kalispell and across the Flathead Valley, where long winters make homeowners want daylight and deep snow makes skylights the most abused penetration on the roof. A skylight is a hole in your roof that has to outperform the roof around it. That is achievable, but only with flashing done exactly right, and it is why skylight work belongs to a roofer rather than a handyman. As with everything we do, the estimate starts with a drone flight and shared photos.
Why skylights leak, and why it is usually not the glass
Most 'leaking skylights' we inspect are not failed units. They are failed flashing, or they are condensation. The flashing kit that weaves the skylight into the shingles is the actual weather seal, and when it is installed short, sealed with caulk instead of layered correctly, or scoured by years of sliding snow, water gets in around a perfectly good unit. Condensation is the other impostor: warm indoor air hitting cold glass in January drips convincingly. Our diagnosis separates the three cases, because they have three very different price tags and only one requires a new skylight.
Replace your skylights when you reroof
If your roof is being replaced and your skylights are more than a few years old, replace them during the reroof. The flashing must come off for the new shingles anyway, so the labor largely overlaps, and reinstalling aged units into a new roof means the oldest components on the roof are the ones surrounded by the newest. We see the sad version often: a homeowner keeps the old skylights to save money, and two winters later pays for flashing tear-out on a nearly new roof. During any Sisu roof replacement, we will quote skylight replacement alongside, and you can decide with real numbers.
New skylight installation
Cutting a new skylight into an existing roof is the full version of the trade: locating between rafters, framing the opening, building the interior light shaft, and flashing the unit into the existing shingle or metal field so it disappears into the roof system. In Flathead homes we push for units and placements that suit the climate: curb heights and flashing that tolerate snow sitting against them, glass rated for snow load, and placement out of the main slide paths on metal roofs. Done right, a north-facing room in Olney or Marion gets usable daylight through an eight-month winter.
- Placement planned around rafters, snow paths, and sun angle
- Curb and flashing details sized for snow country
- Interior shaft framed and ready for your drywaller
- Fixed, venting, and sun-tunnel style options
Skylights under Flathead snow
Snow country asks more of a skylight than most brands' marketing photos suggest. Snow buries units for weeks, then slides across them during a thaw, dragging at the flashing edges. Freeze-thaw cycles work at every seal. Ice dams form below skylights on shaded slopes and push meltwater sideways into the flashing weave. None of this means skipping skylights. It means the flashing has to be layered for water arriving from directions rain never comes from, and seals and curb details need checking as part of normal roof maintenance, which our inspection visits include.
Honest diagnosis: flashing, condensation, or unit, before you buy anything
Replacement quoted alongside every reroof, with overlap savings
New installs flashed for snow load and slide paths
Skylight checks included in our roof inspections
Work on shingle and metal roofs alike
Drone documentation of the finished flashing detail
How it goes
- 01
Drone survey
We fly the roof and photograph the skylight and its flashing field before anyone climbs up.
- 02
Diagnosis
We determine whether the problem is flashing, condensation, or the unit, and quote only what is needed.
- 03
Repair or install
Flashing rebuilt or unit installed with layered, snow-country details, integrated into the roof system.
- 04
Water check and photos
We verify the seal, document the finished detail from the air, and send you the photo record.
