Why Champlin is differentShould skylights be replaced when a Champlin roof is replaced?
Often, if they are original to the house. Many Champlin homes built in the 1980s and 1990s have skylights, and the flashing around them is the most common leak point on those roofs. Re-flashing an old skylight into new shingles saves little, because the unit may fail before the new roof does. We inspect the glass, seals and curb first, then give you both options.
Our Champlin file shows why. In October 2017 we inspected the skylights on a two-story contemporary home, photographing the glazing, the metal curb flashing, and the frames from inside and out. A year later we walked the rest of the house: the roof around the skylights and the tall brick chimney, the gray board-and-batten siding, the bay window roofs with their standing-seam metal caps, and the roof-to-wall joints where the upper story meets the lower roof.
Skylights fail in a few predictable ways. Seals between the panes break and the glass fogs; the curb flashing loosens or rusts; hail cracks the glazing or dents the metal; and condensation drips down the shaft in winter. When a roof is replaced, the skylight is fully exposed for a few hours, which is the one cheap moment to replace or re-flash it properly with ice barrier around the curb.
Champlin's housing makes this a common question. About 2,600 homes were built here in the 1980s and 2,000 more in the 1990s, many of them larger two-stories with complex rooflines, and about 90% of Champlin households own their home. If your skylights are original, have them looked at with the roof.
