How to Install Skylights

Adding skylights to your interior decor can really enhance the beauty of your home. Open up any famous home decorating magazines, and you are sure to find at least one home lit up with the fabulous splendor of skylights. Hiring someone to install your skylights can be expensive. If you are up to the challenge of doing it yourself, you will find the challenge rewarding, as well as beneficial.

1. Gather necessary materials. You will need the following: a circular saw, a hammer, a pry bar, a utility knife, tin snips, the skylight window, drywall, galvanized nails, two-by-fours, roofing nails, flashing (continuous and flash) and roofing paper.


2. Cut the opening for the skylight in the frame opening and your roof. Check the skylight for directions on how to do this. From inside of the house, drill a hole in the ceiling where the skylight will be placed. Grab your circular saw, get on top of the roof and begin to cut.


3. Work on the frame opening. Place header joists to that are horizontal to the other joists. If you have a standard ceiling, cut and frame the ceiling. Grab a straight edge and utility knife to cut the roof shingles back about 3 inches from the skylight opening. Install the skylight over the opening, concentrating on the window, and attach it to the roof with nails or screws.


4. Add an under layer. Grab your pry bar to lift the roofing nails out of the shingles, and position 8-inch wide roofing paper strips under the roof shingles.


5. Install the bottom and step flashing. Place the bottom flashing around the outer edge of the skylight on top of the shingles. This assists the securing the skylight to the roof. When adding step flashing, make sure that you start from the bottom and work your way up to the top. Also, make sure that you overlap the flashing by approximately four inches, attaching it to the skylight. 


6. Install the solid flashing. Make sure that the solid flashing fits tightly on the window to insure that water does not seep between the step flashing and the skylight. Adhere the bottom before attaching the sides of the solid flashing.


7. Install the head flashing. 


8. Enjoy!