Ben Zumeta wrote:Another aspect of this is how vertically facing skylights are both more prone to leaking and let light in most at the least beneficial time of year. A steeply pitched equatorially or east facing roof can have a skylight that more easily sheds rain on its uphill side, and catches winter and morning light that is most beneficial.
When we first moved to this area, we trusted my park ranger boss’s recommendation for a roofer. It turns out that roofer knew better than to screw over someone as connected in the community as my NPS boss, but he shorted and shafted everyone else. The skylight we had installed with a roof replacement on the shallow pitched roof of a fixer upper we could afford leaked immediately. It turned out the incompetent and malfeasant roofer did everything else wrong as well, which I should have caught but was distracted by wedding planning and still generally believing people were good during those halcyon days of just engaged optimism. When we went after his license, the county inspector he must have paid off lied about it raining during his retroactive “inspection”, which the roofer had lied about getting in the first place. When we looked into suing, we found we would be in line behind 2 dozen other litigants against him. He is well connected so he stayed in business, and I subsequently saw his company working on the public school buildings here, which says a lot about our county and how it is run. In hindsight, having done roofing work since (and virtually everything else because we can’t seem to hire good honest people here easily), I think any competent, sober roofer could put in a sound skylight that does not leak.
Our new house built by a general contractor for himself has no leaks after 300” of rain and 10+ feet of snow in 3yrs. It is NE facing, so it does not add much heat in summer, and it even opens to vent heat. It lights the interior stairwell enough to grow shade loving plants. Our large, high S and E facing windows catch abundant winter and morning light. Beyond a competent roofer, aspect is the most important consideration in my opinion.
It's super frustrating when you trust a professional and things go south. You're spot on about the placement and angle of skylights being crucial. The fact that your new place is handling the elements so well proves that. It's all about getting that right balance of light and temperature, plus making sure it's watertight.
Your experience is a real eye-opener about the importance of finding a trustworthy roofer. It's great that you're now clued up on what to look for, and that your current home is a success story. As for the earlier mishap, I guess it's one of those life lessons that teach us to be more cautious.
