Commercial Skylight Repair in Jacksonville, FL

Service

Skylights are the highest-risk penetration on a commercial flat roof in Jacksonville's climate. Salt-air corrodes curb metal. Thermal cycling stresses glazing seals. Hurricane winds lift poorly anchored units. We repair the curb, the flashing, and the waterproofing — and coordinate with glazing contractors when the unit itself requires replacement.

A commercial skylight is a penetration through the roof membrane with a curb — a raised framed opening — a glazing unit, and a flashing transition between the curb and the membrane. Each element can fail independently, and in Jacksonville's climate, each element has a different failure timeline. The glazing seal typically lasts 10 to 15 years before UV and thermal cycling break down the elastomeric bond. The curb flashing lasts 15 to 25 years on an inland building and 8 to 12 years on a coastal or near-coastal building where salt-air corrodes the exposed metal. The curb framing itself lasts the life of the building if it is kept dry — but if the flashing fails and water enters the curb cavity, wood framing rots and metal framing corrodes in Jacksonville's humid environment within a few years.

We repair commercial skylights in the scope of the broader roofing engagement. Skylight curb flashing repair is membrane work — it uses the same TPO or EPDM material and the same heat-welded or adhesively bonded detail as any other membrane-to-curb transition. We do not subcontract this to a skylight-only vendor when it is part of a roof replacement or repair scope. For buildings where the glazing unit itself has failed — cracked panels, delaminated insulated glass, failed pneumatic seals — we coordinate with glazing contractors and ensure that the glazing work and the curb flashing work are sequenced correctly so the waterproofing detail is completed after the glazing replacement is finished.

Post-hurricane skylight damage is a specific concern in Jacksonville. Matthew and Irma both produced documented skylight failures on Duval County commercial buildings — lifted glazing frames, separated curb-to-membrane flashings, and in several cases complete skylight unit displacement on older buildings with inadequate anchor attachment. We assess skylight condition as part of every post-storm inspection and document damage to the standard required for insurance documentation.

Curb Flashing Repair and Replacement

The curb flashing is the waterproofing transition between the skylight curb and the roof membrane. On a correctly detailed curb, the membrane wraps up the curb face and terminates under the metal base flashing of the skylight unit. The metal base flashing laps over the top of the membrane, and sealant fills the joint between them. When this detail fails — typically through sealant deterioration, metal corrosion, or membrane separation from the curb face — water enters at the curb base and runs down inside the wall of the curb into the building.

Curb flashing repair uses the same membrane material as the existing roof system — TPO on a TPO roof, EPDM on an EPDM roof — to avoid incompatibility issues. We clean the curb face, prepare the substrate, and install a new membrane flashing in accordance with the manufacturer's detail sheet for curb applications. Heat-welded laps on TPO; bonded laps with EPDM tape on EPDM. The base metal flashing is either cleaned and resealed or replaced with new aluminum flashing if it is corroded.

On coastal Jacksonville buildings — the barrier island commercial corridor, JAXPORT-adjacent buildings, and Riverside buildings within two miles of the St. Johns River — curb base metal flashing replacement uses aluminum rather than standard galvanized steel. Galvanized steel at this exposure corrodes within 5 to 8 years. The additional cost of aluminum flashing on a skylight curb repair is small relative to the labor cost of repairing the same location again in 5 years.

Glazing Seal and Unit Repair

Glazing seal deterioration is the most common source of active dripping from a Jacksonville commercial skylight. The elastomeric seal between the glazing frame and the glazing panel breaks down under UV exposure and daily thermal cycling. In Jacksonville's climate, thermal cycling is intense: summer midday surface temperatures on a south-facing skylight glazing frame can exceed 140°F, dropping to ambient temperature after sunset. This daily temperature swing works the seal joint repeatedly and eventually opens gaps.

Glazing seal repair is a glazing-trade scope, not a roofing scope. We coordinate with glazing contractors for the glazing seal work and ensure that the roofing and glazing sequences do not conflict — the curb flashing repair must be complete and cured before the glazing contractor reseals the unit, so that any glazing work does not compromise the newly installed curb flashing.