Replacing Leaking Skylights

ihbh on 28/07/2025 - 19:59

Our two skylights have been in service for probably at least 3 decades. They have been leaking and I managed to lift the tiles on the up-roof flashing today to find that the flashing has rust holes due to grime accumulating there of the years. See attached pic - imagine it sloping from right slight down to left, with red being the rust holes along the length of the flashing and tiles sitting on top of the flashing on the up-roof; the flashing sitting on the tiles down-roof.

What's your experience with replacing skylights? Anything to watch out for? Would easiest be pretty much same size (the flashing can provide some give for hole sizes/dome sizes)?

Also, we have a Federation home and I've been trying to source some spare tiles, for situations like this, but they're hard to come by. Any suggestions?

PS: If we didn't have any money and were desperate, we could flip the flashing casing 180 degrees - put the rust spots down-roof, but this isn't worth it as the dome and edges are very brittle and some other part will fail soon, if not during the flip.

Home & Garden Skylight

Comments

  • Protractor on 28/07/2025 - 20:29
    -2

    Just piss them off and put brighter low energy internal lighting in.Maybe some bigger windows on the north facing wall of your house.

    • JimmyF on 28/07/2025 - 20:54

      Wrong crowd to understand the negetives of sky lights & heat loss etc.

      • jv on 29/07/2025 - 00:15
        +4

        the negetives of sky lights

        True, this crowd knows how to spell…

  • JimmyF on 28/07/2025 - 20:53
    +3

    If we didn't have any money and were desperate, we could

    You could pump it full of silicon sealer and call it a day…..

    • ihbh on 29/07/2025 - 13:00

      Unfortunately I had to hose all along it to test where the leaks were coming from. And I had plenty of silicon available in case I needed it. I couldn't afford to leave the tiles off at night because our roof is a corridor for many possums and can't be arsed taking off the tiles a second time to silicon it, only for it to fail say a couple of months later.

  • AustriaBargain on 28/07/2025 - 20:59

    Federation home

    How old is the roof? Could be overdue for replacing if it really is over 100 years old.

    • ihbh on 29/07/2025 - 08:08

      We're aware this is an option, but won't go down this route. This could lead to a full blown reno and where we are it'd approach $1.5-2m and 2-3 years away from home.

  • mskeggs on 29/07/2025 - 10:58

    No spare tiles under the house in a dusty corner? Even my last place from 1890 had half a dozen still stacked in the dirt.
    I also found some more in the same shape by slightly different colour from a house getting renovated a few blocks away that I swapped in an hidden spot to replace a couple of cracked tiles in a visible spot.

    • ihbh on 29/07/2025 - 13:06

      There is one last difficult place to access to check (would have been easier to access in the past before subsequent renos). While on the roof, I noticed that my neighbour on the left has similar tiles (from a distance). I have picked some up from reno'd houses nearby in the past in preparation for a solar installation that didn't eventuate.

      My tiles were stamped at the back with Wilson's Tiles Seven Hills, so would have been produced between 1921-1960. https://blacktownmemories.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/6538

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