Elgin Roof Pros provides professional skylights in Elgin, IL for residential and commercial properties across northern Kane and McHenry counties. If your house is a landmark or sits in a designated district and you want a skylight on the front slope, the answer is no. We will not take a deposit and find out slowly. The guidelines say skylights should not go where the street can see them.
They should go at rear rooflines, or behind gables and dormers, and they should be flat or flush with the roof plane. Convex and bubble designs are called out as inappropriate. That rules out the domed tubular daylight devices that get sold as the easy answer for a dark hallway, at least anywhere the sidewalk can see them. Original roof windows and light wells that were designed into the architecture are a different matter and should be kept.
The manual goes further and suggests the substitute. Dormers should be used instead of skylights in highly visible portions of a roof, built as two gables with a connector if they are large, occupying no more than half the slope, and trimmed out in the style of the house. That is a carpentry project, not a roofing accessory, and it costs accordingly. That is carpentry money, not accessory money.
Where a rear-slope unit is appropriate, we fit deck-mounted flush units with the manufacturer's step flashing kit and we integrate the head flashing under the course above rather than surface-sealing it. The shaft through the attic gets framed, insulated and air-sealed at the ceiling plane, because an unsealed light well is a condensation machine over a Kane County winter. Head flashing goes under the course above, never over it.
Most skylights we are called to look at are not leaking through the glass. They are leaking around a curb that was flashed with sealant in 2004, or the seal on the insulated glass has failed and what looks like a leak is condensate running off the inside. A failed insulated unit shows a cloudy film between the panes that no amount of cleaning touches. Both are repairs and neither needs a new unit.
And if the real goal is more daylight in a north-facing kitchen, a new window in a rear wall is cheaper, easier to approve and puts no hole in a roof. It also keeps the roof intact, which is the outcome the ordinance is aiming at anyway. We have talked more than one homeowner into that and none of them called back unhappy.
Our licensed and insured team brings the right materials and equipment to every job — sawn cedar shingles laid over a complete tear-off rather than split shakes, pressed metal shingle panels resoldered at the lap instead of stripped off, half-round hanging gutter with round leaders held to six inches or under, architectural laminate shingles in dark gray, black, brown or dark red, flat-seam metal panels soldered watertight on visible low-slope porch roofs, step flashing woven course by course in place of a saw kerf filled with trim — and backs the work with a written workmanship warranty. We serve Elgin and nearby communities including Carpentersville, West Dundee, East Dundee, Sleepy Hollow.
What We Handle
Everything our skylights in Elgin covers
One crew, one point of contact, and the full range of skylights work in Elgin, IL. If it is on this list we do it in house rather than handing it to a subcontractor:
- skylight installation Elgin IL
- skylight replacement
- leaking skylight repair
- deck mounted skylight
- curb mounted skylight
- sun tunnel tubular skylight
- skylight flashing kit
- attic light well
- roof window installation
- skylight glass replacement
- skylight condensation
Not sure which one describes your situation? Describe it in plain words and we will sort it out — or browse the rest of our Elgin services.
Materials, equipment and how we do skylights
The difference between skylights that lasts and skylights that gets redone in three years is almost always preparation and materials, not the finish you see on day one. We work with sawn cedar shingles laid over a complete tear-off rather than split shakes, pressed metal shingle panels resoldered at the lap instead of stripped off, half-round hanging gutter with round leaders held to six inches or under, architectural laminate shingles in dark gray, black, brown or dark red, spec them to the job instead of to the invoice, and write the material grades into the free estimate so you know exactly what you are buying.
Every Elgin job runs the same way: site walk and measurements, written scope and fixed price, protection of the surrounding area, then the work itself with a daily clean-up. Years of roofing work in northern Kane and McHenry counties means we have already met whatever your property is going to throw at us — awkward access, older construction, an HOA with opinions.
Where we do skylights outside Elgin
Elgin Roof Pros covers Elgin and the surrounding communities of northern Kane and McHenry counties. Crews run out to the same nearby cities every week, so an out-of-town job does not mean an out-of-town price.
- Skylights in Carpentersville, IL — Kane County, population 37,983
- Skylights in West Dundee, IL — Kane County, population 7,686
- Skylights in East Dundee, IL — Kane County, part in Cook County, population 3,152
- Skylights in Sleepy Hollow, IL — Kane County, population 3,214
- Skylights in Gilberts, IL — Kane County, population 8,366
- Skylights in Hampshire, IL — Kane County, population 7,667
Start on the Elgin Roof Pros homepage for a free estimate, or call (844) 511-2320 and describe the job.
Why Elgin Chooses Elgin Roof Pros
- ✓We count layers at the eave before pricing, because two or more means a full tear-off under the code Elgin enforces and no re-cover is available to you.
- ✓Certificate applications are drawn from the same scope we quote from, so the material and color on the approval match the material and color on your contract.
- ✓We do not order shingles before an approval is in hand, since any change to approved work has to be re-approved before materials are bought.
- ✓Our flashing is metal at every wall, valley, chimney and penetration, because the guideline manual specifically rejects caulk and bituminous coating as a substitute.
The standards behind skylights
Quality here is not a matter of opinion — it is written down. The skylights work we do in Elgin follows published industry standards: NRCA publishes the Roofing Manual, the industry's reference for details and slope minimums, and Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association sets the shingle application and ventilation guidance the warranties reference. If a contractor cannot tell you which standard a detail comes from, that is worth asking about before you sign.
Every skylights project in Elgin gets the same attention, whether it is a single room or a full commercial job. We show up on schedule, keep the site clean, and stand behind the work — the estimate is free and there is no pressure.
Ready to get started? Call (844) 511-2320 for a free skylights free estimate in Elgin, or request a quote and we'll get right back to you.