Commercial Skylight Repair in Orlando, FL

The skylight curb is the raised frame on which the skylight unit sits, and the flashing at the curb-to-roof-membrane junction is the most common skylight leak source in the Orlando commercial building stock. The curb flashing turns up the face of the curb and terminates under the skylight frame — and when that termination fails, water runs behind the frame, down the curb face, and into the building below.

Curb flashing failure in Orlando commercial buildings has several causes: UV and thermal cycling that checks and cracks the flashing at the curb corners (corner pieces are the highest-stress locations); inadequate initial installation where the flashing was not properly lapped at curb corners; and physical separation where the skylight frame has been removed for glazing replacement without proper resealing of the flashing termination under the frame.

Curb flashing repair involves removing the skylight frame from the curb at the affected sides, replacing or extending the flashing to a proper termination under the frame, and resealing with a glazing-compatible sealant. On buildings where the skylight curb is a cast-in-place concrete curb — common in the International Drive hotel atria — the flashing approach differs from a sheet-metal curb installation. We assess the curb type and material before specifying the repair.

The glazing seal between the skylight glazing unit (the dome, the flat glass panel, or the polycarbonate multiwall panel) and the skylight frame fails over time from UV degradation, thermal expansion cycling, and — in Orlando — from the impact of hailstones and wind-driven debris. Florida hail is typically small-diameter (pea to marble size) but frequent during the convective season, and accumulated impact from multiple events degrades glazing seals and eventually cracks polycarbonate units.

Glazing seal repair involves removing the glazing unit from the frame, replacing the glazing seal tape or gasket, and reseating the unit. On dome skylights, the dome may need replacement if the acrylic or polycarbonate has yellowed, cratered from UV exposure, or cracked from impact — yellowed domes are also a light-transmission issue, and many Central Florida building owners replace yellowed domes proactively to restore the daylighting benefit the skylight was installed to provide.

Impact damage to flat-glass commercial skylights — which are common in newer office buildings and the Lake Nona Medical City campus buildings — requires glazing unit replacement by a glazing contractor. We coordinate with glazing contractors for these replacements and manage the curb flashing condition as part of the replacement project. Impact-resistant glazing (laminated glass or polycarbonate rated for FBC impact requirements) is the specification we recommend for any skylight glazing replacement on Orlando commercial buildings — Florida's hail and wind-driven debris exposure makes standard annealed glass an inadequate specification for commercial skylights in the current climate.

Florida Building Code requires that skylights in the wind speed zones applicable to the Orlando area meet impact-resistance standards or be protected by an approved storm shutter system. Many older commercial skylights in the Downtown and International Drive corridors were installed before these requirements were in force, or were permitted under grandfather provisions that allowed non-impact glazing in non-HVHZ areas. When a skylight in that condition is damaged in a storm event, the repair-or-replace decision involves a compliance question — repairing a non-impact skylight with in-kind glazing may not be permittable under the current FBC in some jurisdictions.

We assess FBC compliance status when we write a skylight repair scope and flag conditions where the current FBC would require an upgrade to impact-resistant glazing. The owner then makes an informed decision about whether to upgrade proactively or to pursue a variance process. We do not recommend in-kind replacement of non-impact skylights in buildings with FBC wind exposure without advising the owner of the compliance question.

Rain-event-correlated water — appears during or shortly after rain, stops when the rain stops — indicates an external leak. Temperature-correlated water — appears on cold clear mornings in December through February, typically gone by midday — indicates condensation. In Orlando, both conditions occur. A leak that appears during summer afternoon convective storms is almost certainly external; a drip that appears on winter mornings may be condensation. We assess both during the diagnostic visit.

Curb flashing repair at specific sides of the curb can often be done without removing the full skylight unit — only the affected side's frame needs to be lifted. Full dome replacement requires removing the dome from the frame. Glazing seal repair on barrel-vault or flat-glass skylights may require removing individual glazing panels. We assess the scope of access required and describe it in the repair quote before work starts.

Yellowed acrylic or polycarbonate domes reduce light transmission significantly — a dome that is 30-40% yellowed from UV exposure can cut daylighting by 50% or more. Yellowing also indicates UV-degradation of the material that reduces impact resistance. It is a performance issue and a durability issue. Dome replacement with a new UV-stabilized unit restores daylighting and impact resistance. This is a common proactive replacement item on Central Florida commercial buildings that were built in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Skylight replacement — replacing the glazing unit or the full skylight assembly — generally requires a building permit, particularly if the replacement involves a change in glazing type (such as an upgrade to impact-resistant glazing). Sealant repair and curb flashing repair at existing skylights typically fall below the permit threshold. We identify permit requirements in the repair scope.

We diagnose the actual source — curb flashing, glazing seal, or condensation — and produce a written repair scope with FBC compliance notes before any work starts.