I’ve been repairing roofs and roof penetrations across Rutherford County for more than ten years, and skylight repair murfreesboro tn is one of those jobs that usually starts with a worried phone call after a storm. Most homeowners don’t notice anything wrong until water shows up on drywall or the room below starts to smell damp. By the time I’m standing on the roof, the skylight itself is rarely the only issue—it’s almost always part of a bigger story about how the roof was built, repaired, or modified over time.
One of the earliest skylight repairs I handled locally involved a home with a beautiful vaulted ceiling and a single skylight centered over the living room. The homeowner assumed the glass had cracked because they saw water lines forming on the trim. What I found instead was a flashing system that had been reused during a previous roof replacement. It looked fine at a glance, but the step flashing was mismatched to the roof pitch. Every hard rain pushed water sideways under the shingles until it found the opening. That skylight didn’t need replacing—its integration into the roof did.
In my experience, skylights expose shortcuts faster than almost anything else on a roof. Shingles can hide small mistakes for years. Skylights don’t. I’ve seen brand-new skylights leak because someone skipped ice and water shield around the curb or relied too heavily on sealant. Sealant ages quickly here. The summer heat alone is enough to make caulk brittle, and once it cracks, water doesn’t hesitate.
A job last spring stands out because it involved condensation rather than an active leak. The homeowner complained that their skylight “sweated” in the mornings and looked cloudy by afternoon. From inside, it seemed harmless. On the roof, I could tell the insulated glass seal had failed. Moisture wasn’t pouring in, but it was trapped between panes and slowly affecting the surrounding materials. I’ve learned not to downplay that kind of issue. Condensation problems often turn into ceiling damage months later, long after people forget the skylight ever looked foggy.
One mistake I see repeatedly is homeowners—or even contractors—trying to patch skylight leaks from the interior. I’ve been called out to homes where expanding foam or interior caulk was used around the skylight shaft. It might slow the visible symptoms, but it does nothing to stop water at the roofline. By the time I arrive, insulation is usually damp and the wood framing shows early signs of rot. Those are repairs that could have been avoided with proper exterior work.
I’m also candid about age. Older acrylic dome skylights, especially the ones installed decades ago, tend to fail in predictable ways. The plastic becomes brittle, fasteners loosen, and the original flashing systems don’t meet current standards. I’ve repaired some of them successfully, but I’ve also seen repairs become a cycle. When I recommend replacement, it’s usually because I’ve seen what happens when people keep chasing the same leak year after year.
What makes skylight repair different from other roof work is how localized the problem seems versus how widespread the damage can be. A slow leak around a skylight curb can travel along rafters before it ever shows up inside. By the time a stain appears, moisture may have already spread well beyond the opening itself. That’s why I always inspect a wider area than the skylight alone.
After years of handling these repairs, I’ve come to respect skylights while also treating them cautiously. They bring in natural light and can transform a space, but they demand precision. When something goes wrong, guessing or rushing the fix usually makes it worse. Most skylight problems I see in Murfreesboro weren’t caused by storms or bad luck—they were caused by small installation decisions that didn’t hold up under real Tennessee weather.