Are you sick and tired of living in what feels like eternal darkness? Is the inside of your home feeling dull and depressing? If so, you may wish to consider letting more natural sunlight inside, with the help of a skylight.
Skylights are fantastic devices for anybody looking for ways of letting more natural light into the home. They’re essentially windows fitted to the ceiling and come in a variety of different styles and designs. Some are fixed in place and simply serve as windows, whereas others are vented and can actually be opened to allow fresh air into the home, and to help remove steam, condensation, and even cooking odors.
As fantastic as skylights are, they aren’t the simplest things in the world to install, especially if you wish to do it yourself but don’t have the correct tools. That’s what we want to look at today.
Here’s a look at the tools you’ll need, and how much they’ll cost if you decide to go with a DIY skylight installation yourself.
What Tools are Needed for DIY Skylight Installation?
First and foremost, you should only install a skylight yourself if you are able to safely and competently do so correctly. Skylight installation not only requires the use of dangerous tools, it also requires access to a roof, which means that you’ll be dealing with heights. Again, this can be dangerous.
Before you begin the installation, it’s important to make sure that you have the correct tools. You may also need a power supply if you aren’t dealing with battery power, so again, just bear that in mind.
The exact tools you require will vary depending upon the type of skylight you choose to install, and indeed, where. If you’re installing a simple skylight in your backyard shed for example, you probably won’t need as many tools as you would if installing a bespoke vented skylight in the ceiling of your kitchen.
With that said, here are just a few tools you’ll likely need if fitting a skylight yourself:
- Safety ladders
- A skylight installation kit
- Power drill
- Safety goggles
- Safety gloves
- Roofing shingles
- Hammer and nails
- Utility knife
- A roofing harness
- Sealant
- Frame
- Self-adhesive membrane
- Screws
- Electric drill
- Screwdriver
How Much Can You Expect to Pay for DIY Skylight Installation Tools?
Okay, so now that we’ve looked at some of the more common items you’re likely to need when fitting a skylight yourself, let’s get the painful part out of the way and look at the costs.
We can’t give you an itemized breakdown of costs because it would depend on where you purchased your tools and the kind that you get. What we can do however, is provide a rough idea for you.
The biggest expense when fitting a skylight yourself is going to be the skylight and kit. Skylight kits vary in price and can be as little as $500 for a basic kit, or upwards of $2,000 depending upon the size and style you go for. The frame itself is likely to be around $300 at least.
As for your power tools, if you allow for around $50 – $80 per item, you’re probably in the right ballpark. Then you’ve got basic tools like a utility knife, a hammer, nails, screws, screwdriver ETC, as well as the safety equipment. Say around $150 – $200 for all of those and you’re not a million miles away.
So, roughly, including the skylight and kit itself, you’re looking at anything from around $600 – $3,000 on average.
Oh, and we also recommend that you don’t try to save a few bucks by going with budget products. If they’re cheap, they’re cheap for a reason and you’ll wish you’d spent a little extra when you’re halfway through the job, wondering why you started in the first place.
Skylight Installation Fundamentals
Now that we’ve looked at the tools needed for the job, as well as a rough price breakdown, all that’s left is to look at the installation itself.
Below we’re going to highlight just a few key fundamentals of a skylight installation to help make the job that little bit easier for you.
Cut the Opening
Pretty self-explanatory here, but once everything has been prepped, you’re going to need to cut the opening for where the skylight is going to go.
You will of course need to take measurements of the skylight, making sure to factor in things like frame and flashing. Once up the ladder safely, measure, write everything down, and then measure again to make sure you get the same readings. As the saying goes ‘measure twice, cut once’.
Fit the Flashing
Flashing is put in place to seal the edges around the skylight to make it watertight.
Carefully measure and fit the flashing, making sure it forms a watertight seal. Once you’re happy, nail it in place.
Fit the Skylight
Now comes the moment of truth, as you will now need to fit your skylight.
With the flashing firmly in place, get your skylight up onto the roof carefully and place it into the hole you cut for it. It should fit snugly. If it does, you can begin hammering in your roofing nails to secure it firmly in place.
Seal the Edging
When you have a skylight fitted, the absolute last thing you want is to find that it is leaking and letting in rainwater every time it rains. To help prevent this, you’re now going to need to seal the edges.
Cut and stick your membrane to the flange of the skylight, making sure to overlap by a couple of inches. Now seal it in place around the edges.
Install the Next Pieces of Flashing and Shingles
Now comes more flashing, as you will need to fit the sill flashing, step flashing, counter flashing, and saddle flashing.
These different types of flashing are again essential for forming a watertight seal and ensuring your skylight doesn’t leak. After installing the step flashing, cover it with a roof shingle and repeat the process until finished. You’ll then fit the counter flashing before finishing with the saddle flashing.
Admire Your Work
With that, you can gather your tools and carefully descend your ladder, step back, admire your work, and enjoy your brand-new skylight.