# Skylight Repair and Replacement: Cost, Hours and Process in Hacienda Heights Skylight repair and replacement swaps a cracked or clouded acrylic dome and rebuilds the flange seal beneath it. RV skylights are thermoformed acrylic, which embrittles under UV and eventually fractures from thermal load alone. The shower skylight and the vent skylight are different parts with different flanges and do not interchange. ## Specifications - Price band: $350 to $2,500 - Shop hours: 1 to 10 hours - Turnaround tier: Light cosmetic - Insurance billable: yes - Parts lead time: In stock for common shower dome sizes, 7 to 20 business days for tinted or non standard domes - OEM brands: Icon, Kinro, Ventline, Lippert, Dicor, Hehr ## Why acrylic domes fail on a clock, not by accident Acrylic is chosen for skylights because it is clear, light and cheap to thermoform. What it is not is UV stable across decades. The polymer breaks down from the exposed surface inward, the material yellows, and it loses the ability to absorb impact or thermal movement without fracturing. In this region that clock runs faster than the manufacturer assumed. A coach stored outdoors in the San Gabriel Valley will show a visibly amber dome in six to eight years and reach brittle shortly after. Most of the cracked domes we replace were never struck by anything at all. The practical tell is sound rather than sight. A sound dome flexes silently through a morning warm up. A dome near end of service makes a sharp tick as it heats, because the material can no longer take the expansion without micro fracturing. Once you hear that, the crack is a matter of months away. ## The shower dome and the vent dome are different parts Owners regularly arrive believing they need one skylight and actually needing the other. A shower skylight is a deep clear dome over a fixed opening, commonly sixteen by twenty four inches sitting on a fourteen by twenty two cutout, and it exists to put daylight into a windowless space. A vent skylight is a shallower dome that forms the lid of a roof vent, hinged or fixed, on the standard fourteen by fourteen opening. It is part of a ventilation assembly, and when it fails the hinge, the crank or the fan usually needs attention at the same time. The two use different flange geometry, different fastener patterns and different sealant approaches, and neither will adapt to the other's opening without cutting. Establishing which one you have at intake is why we ask for a photograph of the roof rather than a description over the phone. ## Getting the dome size right the first time RV skylight sizing is published two different ways and it is a reliable source of wrong parts. The outside dimension of the dome is not the cutout size, and the cutout size is not the flange size. A dome sold as sixteen by twenty four sits on a fourteen by twenty two hole, with the flange covering the difference. We measure the cutout from inside with the garnish ring removed rather than measuring the dome from the roof. That is the one dimension that cannot be misread, and it takes five minutes with the coach in the bay. Where an original size has been discontinued, and on coaches past about twenty years old it usually has been, the opening is adapted with a filler and a new flange to accept a currently stocked dome. That adds hours and it is honest work. The alternative is a custom part with an open ended lead time attached to it. ## How the flange is rebuilt underneath the dome A skylight leak is almost never the dome itself. It is the flange joint, and it fails the same way every other roof penetration fails: butyl that has hardened, fasteners that have loosened, and lap sealant that has crazed into a ring around the perimeter. The old unit comes out and the flange area is cleaned back to bare roof material, all of it, because new sealant will not bond over the residue of the sealant it is replacing. Moisture readings are taken around the cutout perimeter before anything new is set into place. The new dome is bedded in fresh butyl, fastened to the pattern the flange was designed for rather than to whatever holes happen to exist, and finished with a self leveling sealant matched to the roof material. On a fiberglass or TPO roof that selection differs from what goes on EPDM, which is why the roof material is confirmed before the part is ordered. ## What replacement costs and when repair is genuinely an option The band on this page is the narrowest on the roof rate card. A straightforward dome swap on a standard opening with a sound flange runs one to three hours and sits near the bottom. A non standard opening that needs adapting, plus interior garnish work and a wet perimeter, reaches the top of it. Repair instead of replacement is occasionally reasonable. A single short crack in an otherwise clear dome can be stop drilled and sealed, which arrests the propagation and buys a season. We will do that, and we will also tell you that a dome which has gone amber is out of time whether or not it has cracked yet. What we will not do is seal a crack in an embrittled dome and call the job finished. Acrylic that has lost its impact tolerance cracks again somewhere else, and a sealed crack on a brittle dome is a repair with a short and unpredictable life that you would be paying for twice. ## Not included - We do not set a dome over a flange that reads wet. The decking around the cutout is addressed before a new part goes on. - Interior garnish and trim ring replacement is quoted separately from the dome and flange work. - We do not thermoform one off domes here. Where an original size is discontinued the opening is adapted to a stocked dome instead. ## Questions **Can a cracked RV skylight be repaired instead of replaced?** Sometimes. A single short crack in a dome that is still clear and flexible can be stop drilled and sealed, which halts it spreading. If the dome has yellowed, the acrylic has embrittled throughout and it will crack again elsewhere, so a replacement dome is the only repair worth paying for. **Why has my skylight turned yellow?** UV breakdown of the acrylic. The polymer degrades from the exposed surface inward, which yellows the material and costs it impact tolerance at the same time. Outdoor storage in this part of Los Angeles County typically produces a visibly amber dome in six to eight years. **How do I measure my RV skylight for a replacement dome?** Measure the roof cutout from inside with the garnish ring off, not the dome from above. Domes are sold at their outside dimension, which is larger than the hole they cover, and confusing the two is the most common cause of a wrong part. We do this measurement at intake in about five minutes. **Is the shower skylight the same part as the vent lid?** No. The shower skylight is a deep fixed dome over a rectangular cutout, commonly fourteen by twenty two. The vent lid is a shallow dome on a standard fourteen by fourteen ventilation assembly with a hinge and often a fan. The flanges, fasteners and sealant approaches are all different. **Does a leaking skylight mean the decking is already wet?** Not necessarily, but it is the question that decides the scope. We take moisture readings around the cutout perimeter with the old unit out, which is the only moment you can read the framing directly. If it comes back elevated, the decking is addressed before a new dome goes over it. --- Source: https://ocrv.club/rv-roof-repair/skylight-repair-and-replacement OCRV Center, 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887 Phone (949) 799-3387. Email info@ocrvcenter.com. Serving Hacienda Heights and the surrounding area. 18.4 miles, 24 to 38 minutes via SR-60 west to Fullerton Rd, then south to La Palma Ave. In shop work only. All estimates are priced and credited against an authorized repair.