MENU
- ESKADE-SYSTEM
- Skylights
- Polycarbonate
- Technical support
- Contact
How to refurbish old skylights? In most cases it is a question of replacing old ridge glass skylights with new polycarbonate barrel vaults. In the vast majority of cases this proves to be the most rational and effective solution.
Our company specializes in such skylight refurbishments. We can either perform a complex skylight replacement or carry out only a part of the necessary works. It is also possible to try to do all the construction works yourself with a little technical help from our part. Every time you want to exchange old skylights for new ones, you need to check whether this is possible from the technical and legal point of view (i.e. whether the skylights are not registered as a valuable architectural heritage). In order to make a preliminary offer for you, our company needs accurate and detailed photos of your old skylights and the specification of their dimensions and their number. If the skylights which need refurbishment are not the same in dimensions, please send us photos and dimensions of each one separately.
There are three crucial dimensions we need to know to draw up a proposal: the first one is the width of the base, the second one is the entire length of the base and the third one is the height of the base (from the roof top to the place where the actual skylight begins).
This information will help us evaluate the amount of materials needed for the construction of the skylight. At this point, it is also worth establishing whether we want the roof to be thermally insulated in the future or not: if so, the metal elements need special preparation and different form of installation on the roof. Without such preparation, the future insulation of the roof will be much more difficult and will require dismantling the existing skylight construction and building a brand new one. That is why, in order to avoid expensive and unnecessary works in the future, it is worth considering thermal insulation straight away with the skylight refurbishment, especially that the costs of heating constantly go up.
Another issue which is essential to the skylight replacement is the evaluation of the state and dimensions of the base. It is not always necessary to dismantle the skylights entirely, to the surface of the roof. If the existing skylight base is well kept and solid, it is highly possible that it can well be used as a base for new polycarbonate skylights. The photo above shows all details of an old ridge glass skylight. In this situation, the frame will remain as it is, it will be insulated from the outside, metal elements for thermal insulation of 15 cm in thickness will be installed, the frame of the reinforced glass panes will be removed and new polycarbonate barrel vault skylights will be installed within new aluminum frames.
The photos above show an example of a base that was probably made of bricks or cellular concrete blocks. Due to faulty construction, this base could not resist rain water and frost. The numerous cracks visible in the photos prove the weakness of the construction: the reinforced glass and steel skylights could only stand on such a base because of their heavy weight. After dismantling the skylight it turned out that the majority of the base construction could be removed with bare hands, without the use of any tools. Moreover, the base was too short with a view to the Investor's need of adjusting the skylight construction for roof insulation of 15 cm in thickness. In this case, the skylight base was entirely disassembled, removed and replaced with zinc-plated metal elements.
The two photos above show skylight bases which are in a very good state and can well be adopted for new skylight constructions. The only part that needs to be removed is the frame for reinforced glass panes. The advantages of such bases are their height, which enables further thermal insulation of the roof, as well as the space for polystyrene foam insulation within the base itself.
The skylight base in the photo has been made of reinforced concrete at the time when the building was erected. It is therefore an integral part of the roof construction and any attempt at removing it is highly inadvisable. Such bases can usually be used for new barrel vault skylights, with a few adjustments. It is necessary, however, to consider the additional insulation of such construction because reinforced concrete provides, in fact, no insulation at all.
The photos above show how different were the technologies used for old skylight constructions. In spite of the fact that at first glance many skylights look alike, during the twenty years of our career, we have not found two exactly the same skylight bases.
Please take that into account when sending us offer requests or questions. Please avoid mentioning the photos of skylight bases published on this website as identical to your skylights. We are absolutely sure that this is only at first glance and that we will be able to spot numerous details proving the uniqueness of the solution applied on your roof. It is therefore worth taking photos of your skylights and sending them to us. The photos can be in high resolution: the more accurately they show the crucial details of skylight construction, the more accurate our proposal and price evaluation will be. When on the roof, please take the pictures of the outside surface of the skylights and look for any holes or roof windows and take pictures from that perspective as well. It is the base that has the most significant influence on the costs of skylight replacement.
*
In the realization of the commissions we pay attention to technical possibilities and we introduce
all the necessary changes. There is a 24-month warranty on our products (unless the individual settlement
states differently) apart from electrical elements for which there is a 12-month warranty.
Unless the number of cells of the polycarbonate sheet is specified in the contract, the sheets available in stock will be sold.
