Skylight/Greenhouse Roof Repair Tips for Garden Structure Leak Fix

[delightfulbags]

Hi everyone,

I need some advice about a leak in the skylight section of my garden structure or greenhouse roof. During heavy rain water has been dripping inside and I’m trying to figure out the best way to fix it without harming the plants.

I suspect the seal around the skylight is worn or cracked. Has anyone repaired a greenhouse skylight or clear roof panel before? What materials and tools worked best for you, and any tips for weatherproofing?

I’m keen to protect my plants and avoid replacing the whole panel if possible.

 

[delightfulbags]

Hi everyone,

I need some advice about a leak in the skylight section of my garden structure or greenhouse roof. During heavy rain water has been dripping inside and I’m trying to figure out the best way to fix it without harming the plants.

I suspect the seal around the skylight is worn or cracked. Has anyone done skylight repair on a greenhouse skylight or clear roof panel before? What materials and tools worked best for you, and any tips for weatherproofing?

I’m keen to protect my plants and avoid replacing the whole panel if possible.

thanks in advance for any help

 

[yardiron]

Some pictures of what you have would help.
If you have one of those aluminum and plastic kits that they sell, those leak like crazy everywhere. If we're talking about a sealed in place panel, silicone cault applied on the outside is the best option. If its an opening roof vent or hatch and the gasket or seal is leaking, you'll likely have to get creative with some foam weatherstripping tape.

At my old house I had a really old semi homemade green house in the yard, it was basically two of those add on sun rooms that someone removed from some old house and had joined them together with about 4ft of home made structure in the center paneled over with several full sheets of plexiglass with a pair of RV vents down the center.
The RV vents kept going bad and getting up there to fix them was tough as the structure could not support the weight of a man on the top of it.
I figured that the only way to access it was to remove the adjacent panels from the end and use a ladder from the inside to fix the vents. What i did was buy two plastic domes and had I built a 12" riser above the vents. I affixed homemade clear vent lid covers made from Lexan. I built the riser from 1" square aluminum tubing, sealed with 3M 5200 sealer that's used on boats. The riser was 10" high, and the size of the 20x30" lexan domes I had found. I cut 4x12 vents on one side of each riser that was covered in clear lexan and installed a screened louvered panel (4x12") of the vent hole.
The result was a permanent dome that had no seals to leak, and I could control the vent by simply opening and closing the lid as before. It didn't block the sun, it let excess heat or humidity out if needed and I never had to deal with those cheap plastic lids falling apart in the sunlight again.

I also added a trellis sort of structure under that clear center roof to provide shade in the hot months. It had 6 posts, and four lateral overhead runners on which I could roll out a piece of heavy black tarp to block some direct light overhead. I used it like a sun shade since all the panels were totally clear plastic.

 

[PGB1]

I don't know if this is applicable to yours, Delightfulbags, but when my house roof windows' & kitchen garden windows' gaskets dried up from sunlight's UV and began leaking, I removed the old gaskets and sealed with urethane caulk. Some were up to 25 years ago and all are still watertight.

Tremco Vulkem 116 Non-Sanded is what I used.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

If you can work on fixing it from the outside, so much easier to stop leaks, water finds its way through once it has got in a bit.

 

[yardiron]

3M makes something called 5200 Sealer for boats, its a urethane caulk that's meant to be permanent. Not much will affect it if both surfaces are clean. Its white in color an absolutely impossible to remove. Its very similar to the urethane sealer that holds most car windshields in place.

 

[Ruderunner]

As long as the leaking water isn't damaging the structure (wood rot for example) I'm not sure I'd do much about it.

If you have plants that really like water, put them under the drips.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

f you have plants that really like water, put them under the drips.

Or stand a tray under the drips and stand plants in it to bottom water them