Last week, I had my house re-roofed, and they seem to have done a good job.
As part of the work, they replaced a skylight. In the room where the
skylight is, there is a smell of roofing cement. Actually, the smell travels
throughout the house because it gets picked up in the air conditioning
system, but is strongest near the skylight and especially in the heat of the
day.



I went up on the roof to take a look, and noticed that there is roofing
cement on the place where the skylight fits onto the sheathing/frame. In
other words, they put roofing cement on the plastic itself where it contacts
the metal sheathing/frame. The skylight seems to be nailed in properly, and
nothing leaks.



I assume that the sun is heating up the roofing cement and the smell is
coming downward from the skylight. Which leads me to my two questions:



First, is putting roofing cement where they put it, as I described above,
the right thing to do? Though I have no experience here I would think that
nailing it in is enough, and that putting roofing cement where they did
would make it difficult to remove the plastic if ever necessary. Second,
will this smell go away over time?



Thanks,





Ross

Everything goes away over time but seriously how much roofing cement
did they use ? It shouldn't be slathered all over. What does it smell
like, tar ?

On Sun, 19 Jun 2005 20:23:14 GMT, "Ross Payne"
scribbled this interesting note:

I went up on the roof to take a look, and noticed that there is roofing
cement on the place where the skylight fits onto the sheathing/frame. In
other words, they put roofing cement on the plastic itself where it contacts
the metal sheathing/frame. The skylight seems to be nailed in properly, and
nothing leaks.

It is good that nothing leaks...

I assume that the sun is heating up the roofing cement and the smell is
coming downward from the skylight. Which leads me to my two questions:

First, is putting roofing cement where they put it, as I described above,
the right thing to do?

Without seeing the skylight in question, I'll hazard an answer...in
short, NO.

Though I have no experience here I would think that
nailing it in is enough, and that putting roofing cement where they did
would make it difficult to remove the plastic if ever necessary. Second,
will this smell go away over time?

I don't know how your skylight is designed. There are a few different
variations. In none of the ones I'm familiar with should you ever have
the smell of roof cement come inside the house. Something is
non-standard with the installation and if I were you, and was
unfamiliar with how to do this kind of work, I'd call in another,
better qualified individual who could get an eyeball on it and give
you some on-site guidance.

http://www.google.com/search?q=skyli...=&start=0&sa=N
for a number of different kinds of skylight installation
instructions...


--
John Willis
(Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

It has been a number of years since I did this kind of work but its sounds
like a poor fit was 'doped' with a lot of asphalt. The metal flashing is
supposed to do the bulk of the work with a little along the top edgewhere it
should be up to/ under a flange along the edge of the light. This flnge is
supposed to do the deflecting of the water and the asphalt just stops any
backwash in a storm.


"Ross Payne" wrote in message
m...
Last week, I had my house re-roofed, and they seem to have done a good
job.
As part of the work, they replaced a skylight. In the room where the
skylight is, there is a smell of roofing cement. Actually, the smell
travels
throughout the house because it gets picked up in the air conditioning
system, but is strongest near the skylight and especially in the heat of
the
day.



I went up on the roof to take a look, and noticed that there is roofing
cement on the place where the skylight fits onto the sheathing/frame. In
other words, they put roofing cement on the plastic itself where it
contacts
the metal sheathing/frame. The skylight seems to be nailed in properly,
and
nothing leaks.



I assume that the sun is heating up the roofing cement and the smell is
coming downward from the skylight. Which leads me to my two questions:



First, is putting roofing cement where they put it, as I described above,
the right thing to do? Though I have no experience here I would think that
nailing it in is enough, and that putting roofing cement where they did
would make it difficult to remove the plastic if ever necessary. Second,
will this smell go away over time?



Thanks,





Ross

As part of the work, they replaced a skylight. In the room where the
skylight is, there is a smell of roofing cement. Actually, the smell
travels
throughout the house because it gets picked up in the air conditioning
system, but is strongest near the skylight and especially in the heat of
the
day.


Unless the skylight is open, nothing that they put on the outside
ought to be affecting the air on the inside. (if it does, you're
going to have an interesting heating season....)

So there has to be sealer, or tar, or something, on the
INSIDE of the window, unless you're just confusing the
smell of new vinyl, with that of cement. If it's the
latter, it will stop eventually. Grab a chunk of PVC
pipe, and cut it with a fine-toothed saw or file.
Is the smell anything like that?

--Goedjn

Thanks for your responses. I think the smell is roofing cement, rather than
new vinyl, and the roofing cement is in fact on the inside of the skylight
where it contacts the flange. The roofer came out and looked, and said that
they put the roofing cement there as a leak precaution, and that the smell
should go away in a day or two. Well, they did it Saturday--two days
ago--and it still seems strong to me, especially when the sun is beating
down on the roof.


Ross
"Goedjn" wrote in message
...

As part of the work, they replaced a skylight. In the room where the
skylight is, there is a smell of roofing cement. Actually, the smell
travels
throughout the house because it gets picked up in the air conditioning
system, but is strongest near the skylight and especially in the heat of
the
day.


Unless the skylight is open, nothing that they put on the outside
ought to be affecting the air on the inside. (if it does, you're
going to have an interesting heating season....)

So there has to be sealer, or tar, or something, on the
INSIDE of the window, unless you're just confusing the
smell of new vinyl, with that of cement. If it's the
latter, it will stop eventually. Grab a chunk of PVC
pipe, and cut it with a fine-toothed saw or file.
Is the smell anything like that?

--Goedjn