Carlsbad Quality Windows is coastal North County's leading specialist in skylight replacement, specializing in swapping crazed plastic domes, rebuilding rotted curbs, and fitting new flashing for tile or shingle roofs. We offer fixed and venting glass skylights plus tubular light tubes for closets and halls.
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Our team provides a roof and light-well inspection before anything is ordered, delivering dry ceilings and brighter kitchens for both residential and commercial projects. Backed by 13 years in business and the 2-year workmanship warranty on every installation, our crews have finished over 1,730 projects, from one hallway dome to every skylight across a multi-unit roof.
From the step flashing woven into the shingle courses to a new curb, underlayment and the tempered glass on top, our crew handles every detail. Serving Carlsbad and neighboring Elfin Forest, Rancho Santa Fe and Encinitas, we close each roof opening the same day it is cut and leave the room below lit and dry.
Why Carlsbad Quality Windows
Laura, Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve, Elfin Forest
Home near the Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve with two crazed acrylic domes
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
Laura's home sits near the Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve, and her kitchen and hall still had two crazed acrylic domes that dripped every winter. We recommended dual-pane tempered glass skylights with new flashing kits rather than another plastic dome, an estimated $2,400 to $4,200 job that took 1 to 2 days on the roof by our estimate. Laura now has clear light over the kitchen counter and no bucket waiting under the hall ceiling.
Click or drag the window to open it.A picture window is fixed glass and does not open.
Window style
Frame material
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
Choose a style and a frame below for the estimated per-window price, the expected life and the warranty our crews quote most. Owners who light a kitchen from above often change its side windows in the same visit, and this picker shows how vinyl, fiberglass and wood compare before the roof check.
Old acrylic dome out, glass unit and new flashing kit in
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
Expect roughly $1,100 to $2,500 per skylight in Carlsbad by our estimate, with roofing material, curb health and glass size deciding most of the spread. A shingle roof over a 1980s Calavera Hills ranch sits near the low end, while a curb that has to be rebuilt under clay tile pushes the job toward the top.
A home with two skylights, like Laura's kitchen and hall, typically lands at an estimated $2,400 to $4,200, because the second unit shares the same setup, the same permit and the same inspection.
Tile roofs in Rancho Santa Fe Village and around the Fairbanks Ranch Country Club usually take longer to open than shingle, since every tile around the curb is lifted, stacked on the roof and relaid by hand. Bressi Ranch and Aviara homes with concrete tile land in between.
These skylight figures are estimates and can change once we open the old curb and see the roof deck under it. After the roof check, the written quote locks in the final price and the install schedule.
Glass wins on clarity and life span, an acrylic dome wins only on first cost, and a tubular unit wins where a full light well will not fit. The table compares the options our La Costa and Aviara customers weigh most.
| Option | Glazing | Leak risk at the curb | Best fit in North County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed glass skylight | Dual-pane tempered glass | Low with a new flashing kit | Kitchens in La Costa and great rooms in Aviara |
| Venting glass skylight | Dual-pane glass that opens | Low, plus a rain sensor on most models | Baths in Calavera Hills and Bressi Ranch |
| Tubular daylighting device | Small clear dome over a mirrored tube | Lowest, the roof cut is small | Closets and halls in Carlsbad Village cottages |
| Old acrylic dome kept | Single plastic shell that crazes | High once the dome and curb age | Nowhere we would recommend for a long stay |
A plastic dome scratches, crazes and turns brittle in the sun, so a dome from the 1980s is near the end even when it has not leaked yet.
Most skylight leaks start at the curb and the flashing, not the glass, so a DIY swap that drops a new dome onto old flashing usually leaks again in the next rain. Flashing is the metal that turns water away at a joint, and when it is lapped the wrong way it steers water into the light well instead of off the roof.
The second mistake is sealant: a bead of roof caulk can hold for a season and then crack in the sun along the coast. The third is the glass itself, since overhead glazing has its own section in CBC R308 and an off-the-shelf pane is not built for a roof. A skylight change also typically needs a permit under Title 24, so our crew lead pulls it and books the inspection, and nobody climbs your roof without fall protection.
A new skylight often shows up the tired windows beside it, so many owners also look at energy-efficient Low-E windows for the hot rooms and fiberglass windows that stand up to salt air on the ocean side. Older Carlsbad Village cottages that want real wood inside choose clad-wood windows.
The same crew lead who checks your curb on the roof sets the new unit, so the measurement and the install never pass between strangers. Every skylight carries our 2-year workmanship warranty on top of the maker's glass warranty, and our owner still reviews the flashing method on tile roofs before the quote goes out. Meet the team behind every roof job.
We replace skylights across a 30-mile radius of Carlsbad, from La Costa and Aviara to skylight work in Elfin Forest, Rancho Santa Fe estates and Encinitas homes. Harmony Grove, Poway and Lake San Marcos are on our service area list.
Skylight jobs often grow into ocean-view picture windows for the same vaulted room or floor-to-ceiling glass walls, and a skylit kitchen that opens to the yard often ends with patio door replacement.
Skylight replacement is typically estimated at $1,100 to $2,500 per skylight, and the final price comes in writing after we inspect the roof.
The leak usually comes from the curb or flashing, which is why we replace the flashing kit with every new glass unit.
Yes for most homes, because glass does not craze or turn brittle in the sun the way acrylic does, as Laura's two old domes showed.
Most skylight replacements take an estimated 4 to 8 hours on the roof, once the glass unit arrives built to the curb size.
Yes, a permit is typically required, and our crew lead pulls it and books the inspection.
Yes, a tubular daylighting device fits where a full light well cannot, with the smallest cut in the roof.
Yes, our crews lift and relay the tile around every curb, and those homes are some of our most frequent skylight jobs.
Book a free roof check, and we will inspect each curb, look up into every light well and send a written, itemized quote.
The process
We check every frame, sill and the stucco around it, then laser-measure each opening for the unit that goes in it.
Frame material, glass package, label values and install method arrive in writing before anything is ordered.
Each window is set on a sloped sill pan, flashed and sealed, with the NFRC sticker left on for the inspector.
We open and lock every window and door with you, and the city signs off the Title 24 permit.
Services
Where we work
Homeowners get a free measure at the house. Boards, managers and contractors can send plans or an opening count for a bid.
Calls only, we do not receive text messages.
