A Coordinated Roof and Skylight Replacement in Charlestown

When a roof and its skylights are replaced together, they can be built as one weather-tight system instead of two projects fighting each other. That is exactly what happened on this Charlestown home: a new CertainTeed Landmark roof in Pewterwood on the steep slopes, a self-adhered modified-bitumen membrane on the low-slope section, and new VELUX skylights flashed into the roof as it went on. Pinnacle roofs go on fast — often as a one-day roof replacement — and flexible financing keeps a project like this within reach, with plans as low as 0% interest for 18 months.

A Charlestown home had its roof and skylights replaced together — CertainTeed Landmark in Pewterwood on the steep slopes, a self-adhered modified-bitumen membrane on the low-slope section, and new VELUX skylights integrated with their engineered flashing. This project is in Charlestown, Rhode Island, finished in CertainTeed Landmark — Pewterwood.

Scope of Work

Because the roof and the skylights were being replaced in one project, the whole assembly could be sequenced correctly from the deck up. The steep slopes got the full CertainTeed weather system — WinterGuard ice-and-water shield at the eaves and valleys, DiamondDeck synthetic underlayment, and new drip edge and starter courses — before the Landmark shingles in Pewterwood were coursed up the roof. The low-slope section, where shingles cannot reliably shed water, was rebuilt as a self-adhered modified-bitumen membrane that bonds into one continuous waterproof sheet. The new VELUX skylights were set into the roof and flashed with their unit-matched metal flashing kits, ice-and-water membrane lapped up each curb, so the glass sits inside a sealed, layered assembly. Replacing the skylights at the same time as the roof meant no cutting into fresh shingles later and no mismatched old-to-new transition — the openings were made watertight as part of the new roof.

What We Installed (And Why)

This roof brings three proven materials together, each doing the job it is best at. On the steep slopes, CertainTeed Landmark is the dual-layer architectural shingle that set the standard — Class A fire rating, StreakFighter algae resistance, and the depth of a true dimensional shingle — here in Pewterwood, a weathered gray-and-brown wood-tone blend that gives the home a warm, established look. On the low-slope section, self-adhered modified bitumen is the correct covering: reinforced asphalt plies bonded into a single fully-adhered sheet with no exposed fasteners, engineered for the slow drainage that shallow roofs see. And the skylights are VELUX, sold as No Leak Skylights because each unit’s dryness comes from an engineered metal flashing kit matched to the roof covering rather than from sealant. The reason to replace them alongside the roof is simple and important: a skylight leak almost never starts in the glass — it starts at the flashing, at the seam between the unit and the roof. Installing new skylights into a new roof, with new flashing lapped into new underlayment, eliminates that seam as a future problem. Doing the shingles, the membrane, and the skylights as one coordinated job is what turns a roof full of potential leak points into a single sealed system.

Project Photo Gallery

The Charlestown home after its coordinated roof and skylight replacement

New VELUX skylights integrated into the Pewterwood roof

Where the Landmark slopes meet the modified-bitumen low-slope section

Good To Know: Should I replace my skylights when I replace my roof?

If your skylights are older, the answer is usually yes — and this Charlestown project shows why. The lifespan of a skylight and the lifespan of a roof are similar, so an older roof usually sits over older skylights whose seals and flashing are aging at the same rate. If you install a new roof but leave the old skylights, the crew has to flash new roofing up to old units, and those units may start to fog, leak, or fail within a few years — which then means cutting into your brand-new roof to replace them, disturbing the very shingles you just paid for. Replacing the skylights during the re-roof avoids all of that: the new units are flashed into the new roof as one system, the flashing is new everywhere, and you get another two-plus decades out of both at once. It is also the moment to upgrade — to add a venting model over a kitchen or bath, or to move to VELUX’s No Leak units with their engineered flashing. Coordinating the two is more efficient, more watertight, and almost always cheaper than doing them as two separate projects.

Why This Approach Works

A roof and its skylights age together, so replacing them together lets both be built as one sealed system with new flashing throughout. That eliminates the old-to-new transition that causes most skylight leaks — and avoids ever cutting into a fresh roof to fix an old skylight.

Why Pinnacle

A coordinated roof-and-skylight replacement rewards a contractor certified in both the shingle and skylight systems, so the two are installed to one specification rather than patched together. As a VELUX 5-Star Skylight Specialist and CertainTeed ShingleMaster™, Pinnacle qualifies our customers for CertainTeed’s full SureStart™ PLUS extended warranty — coverage most contractors cannot offer. We’ve served Rhode Island since 2012, hold a 5.0-star Google rating across 100+ reviews and an A+ BBB rating — see our full credentials.

Charlestown, Rhode Island

Charlestown is a quiet South County shoreline town of ponds, woods, and homes that range from tucked-away cottages to larger coastal houses. Its roofs take the full brunt of coastal weather, and many of these homes have the skylights and mixed roof pitches that reward a contractor who can handle shingles, membrane, and glass as one job. A coordinated roof-and-skylight replacement is well matched to how Charlestown homes are built and to the weather they face. Explore our work across Charlestown roofing services.