Skylight Installation in Newport, RI — Pewterwood Roof on a Stone Estate

Like most Pinnacle projects, the work was completed efficiently — minimizing disruption for the property owner.

Pinnacle makes every project affordable with monthly financing options, including 0% interest for 18 months.

Few roofs carry as much history as this one: a large fieldstone-and-granite home in Newport, RI, with cedar-shake dormers and wings, green-trimmed windows, multiple gables and tall stone chimneys standing among mature evergreens. Thick stone walls give a home like this its permanence, but they also keep the interior in shadow. Pinnacle re-roofed the home in Pewterwood CertainTeed Landmark shingle and set a deck-mounted VELUX skylight cleanly into the finished field — adding daylight to a room that the estate’s masonry had always kept dark.

Scope of Work

On a stately Newport home, a skylight has to disappear into the roof as if it were original, so placement and flashing led the plan. Our crew located the opening within the rafter bays, squared it, and set the deck-mounted VELUX unit on its engineered curb. The manufacturer’s flashing kit was layered over ice-and-water membrane and woven into the surrounding Pewterwood shingle courses so the head diverts water and the sides lap correctly downslope. Inside, the light-well was finished to funnel daylight into the room below, and we checked the seal against the coastal exposure this house faces. Our Skylights service details how each unit is integrated into a full roof.

What We Installed (And Why)

The new roof is Pewterwood CertainTeed Landmark — a soft gray blend that reads as timeless against fieldstone and cedar, which is exactly why it suits a historic Newport estate. The deck-mounted VELUX skylight was chosen to sit low and understated in the field, so it enhances the roof rather than interrupting its lines. On a home this significant, the goal was a skylight nobody from the street would even register as new.

What makes it last is the layering beneath the glass: ice-and-water membrane around the opening, the matched flashing kit lapped over the shingles, and the Pewterwood field tied in so no seam is left exposed to Newport’s coastal weather. That salt air and driving rain punish any shortcut, which is why the assembly — not the appearance — is where the real work lives. The homeowner gains a bright, daylit interior, and from the ground the skylight looks like it belongs to the original architecture.

Project Photo Gallery

New skylight brings natural light into the finished roof

Deck-mounted skylight with clean flashing

Interior daylight from the new skylight

Good To Know: Will a skylight ruin the look of a historic roof?

Not when it is placed and flashed with restraint. On this Newport estate we chose a low-profile deck-mounted unit and wove the Pewterwood shingle tight around it, so it sits flush and understated. A well-integrated skylight adds interior light without drawing the eye — from the street, the roof still reads as it always has. The trick is choosing the right unit for the roofline and detailing the flashing so there are no clumsy transitions, which is where experience on historic homes pays off.

Why This Approach Works

Stone homes are beautiful but naturally dark, and a single well-placed skylight can transform a shadowed room without touching a wall or a window. By matching the unit to the roofline and layering the flashing correctly, we deliver that daylight while protecting the home against the salt air and driving rain Newport is known for. The character stays; the interior simply gets brighter, warmer and more livable. For a house meant to last generations, that is exactly the kind of upgrade that adds comfort without costing it any of its history.

Why Pinnacle

Pinnacle Roofing & Skylights has worked on Rhode Island’s finest homes since 2012, and our VELUX 5-Star Skylight Specialist status means every skylight is installed to the manufacturer’s highest standard — the difference between a feature that lasts and one that leaks. With 100+ five-star Google reviews, a BBB A+ rating and full RI licensing, plus NRCA and RIBA membership, we bring the care that historic Newport properties demand from first inspection through final cleanup.

Newport, RI

Newport’s architecture ranges from grand stone estates to cedar-shingled cottages, all of it tested by coastal weather and steeped in history. Working here means respecting the past while building for the future, and doing both without cutting corners. Homeowners in a place this exacting expect a crew that understands both the value of the property and the demands of the exposure, and we approach every Newport roof with that in mind. Learn more through our Newport roofing services.