Replacing our shower skylight

November 23, 2012, 11:07:23 am

Inside our shower, the top white flat piece of plastic cracked and the outside smoked dome was damaged, so they both needed to be replaced. Temporary repairs with packing tape inside and silicone outside gave us plenty of time to figure how to replace these parts.

photos of our skylight project are on Barry Brideau's Foretravel web site

ORIGINAL SKYLIGHT
Our original Foretravel skylight base attached to the roof should not be removed or replaced. It has a perfect bottom flange that seals the base to the roof. The base is over 1-1/4" thick and has a removable top metal cover that protects the edges of the plastic parts. The cover is held in place with multiple very short screws that fit into a well-designed weather protected gap all around the top of the base.

Only the top pieces of plastic need to be replaced and most likely, replacement bases will probably not be as well engineered. Keeping original base in place also makes sure the inside trim can be reused as is.

The original Foretravel flat translucent white plastic panel that we see inside the shower is sealed to the top of the base. And the plastic outside dome is sealed to the top of the white translucent panel with the cover finishing the job.

Our square metal base measures 24-7/8.. Our square plastic white flat and plastic dome measure 23-3/4".

REPLACEMENT SKYLIGHT DOMES
There are many ways to repair skylights and several Forum members offered good ideas. We found that Lowe's has a skylight with a removable smoked plastic dual-dome that fits our base. Dual-dome will give us more insulation than Foretravel's original single dome. Lowe's part number is 227698. We only used the plastic dome parts and scrapped the two base parts. Lowe's skylight did not come with flat inside plastic.

This Lowe's skylight does not have the best made base and the domes are not attached with a weather tight seal, but the dual plastic domes by themselves are just what we need to replace our broken plastic parts.

Fixed Skylights - Solar Industries
Label: 21x21 Poly Aluminum.
UPC: 0-93097-74000-3, $88.36.

REPLACEMENT FLAT INSIDE PLEXIGLASS.
Encore RV in Nacogdoches had pre-cut square pieces of 1/8" white translucent Plexiglas that we purchase earlier this year when our shower top piece first cracked.

SEALING DOMES AND FLAT PARTS TOGETHER
We used denatured alcohol to prepare surfaces and GE Silicone II Supreme Clear to seal all parts together. First the two plastic domes were made air tight with a perimeter of silicone between the parts. After the silicone cured, we sealed the flat translucent Plexiglas to the bottom of the domes. Medium binder clips held parts together while curing.

SEALING DOME TO ROOF BASE
1.   Remove inside shower trim.
2.   Remove cover, save 8 screws for re-use.
3.   Remove original dome and flat Plexiglas from top of frame.
4.   Remove all old silicone.
5.   Temporarily place new dome & cover on base to determine where to extend cover's slanted screw holes lower to accommodate new thicker dual-dome.
6.   File holes lower on a slant so screw does not let cover lift up.
7.   Silicone dome to base and hold down with cover & screws until cured.
8.   Remove cover and seal the edges of dome to base with silicone.
9.   To keep cover from being glued on, wait until all is cured before finishing the job by attaching the cover.

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Re: Replacing our shower skylight

Reply #1 – November 23, 2012, 12:03:56 pm

What a great write-up. Love the photos. I will file this away for when I need to do the same thing. Karma.

Re: Replacing our shower skylight

Reply #2 – November 23, 2012, 01:43:59 pm

I have already filed it away as I need to replace the outer skylight....sooon.

Roland

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