On Blue Lake, just East of the Airport.

We were told that we were the third contractor employed to attempt to get this (top) solarium installed and flashed correctly.

Blue Lake, as viewed from the master bedroom.

One of many signs of the water intrusion.

The glass wall extends beyond the master-bedroom into the master bathroom.

One of the challenges we faced, had to do with working over the top of a lower solarium structure. See the last photo showing the scaffold array.

We temporarily removed and stored all the glass. Working in the month of December…

…necessitated the temporary erection of a tarp covered plywood structure to protect the interior of the house.

Besides reglazing all of the glass, we also temporarily lifted the structure to facilitate the installation of a proper “Sill-Pan.”

The scaffold array.

Two leaky, fogged up skylights

Non-Operable, Curb-Mount.

Glazing had failed long ago.

Two new ones received at our warehouse in Tigard. I was not able to make it to the job-site to get some installation shots.

A home-made, wood framed, uniquely shaped non-operable skylight.

Located up behind Lake Oswego High School, if I recall correctly.

Obviously, the glazing system on this Skylight?

?is in desperate need of repair.

The client elected to forgo upgrading the glass from single-pane to insulated, so we just reglazed the original glass.

I was not around to take photos when the custom metal flashing we had made was installed down the middle and around the perimeter.

A STEEL framed solarium is somewhat unique.

Initially, we were called in to figure out why the solarium was leaking.

There was water showing up near the glass where the vertical walls meet the glass roof-line.

And the steel frame was beginning to rust in a few spots.

We determined that it wasn’t rain finding it’s way in, but rather an accumulation of condensation due to

…and the fact that the solarium basically sat just off the kitchen…

…where there was lots of humidity created by all the cooking.

So our client allowed us to upgrade the glass to the latest Low-E, insulated glass.

Which also required redesigning & replacing the glazing and flashing system.

Custom flashing materials once again fabricated for us by Schmeer Sheet Metal.
www.schmeersheetmetal.com

A Mt. Tabor area neighborhood and a client for whom we have now done a number of projects.

Although we offered to repair his leaky skylight, he was convinced it needed replacement.

Fortunately, finding a replacement that would work with the original custom flashing that was made for use with the standing seam steel roofing did not prove to be difficult.

And that was because the original skylight was also a Velux brand skylight.

You might be amazed how many skylight, window and door companies seemingly do not want their names on their products.

What does that tell you? Velux is easily the best known residential brand of skylight, due in large part to their successful marketing and also their quality control department.

But there are many brands that you can run into when you repair skylights such as we do.

Supreme Skylights, Wasco Skylights, Solar Innovations, Sunptics, Domel Inc., Birdview Skylights, Artistic Skylight Domes Ltd., just to name a few.

We do lots of failed glass replacement on Skylights of just about every stripe. We have been known to track down and fix leaks, improperly applied flashing, failed glazing, rotten sash or jamb components, water damaged ceiling and/or structural truse components and drywall repair.

We were, for example, called upon to repair the drywall on this opening that was the result of a leak that was fixed when we replaced the skylight. By the way, replacement was the clients idea. We had suggested reglazing the glass, but the home owner didn’t want to mess with the original skylight.

Another of the ever popular contemporary home designs set up in the N.W. Hills above the Pittock Mansion.

Is it just me, or are there a lot of architects who design bath tub areas to give people the sense they are outdoors?

No, I’m kidding. I know it’s all about the light which these structures allow.

I love the creative things folks can do now with Solariums, Skylights, Solar Tubes and strategically placed windows

This is not the only time Jared’s Rock Climbing and Repelling Skills have come in handy.

There just are those times when neither roof-jacks, ladder-jacks, scaffold, pump-jacks nor a man lift fit the bill.

A generous dose of skill and expertise…

…and the solarium is as good as new, and possibly even better.

Commercial buildings account for a substantial percentage of our work.
Yes, this is a residential-category, but I thought we’d keep all the solarium projects together, since we don’t get called upon to do that many commercial solariums.

We install and repair Solariums, Skylights, Windows, Doors, Storefronts, Failed Glass, Aluminum-Glass Doors and Hollow-Metal Steel Doors…

…not to mention adjusting, repairing or replacing all the brands and types of commercial Hardware known to modern man.

I believe the problem here was that the property management company was growing tired of sending folks out to slather on another layer of caulking every time a leak developed.

So they hired us to remove the glass, clean off 20 years or so of caulking from the glass and the frame components and then reglaze the glass back into the jambs.

Another Revamped Solarium.

The Ellsworth neighborhood in East Vancouver, somewhat near the Hwy. 14 to I-205 interchange.

A very small aluminum-framed solarium-type window assembly tucked into the roofline on the back of the house.

This window assembly was manufactured to hold 1″ overall insulated glass which, as for anyone in the industry would likely know, “dates” the window-structure as being NOT all that old, as compared to many residential aluminum window assemblies these days.

With all the heavy evergreen cover around this house, it’s actually (in our opinion) a smart little architectural accent of light for what would otherwise no doubt be a fairly dark bathroom.

The problem: Water damage showing up at the interior, as evidenced by the discolored drywall. Don’t forget that you can “ENLARGE” these photos a little by clicking on them.

The solution, step one: Remove the drywall to allow inspection of the structural wall components to ascertain the extent of the damage,…

…while also allowing us opportunity to potentially discern the water’s point of entry.

Structural water leaks tend to carry an air of mystique among certain folks, but the fundamental principles are as elemental as anything could possibly be in construction.

Decomposition of some exterior materials due to a lack of maintenance aside, the vast majority of the water-leak problems we encounter are related to improper flashing technique applied during initial installation of the window and/or construction of the structure.

The solution, step two: This leak was resolved by means of the creative application of some augmentational after-market flashing materials between the roofing and the assembly, while also overlapping the original window frame for a measure of insurance.

We were primarily here to install new Vinyl Windows, as evidenced by the scaffold towers..

…but as we often do, we were also called upon to replace a failed insulated glass unit into an existing skylight.

We really can be someone’s one-stop shopping center for anything related to doors or windows…including skylights, suntubes, solariums and sunrooms.

Glass replacement is the most common repair we make on skylights, but we are also called upon to repair improperly installed flashing, re-glazing existing glass,replacing crank-mechanisms or remote control hardware replacement and weatherstripping repairs as well.

Wikipedia says a Solarium may refer to a Sunroom, a sun parlor, sun porch or sun lounge. Saying that these things are usually a structure…

…constructed onto the side of a house which allows enjoyment of the surrounding landscape while being sheltered from adverse weather conditions.

It goes on to explain that they can also be referred to as a patio-room, a conservatory, a garden-room or a Florida-Room. As you can see, this one has some foggy (failed) insulated glass.

And if you enlarge this photo, you may be able to make out the crack in one of the other panes of glass.

As you can see if you look back at the first photo, there is an adjoining roofline just above this sunroom structure. Bruce is shown here (above) dismantling some of the metal flashing that ties in the with…

…Solarium structure below. This accounted for most of the work on this project.

Dismantling the adjoining flashing components in such a way as to allow us to reuse them.

Once those components were removed, replacing the insulated glass units was a breeze, by comparison.

David & Bruce shown here putting everything back together with the new insulated glass units in place.

Note the delicate art of balancing upon the support components without breaking the glass, as they go about cleaning off the excess glazing compounds.