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ES Windows Roofing: The San Jose Owner’s Guide
If you have an ES Windows skylight, roof window, or clerestory glazing system that’s leaking, fogging, or refusing to seal, the flashing kit and weather seals have almost certainly reached the end of their service life. Installed replacement of ES Windows roofing components in San Jose typically runs $710 to $2,950 depending on the size of the unit and how much surrounding substrate work the opening needs. We stock common ES Windows flashing kits, gaskets, and glazing seals on our service trucks, and we can match most units same-visit once we measure the opening and confirm the series. Most owners discover the failure the way you’d expect: a water stain spreads across the ceiling after two days of rain, or the glass fogs up between panes and won’t clear.
Bradford Remodeling Co San Jose is an independent service provider. We are not affiliated with ES Windows, and we don’t sell ourselves as a factory rep. What we do sell is straight diagnosis, a written price before work starts, and a repair that holds.
Which ES Windows Models This Applies To
ES Windows builds residential fenestration products in several distinct lines, and the roofing-mounted units are the ones we’re talking about here: fixed skylights, venting roof windows, and the low-slope clerestory glazing used on mid-century ranch homes across San Jose, Willow Glen, and Campbell. The flashing kits are not universal. An ES Windows fixed skylight flashing for a 2×6 curb is not interchangeable with a deck-mounted unit on a 3:12 roof pitch, and if someone sells you the wrong kit, the leak comes back in six months.
Here’s how to identify what you have. Look at the inside edge of the operable vent or the corner of the fixed glass. ES Windows stamps a four-to-six character series code on the frame, usually beginning with a letter that designates the product family. If you can’t find a stamp, measure the rough opening and the visible glass, not the frame lip. That gives us what we need to cross-reference against the current flashing and seal catalog. For most San Jose homes, we recommend OEM flashing and gasket sets for the first replacement cycle. Aftermarket kits work fine in dry climates, but the wet winters and hard UV of the South Bay are exactly where they start to fail early.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your ES Windows Roofing Is Failing
- Water stains on the ceiling in a radius around the opening. This means the flashing has pulled away from the roofing substrate or the curb membrane has cracked. Water travels along the rafter before it drips, so the stain won’t tell you where the breach is. It tells you the seal is gone.
- Condensation or fog between the glass panes. The insulated glazing unit has lost its gas seal. It’s not a leak from outside; it’s a failed edge seal on the IGU. ES Windows units usually give 15 to 20 years in San Jose’s heat cycles before this shows up.
- Visible daylight or a gap at the frame-to-roof junction. Walk the roof or shoot a photo from a ladder. If you can see the substrate between the frame and the roofing material, the flashing has shifted or corroded through. This is the failure you see before the leak starts.
- Dry-rotted or soft wood around the interior opening. Press a screwdriver handle against the trim. If it sinks, water has been getting in slowly for a while. The flashing fix is only half the job; the rotted framing has to come out and be replaced.
- The vent mechanism binds, or the unit won’t stay closed. On venting roof windows, a warped operator track or a cracked hinge usually points to frame movement. That movement breaks the seal around the curb, and the leak follows the mechanics.
See the difference
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After
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After
Before
AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
In San Jose, an installed ES Windows flashing and seal replacement runs $710 to $2,950. At the low end, that’s a single fixed skylight with standard curb flashing, no substrate repair, and the unit left in place. At the high end, you’re looking at a larger venting roof window or a clerestory run where the framing has water damage, the IGU needs replacement, and we’re pulling back roofing to re-bed the pan flashing.
Every price includes the parts, the labor, the disposal of the old materials, and a written scope before we start. If we open the roof and find framing damage that changes the job, you get a written change order with the new number before another tool comes out. That’s the Garrison Standard. No numbers that move at the door. The work carries Bradford’s 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the repair fails within a year of completion, we return and correct it at no charge.
DIY or Call Us?
There are two things you can safely do from the interior: identify the series code on the frame, and photograph the stains or fogging so we know what we’re walking into. Everything else on a roof-mounted ES Windows unit is work for a trained professional. Flashing replacement means pulling back shingles or tile, setting the new pan correctly, and re-bedding the counterflashing so water sheds away from the curb. On a two-story home, it means working on a sloped roof with tools in both hands. A fall from a roof is a life-changing injury. Don’t learn flashing repair on your own roof.
If you’re in San Jose and you suspect the flashing or seal is gone, call us at (669) 272-2637. We’ll schedule a site visit, measure the unit, and put a written price in your hand. Straight number, written scope, done when we said done.
FAQs
Expect 15 to 20 years of reliable service from the flashing and glazing seals on an ES Windows roof unit in San Jose’s climate. The UV load and the wet-dry cycling through our winters shorten that window compared to coastal fog zones. Once the gasket material stiffens and cracks, water finds the gap. If your unit is past 15 years and you’re seeing condensation or ceiling stains near the opening, budget for replacement now rather than after the next winter storm. Call (669) 272-2637 and we’ll get you an exact number.
In most cases, the flashing needs full replacement, not patching. Flashing repair with sealant is a temporary bandage that fails again inside a season or two, which is why we don’t offer it as a long-term fix. The failure is usually mechanical: the metal has pulled away, corroded, or been installed wrong for the roof pitch. We replace the flashing set, re-bed the curb, and give you the 365-Day Done Right Promise in writing. For a full quote, call (669) 272-2637.
A standard flashing and seal replacement on one ES Windows skylight is a same-day job for two technicians. If the framing needs repair or the IGU needs to be ordered, expect two visits: the first for tear-out and weatherproofing, the second for the new glass once it arrives from the supplier. San Jose homes with tile roofs add time for pulling and resetting tile. We’ll give you a timeframe in the written scope before we start, and the work carries the full-year guarantee regardless. Call (669) 272-2637 to schedule a site visit.
We stock common ES Windows flashing kits, gaskets, and seal sets on our service trucks so most single-unit replacements can be completed the same visit. Uncommon sizes, vent operators, and insulated glazing units are ordered to spec and arrive within a few days. We also maintain parts inventory for roofing systems we regularly integrate with other brands, including KraftMaid, Cambria, and Silestone where those materials meet the building envelope. For a specific model match, call (669) 272-2637 with your series code, and we’ll tell you if we have it on hand.
Written by Curtis Lane, Owner, Bradford Remodeling Co at Bradford Remodeling Co San Jose, serving San Jose and nearby areas.
