Why Skylight Installation in Marietta Is a Roofing Job, Not a Window Job
Marietta homeowners tend to fall for what a skylight does to a room before they think about anything else. A dark hallway in an older home near Marietta Square gets morning light. A vaulted great room in East Cobb opens up to the sky. A kitchen that always needed a lamp at noon suddenly does not. The appeal is real, and so is the lift a well-placed skylight can give a home at resale. But the reason one skylight brings that light for twenty years while another starts dripping in two comes down to something buyers underestimate. Skylight installation in Marietta is a roofing job, not a window job, and the glass is the easy part.
What a Skylight Actually Does for a Marietta Home
The first benefit is daylighting. A skylight pulls natural light deep into a room in a way a wall window cannot, which cuts the need for electric light through the day and makes a space feel larger and more open. Vaulted rooms, stairwells, kitchens, and bathrooms gain the most. Ventilating units add a second benefit: airflow, letting heat and humidity escape at the highest point of the room. In a Georgia summer, that matters in a steamy bathroom or a kitchen that traps cooking heat.
There is an old worry worth retiring. Homeowners who remember 1980s skylights picture a unit that turned a room into a greenhouse by afternoon. Modern glass has moved on. Today's skylights use low-emissivity, or Low-E, coated insulated glass that reflects much of the sun's heat while still letting light through, so a well-chosen, well-placed unit does not cook a Cobb County room the way early models did. That shift is a big part of why skylight installation in Marietta has become a feature request on remodels rather than a risk homeowners avoid.
Low-E Glass Cuts Solar Heat
Modern skylights use low-emissivity, or Low-E, coated insulated glass that reflects part of the sun's heat while still letting light through. That is why a well-chosen skylight today does not warm a room the way older single-pane units once did in the Georgia summer.
Orientation Changes the Light
The direction a skylight faces shapes what it delivers. North-facing units give steady, even daylight with little heat gain, while south-facing units bring the most light and the most warmth. Placement on the right slope matters as much as the unit itself in a hot climate.
Sun Tunnels Reach Rooms a Skylight Cannot
A tubular skylight, or sun tunnel, moves daylight through a reflective tube from the roof into an interior room with no direct roof access, such as a closet, hallway, or powder room. It brings natural light to spaces a standard skylight physically cannot serve.
Why It Is a Roofing Job, Not a Window Job
A skylight is a hole deliberately cut in the roof. Everything that keeps it dry is roofing. The flashing kit, the way it laps into the shingles and underlayment, the ice-and-water detail at the head and sides, and the roof slope all decide whether water sheds over the unit or finds its way in. A window installer or a general handyman may set the skylight and run a bead of caulk around it, but caulk is not flashing. Sealant is exactly what dries out and splits after a few Georgia summers of thermal cycling, and that is where the leak starts.
A roofer treats the skylight as part of the roof system, setting it with a manufacturer-matched flashing kit so the water path stays continuous with the roof around it. That approach is the core reason skylight installation in Marietta belongs with a roofing contractor rather than a trim carpenter. It also protects the roof warranty, because a leak that begins at a poorly flashed skylight becomes a roofing problem that spreads to decking and ceilings. Summit Roofing approaches every skylight as a roof detail first, which is what keeps the feature an asset instead of a future repair.
Choosing the Right Skylight for the Room
Part of a good installation is matching the unit to the space before anything is cut. The main types each solve a different problem:
Fixed skylight: a vaulted great room or stairwell that needs light rather than airflow, with the fewest leak points.
Ventilating skylight: a kitchen or bathroom where heat and moisture build up and need an escape.
Solar-powered venting unit: a hard-to-reach opening, where a rain sensor and remote control close it when a storm rolls in.
Tubular skylight, or sun tunnel: a closet, hallway, or interior room with no direct roof access.
Low-E insulated glass: any Marietta room where summer heat gain is a concern.
The sun tunnel is the one most people have not considered. A standard skylight needs a room that sits under the roof with space to frame an opening. A sun tunnel instead channels daylight down a small reflective tube through the attic into a space that could never take a full skylight. The rule of thumb is simple: a skylight opens up a room and gives it a view of the sky, while a sun tunnel lights a tight interior space a skylight cannot reach. Glass against acrylic is the other choice, and glass, usually Low-E and insulated, holds clarity far longer than an acrylic dome that yellows with age.
Can a Skylight Be Added to an Existing Roof?
In most cases, yes. Adding a skylight to an existing shingle or low-slope roof means framing an opening between the rafters or trusses, sizing it to the structure, cutting the roof, setting the unit, and flashing it into the surrounding roofing. It does not have to wait for anything, though the cleanest time to add or replace a skylight is during a roof replacement, when the roofing around the opening is already off, and the flashing can be integrated from scratch. For a homeowner not replacing the roof yet, a standalone skylight installation in Marietta is still routine work for a roofing crew. The starting point is a free on-site assessment that checks the room, the roof slope, the attic structure, and the best location for both light and watertightness. Placement is not only about where the light looks good inside; it also has to land where the roof can shed water cleanly around it.
Keeping a Skylight Watertight in the Georgia Climate
Once a skylight is in, the Georgia climate goes to work on it. Spring hail can chip glass or an acrylic dome, summer thermal cycling flexes the seals and flashing daily, heavy rain tests every joint, and spring pollen cakes into the frame and holds moisture against the seals. The early signs that a unit needs attention are quiet: a faint stain on the ceiling, fogging trapped between the panes that will not wipe away, a dome going yellow, or a draft near the opening. The honest first move is usually a repair, resealing, re-flashing, or replacing the glass where the design allows, before stepping up to a full replacement. Replacement earns its place once a sealed unit has fogged, the glass has cracked, or the skylight has simply aged out, generally around 20 to 30 years for glass and 10 to 20 for acrylic. An active leak after a storm should not sit, and Summit Roofing keeps 24/7 availability for an emergency skylight leak at 770-545-5244 to stop water before it reaches the decking.
Skylight Installation in Marietta, Handled by a Roofer
A skylight rewards the homeowner who treats it as part of the roof and regrets the one who treats it as an afterthought. Summit Roofing is a Marietta-based, locally owned and operated roofing company serving Marietta and Cobb County, including East Cobb, Kennesaw, Acworth, Smyrna, Vinings, and Powder Springs, along with the broader metro Atlanta area. It is licensed and insured, GAF-certified and IKO-certified, and a BBB Accredited Business, and it brings full roof-system knowledge to every unit it sets, from the flashing out to the shingles around it. Each project starts with a free on-site assessment and a written proposal, includes interior protection during the work and a magnetic nail sweep afterward, and carries post-install support.
The origin of the name is uncertain. It is believed that the city was named for Mary Cobb, the wife of the U.S. Senator and Superior Court judge Thomas Willis Cobb. The county is named for Cobb.[6]
Homes were built by early settlers near the Cherokee town of Big Shanty (now Kennesaw) before 1824.[7] The first plot was laid out in 1833. Like most towns, Marietta had a square (Marietta Square) in the center with a courthouse. The Georgia General Assembly legally recognized the community on December 19, 1834.[7]
Built in 1838, Oakton House[8] is the oldest continuously occupied residence in Marietta. The original barn, milk house, smokehouse and well house remain on the property. The gardens contain the boxwood parterre from the 1870s. Oakton was Major General Loring's headquarters during the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in 1864.[9]
Marietta was initially selected as the hub for the new Western and Atlantic Railroad and business boomed.[7] By 1838, roadbed and trestles had been built north of the city. In 1840, political wrangling stopped construction for a time and, in 1842, the railroad's new management moved the hub from Marietta to an area that became Atlanta. In 1850, when the railroad began operation, Marietta shared in the resulting prosperity.[7]
The businessman and politician John Glover arrived in 1848. A popular figure, Glover was elected mayor when the city incorporated in 1852.[7] Another early resident was Carey Cox, a physician, who promoted a "water cure" that attracted tourists to the area. The Cobb County Medical Society recognizes him as the county's first physician.[7]
The Georgia Military Institute was built in 1851 and the first bank opened in 1855.[7] During the 1850s, fire destroyed much of the city on three separate occasions.[7]
By the time the Civil War began in 1861, Marietta had recovered from the fires.[7]
In April 1862, James Andrews, a civilian working with the Union Army, came to Marietta, along with a small party of Union soldiers dressed in civilian clothing. The group spent the night in the Fletcher House hotel (later known as the Kennesaw House and now the home of the Marietta Museum of History) located immediately in front of the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Andrews and his men, who later became known as the Raiders, planned to seize a train and proceed north toward the city of Chattanooga, destroying the railroad on their way. They hoped, in so doing, to isolate Chattanooga from Atlanta and bring about the downfall of the Confederate stronghold. The Raiders boarded a waiting train on the morning of April 12, 1862, along with other passengers. Shortly after, the train made a scheduled stop in the town of Big Shanty, now known as Kennesaw. When the other passengers alighted for breakfast, Andrews and the Raiders stole the engine and the car behind it, which carried the fuel. The engine, called The General, and Andrews' Raiders had begun the episode now known as the Great Locomotive Chase.[7] Andrews and the Raiders failed in their mission. He and all of his men were caught within two weeks, including two men who had arrived late and missed the hijacking. All were tried as spies, convicted and hanged.[10]
In 1892, the city established a public school system. It included a Marietta High School and Waterman Street School for white students. A school for black students was also created on Lemon Street. The state of Georgia did not provide a high school for black students until 1924, when Booker T. Washington High School opened in Atlanta, after decades of black citizens requesting educational resources.[12]
Leo Frank was lynched at 1200 Roswell Road just east of Marietta on August 17, 1915. Frank, a Jewish-American superintendent of the National Pencil Company in Atlanta, had been convicted on August 25, 1913, of the murder of one of his factory workers, 13-year-old Mary Phagan. The murder and trial, sensationalized in the local press, portrayed Frank as sexually depraved and captured the public's attention. An eleventh-hour commutation by Governor John Slaton of Frank's death sentence to life imprisonment because of problems with the case against him created great local outrage. A mob threatened the governor to the extent that the Georgia National Guard had to be called to defend him and he left the state immediately with his political career over. Another mob, systematically organized for the purpose, abducted Frank from prison, drove him to Marietta and hanged him. The leaders of the abduction included past, current and future elected local, county and state officials. There were two state legislators, the mayor, a former governor, a clergyman, two former Superior Court justices and an ex-sheriff. In reaction, Jewish activists created the Anti-Defamation League, to work to educate Americans about Jewish life and culture and to prevent anti-Semitism.[13][14]
Located near the center of Cobb County, between Kennesaw to the northwest and Smyrna to the southeast. U.S. Route 41 and State Route 3 run through the city northeast of downtown as Cobb Parkway, and Interstate 75 runs parallel to it through the eastern part of Marietta, with access from exits 261, 263, 265, and 267. Downtown Atlanta is 20 miles (32 km) to the southeast, and Cartersville is 24 miles (39 km) to the northwest.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Marietta has a total area of 23.2 square miles (60.0 km2), of which 23.1 square miles (59.8 km2) is land and 0.077 square miles (0.2 km2), or 0.38%, is water.[5]
As of the 2020 census, Marietta had a population of 60,972. The median age was 34.7 years. 20.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 13.6% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 92.2 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 89.8 males age 18 and over.[34][35]
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.[36]
There were 24,865 households in Marietta, of which 27.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 36.2% were married-couple households, 21.8% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 34.9% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 33.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 13,788 families residing in the city.[34]
There were 26,644 housing units, of which 6.7% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.5%.[34]
At the 2010 census, there were 56,641 people and 22,261 households.[2] The population density was 2,684.1 per square mile (1,036.3/km2). There were 25,227 housing units at an average density of 1,152.6 per square mile (445.0/km2). The racial make-up was 52.7% White, 31.5% African American, 0.1% Native American, 3.0% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 9.1% from other races and 3.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 20.6% of the population.
There were 23,895 households, of which 27.8% had children under 18 living with them, 35.4% were married couples living together, 13.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.5% were non-families. 32.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39, and the average family size was 3.05.
22.4% of the population were under the age of 18, 14.1% from 18 to 24, 39.4% from 25 to 44, 15.7% from 45 to 64 and 8.3% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.3 males. For every 101 females age 18 and over, there were 100.3 males.
Incorporated as a village in 1834 and as a city in 1852, the city of Marietta is organized under a form of government consisting of a mayor, city council, and city manager. The city council is made up of representatives elected from each of seven single-member districts within the city, and a mayor elected at-large.
The city council is the governing body of the city with authority to adopt and enforce municipal laws and regulations. The mayor and city council appoint members of the community to sit on the city's various boards and commissions, ensuring that a broad cross-section of the town is represented in the city government.
The city council appoints the city manager, the city's chief executive officer. The council-manager relationship is comparable to that of a board of directors and CEO in a private company or corporation. The city manager appoints city department heads and is responsible to the city council for all city operations. The city council also appoints the city attorney, who serves as the city's chief legal officer; and the city clerk, who maintains all the city's records.
Terms of office are for four years, and the number of terms a member may serve is unlimited. There are seven councilmen, each representing a separate ward.[37]
^Hammett acted as mayor until about July 1, 1864, when the city was invaded by the Federal Army and was occupied by them until they evacuated on November 15. In the meantime, a large portion of the city had been reduced to ashes.
^On reestablishing order, Winn was elected mayor for 1865. He served until October 1, when he resigned. A. N. Simpson was elected to fill the vacancy.
^T. M. Brumby Sr. was elected for the 1898–1899 term, but he resigned before taking the oath of office. A special election was held on January 8, 1898.
Dobbins Air Reserve Base on the south side of town and a Lockheed Martin manufacturing plant are among the major industries in the city. The Lockheed Georgia Employees Credit Union is based in Marietta.[39]
Into the 1950s the Louisville and Nashville Railroad operated the Midwest-Florida trains, the Cincinnati-Florida Flamingo and the Chicago-Florida Southland, which made daily stops in Marietta Depot. Into the 1960s, the L&N's Chicago & St. Louis-Florida trains, Dixie Flyer and Dixie Limited also made stops there. The final train was the L&N's St. Louis, Missouri - Evansville, Indiana - Atlanta Georgian, which ended service on April 30, 1971. (Until 1968, the train also had a northern leg from Evansville to Chicago.)[42]
All of the public schools in Marietta proper are operated by the Marietta City Schools (MCS), while the remainder of the schools in Cobb County, but outside the city limits, is operated by the Cobb County School District, including all of the county's other cities. MCS has one high school, Marietta High School, grades 9–12; a middle school, Marietta Middle School, grades 7 and 8; Marietta Sixth Grade Academy; and several elementary schools: A.L. Burruss, Dunleith, Hickory Hills, Lockheed, Marietta Center for Advanced Academics, Park Street, Sawyer Road, and West Side.[44] Many residents of Marietta attend Cobb County public schools, such as Joseph Wheeler High School, Sprayberry High School, Alan C. Pope High School, and Walton High School. These schools are known to compete fiercely in athletics, especially basketball, as both Wheeler and Marietta High School frequently produce D-1 players. The town of Marietta is also home to the Walker School, a private pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade school. Walker competes in the Georgia High School Association Class A (Region 6) athletic division while Marietta and Wheeler compete in Class AAAAAA (Regions 4 and 5, respectively).
The school system employs 1,200 people. MCS is an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School district. In 2008, MCS became only the second IB World School district in Georgia authorized to offer the IB Middle Years Program (MYP) for grades 6–10. MCS is one of only a few school systems nationwide able to provide the full IB (K-12) continuum.[45]
The Marietta Campus of Kennesaw State University, formerly known as Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) before being merged into Kennesaw State, and Life University are located in Marietta, serving more than 20,000 students in more than 90 programs of study.
Downtown is the town square and former location of the county courthouse. The square is the site of several cultural productions and public events, including a weekly farmers' market.
The Marietta Players perform semi-professional theater year-round. The historic Strand Theatre has been renovated back to its original design and features live theatre, concerts, classic films, and other events.[12] The Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art is in the old Post Office building.
The Marietta History Center exhibits the history of the city and county. The center is home to thousands of artifacts including items from Marietta residents and businesses. The Marietta Gone with the Wind Museum is located in the Historic Brumby Hall and houses a private collection of memorabilia related to Gone with the Wind, both the book and the film.[12] The William Root House Museum and Garden is the oldest wood-frame house still standing in Marietta, built c. 1845. Once owned by William Root, one of Marietta's earliest citizens and merchants whose drugstore was located in the Square.[47]
The Big Chicken, which currently sits on top of a KFC restaurant, has been a landmark on U.S. 41 and Roswell Road since 1963.[48]
The city includes the Kennesaw House, one of only four commercial buildings in Marietta not burned to the ground in Sherman's March to the Sea. The Kennesaw House is home to the Marietta History Center[50] which tells the history of Marietta and Cobb County.
^"On this date in Civil War history: The Great Locomotive Chase – April 12, 1862". This Week in the Civil War. April 13, 2012. cite web: |access-date= requires |url= (help)CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
^PRISM Climate Group Oregon State University, Agricultural Research Center. "USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map". USDA. Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
^Elvena B. Tillman (1971). "Alice Josephine McLellan Birney". In Edward T. James; Janet Wilson James; Paul S. Boyer (eds.). Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Harvard University Press. pp. 147–148. ISBN0674627342.
^"Melanie Oudin". Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Archived from the original on August 28, 2009. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
^Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (8th ed.). New York: Billboard Books. p. 478. ISBN0-8230-7499-4. Born on 9/3/75 in Marietta, Georgia. Pop singer.
^Rhodes, Cyrus. "Marco Restrepo". RockNRollView.com. Blackwell. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
^"Cody Rhodes". Accelerator3359. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
Done well, they can. Buyers respond to natural light and a sense of openness, and a skylight that brightens a dark room or a vaulted space often helps a Marietta home show better. The value holds only when the unit is installed and flashed correctly, because a leaking skylight does the opposite. Summit Roofing treats the installation as part of the roof so the feature stays an asset.
Can a skylight be added to an existing roof?
In most cases, yes. The work involves framing an opening between the rafters or trusses, cutting the roof, setting the unit, and flashing it into the surrounding shingles or membrane. It does not have to wait for a roof replacement, though pairing the two is efficient when the roof is already open. Summit Roofing confirms the room, slope, and structure with a free on-site assessment first.
What is the difference between a skylight and a sun tunnel?
A skylight is a framed opening in the roof that brings a view of the sky and can be fixed or ventilating. A sun tunnel, or tubular skylight, channels daylight down a small reflective tube through the attic into a room with no roof access, like a closet or hallway. A skylight opens up a room, while a sun tunnel lights a tight interior space the skylight cannot reach.
