What the VELUX guarantee does and does not cover

What is typically covered

The unit itself against manufacturing defect: the sealed glazed unit, the frame and sash, and the flashing components, usually for around ten years. Electrical components and blinds carry shorter terms, often three to five years.

Terms vary by product and change over time, so the document with your window is the authority rather than this page.

What is not covered

The installation. This is the important one. A manufacturer warrants the product, not how somebody fitted it, and the overwhelming majority of roof window problems are installation problems: the wrong flashing kit for the covering, an underlay collar omitted, a soaker lapped the wrong way, an insulation collar left out.

Consequential damage. If a defect causes a leak that damages a ceiling, the warranty covers the component rather than the redecoration.

Wear. Seals, hinges and finishes are consumables.

Neglect. A blocked filter, a frame whose finish was allowed to fail, or a unit forced when stiff.

Anything installed outside the manufacturer’s instructions, including a window fitted below its minimum pitch or with the wrong kit. That is worth noting: a badly fitted window can void the product warranty as well as leaking.

Where our guarantee sits

Our ten year workmanship guarantee covers the installation: the weathertightness of the unit into the roof, the flashing or kerb detail, the fixings and the internal making good.

Where a unit fails under the manufacturer’s warranty, we handle that claim rather than leaving you to argue with a manufacturer about a product we chose and fitted. Our labour in removing and refitting is covered by our guarantee for the full ten years, and that is the part manufacturers do not cover and the part that usually costs more.

Detail on the guarantee page.

Two guarantees, and they are not the same thing

Almost every dispute about a rooflight comes from confusing them, so it is worth separating them clearly.

The manufacturer’s warranty covers the product: the sealed unit, the frame, the mechanism. It is given by the manufacturer, it runs for periods they set, and it covers manufacturing defects.

The installer’s guarantee covers the workmanship: the flashing, the underlay collar, the frame fixing, the insulation collar and the making good. It is given by whoever fitted the window.

Most rooflight problems are installation problems rather than product failures, which is why the second is the one to ask about and the one most often missing from a cheap quotation.

What a manufacturer’s warranty typically covers

Terms vary by manufacturer and by product, and the shape is broadly consistent.

The sealed unit against seal failure, for a stated period, typically ten years or more. That is the misting cover, and it is the one most likely to be used.

The frame and cladding, against manufacturing defect and, on timber units, against rot within the terms of the finish.

Mechanical and electrical components, usually for a shorter period than the glazing. Actuators, motors, control units and rain sensors sit here, and the shorter term reflects that these are the shortest lived parts.

The exclusion that catches people

Manufacturers generally exclude anything installed outside their own instructions.

That is entirely reasonable from their point of view and it has a consequence worth understanding: a badly fitted window can void the product warranty as well as leaking.

The specific things that do it are the ones this whole subject keeps returning to. The wrong flashing kit for the covering. A kerb below the minimum height on a flat roof. An underlay collar not dressed and lapped correctly. A unit forced into an opening it does not fit and packed to suit.

So the installation quality is not merely a separate matter from the warranty. It is a condition of it.

The other common exclusions

Accidental and storm damage. A branch through the glass is an insurance matter rather than a warranty one.

Lack of maintenance. Gaskets caked in moss so the sash cannot seat. Filters never cleaned. Flat roof perimeters never cleared, so the unit has been sitting in standing water. All foreseeable and all avoidable in ten minutes a year.

Consumables. Batteries on solar units, and on some terms the actuator itself after a shorter period than the glazing.

Condensation. Water on the inner face of the glass on cold mornings is the room condensing, not a product fault. Nor is a band of condensation at the edge of the pane from an aluminium spacer, which is a characteristic of older units rather than a defect.

Discolouration and normal wear. Polycarbonate domes yellow under ultraviolet. That is the material behaving as it does over fifteen or twenty years.

What a warranty gives you and what it does not

Frequently a replacement component rather than a completed repair.

That distinction matters a great deal on a rooflight, because most of the cost of the job is getting to the window rather than the part. A manufacturer supplying a replacement sealed unit under warranty has met its obligation; somebody still has to erect access, strip out, fit and make good.

Read the terms for whether labour is included and for how long, because a ten year parts warranty with two years of labour is a different proposition from ten years of both.

How we handle it

Where a unit we fitted fails under a manufacturer’s warranty, we deal with the claim.

You should not have to argue with a manufacturer about a product we chose and fitted, and you should not be caught between an installer saying it is a product fault and a manufacturer saying it is an installation fault. Establishing which it is, and then pursuing it, is our job.

Where the fault is ours, the labour is covered by our workmanship guarantee within its term.

What our workmanship guarantee covers

Ten years, from completion, on the things we did.

The weathering: the underlay collar, the flashing kit and how the covering was reinstated over it. The frame fixing and whether it was set square. The insulation collar. The kerb detail on a flat roof, including its insulation. The making good.

If water gets in through anything we did, we come back and put it right at no charge.

What it does not cover

Stated plainly rather than buried.

Accidental and storm damage, which is an insurance matter. We will still come and make it safe.

Failure of the wider roof. Where the covering, the underlay or the structure fails elsewhere and water finds its way to the rooflight, that is not our installation failing. We will tell you plainly what we find, and where the cause is genuinely ambiguous we will not charge for the visit to establish it.

Lack of maintenance. Blocked perimeter drainage on a flat roof unit, a gasket left caked in moss and grit, a filter never cleaned.

Condensation caused by a room producing moisture without ventilation. Where condensation is appearing on the reveal rather than the glass, that usually is a fault, generally a missing insulation collar, and if we fitted it, it is covered.

Work altered by somebody else. If another trade has been on the roof or into the reveal since, we will look at it honestly rather than using it as an excuse, and we cannot guarantee what we did not do.

Making a claim

Call, say roughly when the work was done, and send a photograph of what is happening. There is no form and no claims process.

Say whether the water follows rain or cold mornings, and whether it is on the glass, on the reveal or between the panes. Those three answers narrow it to one of four situations before anybody visits, and two of them do not need a visit at all.

What to keep, and why

The written specification naming the unit, the glazing and the flashing kit. The Building Control certificate. Both guarantees.

With the house paperwork rather than in a drawer, because in fifteen years nobody will remember which company did the work, and a manufacturer’s warranty claim needs the product details and the installation date.

We keep our own record of what we fitted for the same reason, so if your paperwork goes astray we can usually reconstruct it.

Read the terms rather than the headline

Manufacturers quote a guarantee period prominently and the substance is in the detail. Three questions settle what you actually have.

What is covered, by component. The sealed unit, the frame and sash, the mechanism and the electrical parts are typically covered for different periods. A headline figure usually refers to the longest of them.

Whether labour and access are included. This is the one that matters financially. A guarantee that supplies a free replacement sealed unit is worth far less than one that also pays for the scaffold and the fitting, because on a small job access is frequently the largest cost.

What voids it. Installation not in accordance with the manufacturer instructions is the common exclusion, and it is why professional installation matters to the guarantee as well as to the roof.

The exclusions that catch people

Incorrect flashing. Using the wrong profile kit for the covering, or no kit at all, is an installation fault and it will be identified as one.

Painting or coating a factory finish. Repainting a factory finished frame may affect cover, and it is worth checking before rather than after.

Damage from lack of maintenance. A seal that failed because debris in the drainage channel held water against it for years is not a manufacturing defect.

Consequential damage. A guarantee typically covers the product, not the ceiling below it or the decoration.

What you need to make a claim

Proof of purchase, and the model designation and size code from the data plate, which is why photographing that plate and keeping the record matters.

Evidence of professional installation where the terms require it, which means the installer certificate.

And the installation date, which the plate frequently confirms independently.

Keep all of it with the house paperwork rather than in a drawer.

Registration

Some manufacturers extend cover if the product is registered within a period after installation. It takes a few minutes and it is easily forgotten in the general business of a building job.

Do it on the day.

The realistic expectation

A sealed unit that mists at eighteen years has reached the end of its designed service life and no guarantee covers that. The same failure at four years is a genuine claim.

The date on the plate is the evidence that separates the two, which is another reason to record it.

Registering it on the day

Some manufacturers extend cover where the product is registered within a period after installation.

It takes a few minutes and it is easily forgotten in the general business of a building job. Do it while the installer is still on site and the paperwork is in your hand.