Skylights and rooflights in Wye
Wye stands on the Great Stour where the river runs through a gap in the North Downs, with a railway station that opened in 1846 and a bridge from 1638. Houses of such different ages tend to share one problem: a hallway, a utility room or a stairwell that the outside walls never reach.
- Free survey, fixed written quote
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
Along the Stour, the railway and the old lanes
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1 Older houses, small windows An 18th-century brick mill house and a timber-framed mill building stand in the village. Houses of that age often keep a hall or a stair behind a single small window. -
2 Terraces and rear additions The railway reached Wye in 1846. Nineteenth-century terraces are often narrow and deep, and a utility extension on the back takes light from the room beside it. -
3 A stairwell between two rooms Where the staircase is placed between two rooms, the stairwell has no outside wall. The roof slope above it is the one place that can light it.
The dark hallway, from the bridge to the station
A village this old has hallways of every shape.
Wye is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wye with Hinxhill, in the Ashford district of Kent. It is five miles from Ashford and twelve from Canterbury, and it has been a place to cross the Great Stour for a very long time. A ford connected ancient trackways over the North Downs, the Romans built a road through the gap, and the present grade II* listed bridge, five stone arches over the river, dates from 1638. The mill house, the timber-framed mill and the mill race are grade II listed.
Wye College began as the South Eastern Agricultural College in 1894 and took its name in 1948, and the station opened on the Ashford to Margate line in 1846. So the village holds buildings from at least three different centuries, and we cannot know which kind you live in until we see it.
From a dim hall to daylight on the stairs
- Stand at the front door Note how far the daylight travels along the hall and where it gives out.
- Go up to the landing See what sits above the hall: the stairwell, a bedroom or the roof itself.
- Open the hatch Look for rafters, insulation and pipework along the route a unit would take.
- Choose the unit Roof window over the stairs; sun tunnel when the loft route is blocked.
- Price it in writing Unit, roof work and the finish below are set out in one document.
What a hallway is up against
A hall is the room people rush through, and it is lit last. In a terrace the hall runs from the front door along the party wall and has no window of its own except the fanlight, if one survives. In a detached house it may have a side window the width of a pane. Add a porch, a downstairs cloakroom tucked under the stair or a set of internal doors that stay shut, and the hall gets almost nothing.
The roof can reach it when the stairs rise through the house: a roof window above the landing sends daylight down the flight and into the hall below, when the doors upstairs stay open. In a bungalow the hall may sit directly beneath the roof void, in which case a roof window or sun tunnel serves it straight away.
Older houses call for a different eye. The rooflights on listed buildings page describes the process for a listed one, and we ask about it as soon as we hear a building is old.
Porches, cloakrooms and shut doors
Three small things darken a hall more than its size does. A porch built onto the front door filters what little light arrives. A cloakroom under the stairs blocks the one side where a window might have been. Doors that are kept closed shut off the borrowed light from the rooms either side.
Taking the porch off is a big job and an unnecessary one. Light from above bypasses all three: it falls on the stairs and the hall floor from the roof, and nothing at ground level stands in the way.
Houses of different ages
A house with a deep plan, thick walls and small windows needs a different approach from a recent bungalow with a shallow roof void. We read the roof structure before the room, because the timbers set what is possible. In an older house the rafters may be wide-spaced or irregular, and a unit has to fit between what is there.
A terrace is narrow, so its stairwell may run along a party wall with no outside face at all. A detached house has more outside wall but a deeper plan, and a bungalow has a shallow roof void that limits the length of any sun tunnel.
A hall that opens into the stairwell shares one volume of air and light, so a unit over the stairs lights both at once. The porch roof is small and low, so the light usually has to come from the main slope above the stairs.
Utility rooms and stairwells in a village of additions
Look at the back of almost any older village house and you can read its history in the roofs. There is the original ridge, a lower roof where somebody added a scullery or wash house, and often a flat or lean-to roof where the modern utility room went. Each addition is a room the old windows never reached, and each is a roof you can open.
Utility-room terms
- Opening vent
- A rooflight or roof window that opens by hand or motor, to let steam and stale air out.
- Diffuser
- The panel in the ceiling where a sun tunnel's light comes out into the room.
- Rafter
- One of the sloping timbers that carry a pitched roof; a roof window usually sits between two.
The utility room
A utility room asks for good light because it is a working room. Folding laundry, filling a machine and finding the other boot all happen in it. When the room sits under its own flat roof, a flat roof rooflight over the worktop puts the light where you need it. The unit sits on an upstand, so the height above the roof is part of what we measure. Opening vents help with steam, and we talk through that at the survey.
If the utility room is inside the main house, with a bedroom above, the roof cannot reach it directly. A sun tunnel can, when the loft route is clear, and we check that before suggesting it. Where it is not clear, we turn to the next best room.
The stairwell
The stairwell is different. It often runs the full height of the house, up to the ceiling under the roof, so it can be the easiest to light from above. Fit a roof window high on the rear slope above the flight and daylight reaches the landing and, with doors open, the hall.
The position depends on the rafters, the width of the stair opening and any chimney breast running up beside it. In a house with a steep, older roof, the unit size is set by the spacing of the old timbers more than by the catalogue, and we measure from the landing before we order anything. Old roofs may also carry a tile or slate pattern that matters for flashing, which we match.
A chimney breast running up beside the stair can be an obstacle. The unit may need to move a little along the slope, or reduce in width, so that the new framing keeps clear of it. A window one size smaller in the right place lights a stairwell better than a larger one wedged where the structure resists it.
Moisture in the utility room
A room that dries clothes and runs a machine produces steam. If the steam has nowhere to go it settles on the coldest surface, which is often the glass. An opening unit lets some of it out, and a good installation keeps the glass and its frame warm. That is also why the glazing specification is part of the quote.
For either room, the rear slope is usually the better home for the unit, because it leaves the street elevation as it is.
In the stairwell, a tall, narrow void lets one roof window light the landing and the flight below it, provided the walls around the stair leave a clear path for the light to fall. Pale paint on those walls helps it travel down.
Cloakrooms and downstairs bathrooms
A downstairs cloakroom or shower room built into the back of an older house has the same problem as the utility room: no outside wall of its own. A sun tunnel suits it when the loft sits above, and a small flat rooflight suits it when the room lies under an extension roof. A white lining keeps a small room bright and easy to wipe down.
Conservation, listing and a first visit
Wye has a conservation area and listed buildings, and its planning decisions rest with Ashford Borough Council. Our planning guide goes through the conditions, and the council's own records are what we check your address against.
Where an application is needed in a conservation area, details count: the type of unit, the slope and how it sits in the tiles. The conservation area rooflight guide covers it.
Myth
Putting the roof window on the rear slope means the conservation area can be ignored.
Fact
A rear slope does not exempt a house from checks on listing or an Article 4 direction. The address goes through the council's records first.
If the house is listed
A listed house keeps its householder rights under Class C, but a new or altered roof window will almost always need listed building consent, and that is a separate application to the council. Because the village has listed buildings, we ask early whether yours is one, so the route is clear before a quote is written.
Sign-off
Work on a roof opening falls under the Building Regulations, and we handle the Building Control notification where the work is notifiable. The checks themselves are laid out in the Building Regulations guide.
What shapes the figure
The size of the opening, the covering on the roof, the work needed to reach it and the glass chosen all move the figure. On an older tiled roof, lifting and re-laying tiles around the unit is part of the cost, since the flashing has to suit the tile.
Getting here
Wye is about 26 road miles east of Maidstone. A free survey comes first. After it you get a fixed written quote, and when the job is done our 10-year workmanship guarantee is given to you in writing.
Ashford, Brabourne Lees and Finberry are the nearest places on our list.
The quickest route in is WhatsApp on 07880 284133. Our email is info@orchardskylightsmaidstone.co.uk, and the enquiry form sits further down.
Hallways and stairs in Wye
What does the visit to a Wye house cover?
The visit takes in the roof, the loft and the room you want lighter.
Our hallway has a fanlight and nothing else. Where would the light come from?
From the roof above the stairs, if the stairs rise to the loft. A roof window over the landing lights the flight and, with the doors open, the hall beneath. Where a bedroom sits directly over the hall, a tube-and-dome sun tunnel run through the loft is the second option.
Wye has a conservation area. Does that rule out a roof window?
A conservation area does not by itself remove permitted development; only an Article 4 direction does. See the conservation area rooflight guide.
What kind of roof window suits a stairwell under old rafters?
One sized to fit between the existing rafters, so the roof structure needs the least alteration. We measure the spacing from inside the loft and from the landing, then choose the unit, and an uneven older roof may call for a smaller size than you expected.
Nearby towns to Wye
Book your free survey
Tell us about the room that stays dark. We come out, look at the room and the roof, then send a fixed written quote.
Or on 07880 284133, or call 01622 277162
No obligation. We survey before we price.