Skylights and rooflights in Grays

Why a box room goes dim

The box room is the smallest bedroom, tucked over the front door or the stairs. It usually has a lone window, often shaded by the house next door, and a ceiling that follows the pitch of the roof or sits just beneath it. That position is useful. A window set into the roof slope takes in sky from above the neighbours' roofline, where daylight is at its brightest. It needs only a modest opening, so even a narrow room accepts one. Box rooms are often used as a study or a nursery, and a roof window over the desk or the cot puts the daylight where it is used.

Fitting is straightforward when the rafters line up with the room below. Where the box room has a sloping ceiling, the unit can sit near the high end so that someone standing at the desk or the wardrobe has headroom beneath the frame. We settle the height at the survey with a tape and a spirit level, working from the floor.

Houses on sloping ground

Ground that was once a chalk pit has steep sides, and a house at the foot of a slope can have neighbours close and above it. Where a house stands below its neighbours, side windows see a short slice of sky and the upper floors may be brighter than the ground floor. Light from the roof is not shaded by what stands beside the house, so it suits that kind of plot. A map cannot tell us how a particular house sits, so the survey looks at the actual levels.

The school on the hill above the town, reopened on its new site in 1874, is a reminder that the ground in Grays climbs as well as drops. Houses on a rise can catch more sky at the front and lose it to the slope behind, so which side of a house is bright depends on the plot, and we note it room by room.

Victorian terraces

Victorian terraces and villas are often tall and narrow, with a staircase along one party wall. In a terrace of that sort the stairs and landing are far from any window on the long sides, and the usual pattern is a bright front room, a bright back room and a stairwell between them that is dim at every hour. A roof window over the landing can turn that around. These are patterns for houses of that age in general, and each roof is confirmed in person.

The garden room question

A garden room can be attached to the house or stand alone at the end of the plot. The rules we apply depend on which it is, and on how it was built, so we establish that first. A rooflight in a garden room is a simple idea, since the room usually has a flat roof and glass facing one way. The lantern or flat unit goes over the part of the floor that the glass does not reach, and the furniture follows the daylight. Over a deck-built flat roof the rooflight sits on a kerb or an upstand, the same raised frame used on any flat extension roof.

Garden rooms are used as studios, play rooms and offices, and each use wants steady light without glare. A south-facing wall of glass can be bright at midday and dull by the back wall, so a unit over the back half evens out the room. Opening vents in a rooflight also let warm air out at the top, which a fixed wall of glass cannot do.

A loft room over the landing

When a box room or a landing sits under a loft that has been converted, the opening for a roof window passes through the floor of the loft room as well. That is a bigger piece of building work than a rooflight over a ceiling, because the structure of the converted space has to carry the cut. The survey measures the stairwell void, the line of the rafters and the head height at the highest point, and the answer is written into the quote as a drawing and a list.

Energy and sign-off

Energy performance is part of any new or replacement unit, and the limit for a roof window differs from the limit for a rooflight or lantern. Our Building Regulations guide gives the numbers. A loft room, or a landing under one, also raises escape questions, which the same guide covers.

Flats and maisonettes

Flats and maisonettes sit on a different footing from houses, because the householder permitted development rights do not reach them. The planning guide sets out the position, and for a top-floor flat planning is the first call.

Standing in the through-lounge

A through-lounge runs from a front window to a back window, and the stretch between is the dull one. The free survey begins by standing in the middle of that room. We note how far the sky from each end reaches, find what lies above the middle, and measure the roof and any extension joining it. A semi with a rear extension often gives a flat roof right over the middle of the room, which is the easiest case. A house with a plain pitched roof calls for a window set in the slope, or a tube down through the loft. The dim stretch in a through-lounge is a band across the room, so the rooflight is placed along the line where the light from the two window ends gives out.

The quote is fixed and written down. It lists the glass, the roof work, the finish indoors and the unit itself, and our 10-year workmanship guarantee is handed over in writing when the job is finished.

On a plot close to the town centre, parking may be tight. We agree where the van will stand, how materials reach the roof and which rooms need floor protection before anyone begins. A through-lounge usually has a hallway on one side, so the route from the front door to the stairs is covered, and the loft hatch is cleared of boxes the day before.

Inside the room, the ceiling is the last thing finished. Once the unit is in and weathertight, we line the opening with plasterboard, skim the reveal and leave the sides ready for your paint. In a through-lounge with a picture rail or coving, we cut the line neatly into it, so the new opening sits with the old plasterwork. The dust sheets come up and the floor is cleaned. If the room has a feature wall or a bookcase on the lit side, tell us at the survey, because the position of the opening can sometimes move a little to suit it.

To get started, WhatsApp is 07880 284133, email goes to info@orchardskylightsmaidstone.co.uk, and the quote form is further down the screen.