Skylight and rooflight fitting in Aylesford
Aylesford has a riverside village at its core, quarry-era Victorian houses around it, and a suburban estate on the south bank. A back bedroom, a landing or a garden room in any of them can be lit from above.
- Free survey, fixed written quote
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
Peg-tiled slopes and flat extension roofs
-
1 Peg-tiled roofs in the village Newer building in the village has used traditional peg tiles on its roofs. A window set into that kind of slope is flashed to suit the tile, and we specify that at survey. -
2 Former shops turned into homes The old village has around 60 houses, many of them once shops. A deep ground-floor plan with a shopfront at one end often leaves its centre without a window. -
3 Flat roofs on the newer extensions Single-storey additions on the suburban estate south of the river often have flat roofs. A garden room or kitchen under one can take daylight from a rooflight set into it.
A village the river and the quarry shaped
Its oldest houses and its Victorian ones leave different rooms dim.
Aylesford grew along the Medway, and the river has been a key influence on how the village developed. It began as a small riverside settlement. The old village still has around 60 houses, and many of them were formerly shops, which tells you something about their plans before you step inside.
What we read off an Aylesford roof
- Covering Peg tile, slate or flat membrane, and how it is lapped, which sets the flashing.
- Timbers Rafter or joist spacing and condition around the planned opening.
- Loft and stairs Headroom on the stairs and a clear run for a tube if one is used.
- Room below Where in the ceiling the light would land and how the shaft is finished.
Plans that began as shops
Shops are often built deep. The trading room faces the street and a storeroom lies behind it, and there is little reason to put windows along the sides. When a building like that becomes a home, the front room can keep its large window while the middle of the ground floor is left with none. The back bedroom upstairs may face the same difficulty: a small room reached from a landing that has no window at all.
If that sounds like your house, the question is what lies above the dim room. Where it sits directly under a slope, a roof window brings light down without altering the front elevation, and the rear slope is usually the one that suits. Where the room has another floor over it, a sun tunnel may reach it if the roof space allows a clear run for the tube.
Between the river and the road
A riverside village keeps its older houses close together near the water and its newer ones spread back from it. That tends to mean the oldest roofs are the ones with the least room round them: tight to a neighbour, hard to reach with a ladder, and sometimes crossing a lane to get materials to the door. We ask about access on the first call, and we look at it again from the street when we arrive, so the day itself is planned round the way into your house.
The back bedroom under the slope
Where a Victorian house has a bedroom in the roof, the dim part is often the end farthest from the one window. A roof window gives that end sky. We set its position and the height of its lower edge at the survey from where you stand and sit in the room, because a window that suits a standing adult may sit too high for someone lying in bed.
Houses built for the quarry
The major building in Aylesford came in the Victorian era, when houses went up to serve the nearby quarry. Houses of that age and purpose are often narrow, with two rooms to a floor and a staircase squeezed against a side wall. The landing at the head of those stairs is a corridor between two walls, and it rarely sees direct daylight.
A roof window placed above the stair turn lights the landing and the stairwell below it, because the light drops down the open well. Before we recommend one, we check the stair headroom, since the opening has to clear the person coming up as well as let sky in.
Newer building in the village has used traditional peg tiles on the roofs and Kentish ragstone on the walls. Where the roof is peg-tiled, a low-profile unit that sits close to the tiles is worth pricing alongside a taller one, and we show both on the quote.
The south bank, the railway and the garden room
Recent expansion has been to the southern side of the river, where a substantial suburban housing estate has grown up, partly because the railway links the village with Maidstone and London. Aylesford station opened on 18 June 1856 and sits on the Medway Valley Line between Strood, Maidstone West and Paddock Wood. The original station buildings are gabled and built in Kentish ragstone with Caen stone dressings.
| Part of the village | How it came about | Roof question |
|---|---|---|
| Old village near the river | Around 60 houses, many formerly shops | Is the dim centre under a slope, or under another floor? |
| Victorian streets | Houses built to serve the nearby quarry | Where does the landing sit, and how much headroom is on the stairs? |
| Estate south of the river | Suburban expansion served by the railway | Is the garden room or extension flat-roofed, and what is the loft like? |
Garden rooms and rear extensions
On an estate house, the garden is where the extra space goes. Whether it is a garden room or an addition to the back wall, the room usually has glazing on the garden side and a solid wall to the house, which means the end nearest the house is the dimmest. The sofa nearest the house may need a lamp at noon while the far end of the same room is bright.
A flat roof over such a room can take a rooflight or a lantern. A lantern is a raised glass roof, and on a flat roof it usually stands more than 150 mm proud, beyond the limit that permitted development allows, so it is the one product here that tends to call for an application; the lantern planning guide explains the position. A flat rooflight sits lower, and on a house it falls under the rules in the skylight planning guide. In both cases the glass belongs over the dim end of the room, where it has the most to do.
Sun on the garden side
A garden room that faces the sun can warm up under glass. Solar-control glazing is one of the choices we price for a rooflight, and an opening vent is another. Which is right turns on the aspect of the room and how it is used, so we ask you about both.
What stays above the roof line
On an extension flat roof, the upstand under a rooflight or lantern adds to the height of the finished unit, and the insulation and the covering around it add to the work. We take those measurements on the roof itself. A flat roof that has been re-covered more than once can have a deeper build-up than you would guess from the room below, and the upstand is set to suit what is there.
The back bedroom and the landing on the estate
Upstairs, a back bedroom in the roof of an estate house may have a single window in the gable wall or a dormer, which lights one end of the room. A roof window in the slope on the other side evens it out. A landing on the same floor sits between rooms and can be lit by a tube or a window above the stairs.
Whether any of this suits depends on the roof structure, and on estate houses that varies with the age of the build and the trusses used. We read it at the survey from inside the loft.
The Royal British Legion Village stands to the south on the A20 London Road, founded after the First World War to help injured soldiers discharged from Preston Hall hospital. Houses there are within our patch too.
Planning, conservation areas and the paperwork
Planning applications for Aylesford are decided by Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council. Conservation areas near the village include ones named Aylesford and Holtwood, Aylesford. The permitted development rights themselves are in the planning guide, and what changes once an application is needed is in the conservation area guide. The boundary decides it house by house, which is why your address is looked up before we advise.
Myth
A house that used to be a shop can never have a roof window without an application.
Fact
A house made from a shop through change-of-use permitted development loses householder rights, and that is the only route that does. One that became a home through a full planning application still has them, unless a condition on that permission removed them. Hence the look at the planning history.
The shop that became a house
The old village raises one question on its own. A house that began as a shop may or may not hold the permitted development rights of a house built as one. It depends on how the shop became a home, and on the conditions attached. If the change came through change-of-use permitted development, the householder rights do not apply. If it came through a full planning application, they stand, except where a condition on that permission removed them. The paperwork for the conversion tells you which, and the council's planning register usually holds it, so ask us to look it up when we visit, or bring any decision notice you have.
Peg tiles and the flashing
Where the covering is peg tile, the flashing around a roof window has to suit the tile, and our guide to conservation rooflights on peg tiles shows how that looks on a roof. We specify the kit once we have seen the tiles and the lap of the courses.
Sign-off and the first message
A new opening in a roof is building work, and we handle the Building Control notification where it is notifiable. Our Building Regulations guide explains what is checked. Aylesford is about 4 road miles from Maidstone, so there is little travel between your door and ours.
Message us on WhatsApp, 07880 284133, or email info@orchardskylightsmaidstone.co.uk. The visit costs nothing, the price you are given is a fixed written figure, and the 10-year workmanship guarantee is on paper as well. If you are nearby, we also cover Larkfield, Eccles and Snodland.
Shop conversions and garden-room roofs
What is the road like between Maidstone and Aylesford for a survey visit?
The road runs north-west out of Maidstone, and the short run makes a visit to look at a dim room quick to arrange.
How does a conservation area near Aylesford affect a roof window at the back of the house?
A conservation area alone does not take away permitted development, and an Article 4 direction can. Should an application be required, what you choose and which slope it faces become the main questions. The conservation area guide explains.
What goes into the roof of a garden room when the glass is all on one side?
A rooflight or a lantern set over the end nearest the house, where the dim part of the room is. Planning permission is the question for a lantern, and we raise it with you before the quote is written.
Our landing has no window and the loft is full of boxes. What are the options?
A roof window above the stairs if the loft floor can take the opening, or a sun tunnel where a clear run exists. We look at both while we are in the loft, and shifting a few boxes for the survey is all we ask.
Nearby towns to Aylesford
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.