Larkfield skylights and rooflights

One roof, many alterations

Estate houses from a council scheme were often built to a few repeated plans, and the plans have been altered one household at a time: a garage turned into a room, a kitchen pushed out, a loft converted. A garage turned into a room, for example, often keeps its original low roof, which can suit a flat rooflight better than the main pitched slope. We reason from the pattern in general, because two neighbours' houses may differ today. What repeated plans of this kind often share is a lounge running from the front window to the back, with the dim stretch halfway along. That is the room where the survey starts.

Whether there is a roof above

Light from the roof can only reach a room that has a roof directly over it. A through-lounge on the ground floor of a two-storey house has a bedroom above, so there is nothing to open. In a bungalow, or in a lounge that was extended outwards under a flat or lean-to roof, the roof sits straight overhead and a rooflight can be fitted. The products are on our flat roof rooflights page.

Roofs on newer housing

Larkfield keeps growing, and houses built in recent developments have roofs of their own. Some roofs are trussed, with factory-made timbers at set spacings, and others are cut from rafters on site. The difference decides whether a roof window can sit between the timbers or whether a trimmer has to be formed across them, and the loft shows us which we have. A roof window then needs flashings to suit the tile or slate, which the covering tells us. Each house is measured as it stands. We also look at the eaves, the ridge and the clear slope between them, because those show where a window can sit without crowding the gutter line, and how much of the room below it the light will actually reach.

Standing in the middle of the room

The test we use for a through-lounge is simple to describe. Stand halfway between the front and back windows and look at the ceiling, then at the walls. Where a bedroom sits upstairs, that ceiling is a floor, and light from above is not possible. Where the lounge is a single-storey room, you are looking at the underside of a roof, and the spot above your head is often the right place for the opening, because it lights the stretch that both windows miss. A bay window at the front and patio doors at the back extend the bright ends of the room but leave the middle in shade.

Where the lounge has a flat roof above it, the form of the covering, the falls and the joist direction come into play, since all three set the size of the opening. A pitched or lean-to roof brings rafters in place of joists, and a roof window in the slope becomes the likely product.

Roof window or sun tunnel over the landing

If the landing ceiling slopes with the roof, as it can in a converted or chalet-style house, a roof window set into the rafters above lights it directly. Where a flat ceiling sits under a loft, a sun tunnel carries the light through to a diffuser in the ceiling below. A new or replacement roof window takes the window limit of 1.4 W/m²K, or Window Energy Rating band B at minimum, and we handle the Building Control notification where the work is notifiable.

The loft above the landing

The loft has to be looked at before either product is chosen: how much insulation lies across the joists, where the water tank stands and what is stored. A sun tunnel's tube takes up a little floor space in the loft, and we plan it clear of the boxes. The tube also has to pass the ceiling joists, so we measure their spacing from the loft side before a size is chosen. A bend in the run costs some light, and a straight drop from the roof opening to the ceiling gives the most. Our sun tunnel page shows how the product is built, and the roof windows page covers the other route.

Stairs that suit the light

Daylight on a landing falls down the stairs as well, so the top flight and the hall can brighten with it. A staircase with a turn, or a hall tucked behind a front door, gets the same benefit, since the light travels down the open well. Closed doors at the foot of the stairs cut that off, and this is something to think about when deciding where the opening goes.

On a bungalow, the same roof can serve the hall, the bathroom and the lounge at once, because the loft above runs over all three. One survey in the loft can then settle the routes for each opening, with the clearances between tank, pipes and joists checked in a single visit. An opening unit over the landing also lets warm air rise out of the stairwell on a hot afternoon, which suits a house where the upstairs rooms catch the sun.

Converted lofts and the stairs below

Where a loft has been converted into a bedroom, the landing below it often sits under the new staircase to the loft, and the stairwell grows taller and darker. A roof window at the top of the new flight, or one in the loft room itself with its door left open, draws daylight down the stairs. A loft room on a two-storey house normally needs a protected escape route down the stairs under Approved Document B, and a roof window is not accepted as that route.

For flat-roofed additions we also look at the join where the old roof ends and the new one starts, since that is where the covering and the flashing change.

Glass, vents and damp

A bathroom roof window faces more moisture than a bedroom one. An opening unit lets steam out, and a ventilated or trickle-vented design helps the glass stay clear. The glass can be obscured so that a roof window above the bath cannot be seen into from higher ground or an upstairs neighbour. If the unit is electric, the wiring route is planned before the plaster goes on, and a sensor can close it when rain starts. The bathroom sun tunnel page covers that product.

Planning in Larkfield

Planning applications go to Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council. Larkfield Church is a conservation area near the village centre. Our planning guide explains the rest.

Getting to you

Heading north-west out of Maidstone, the run to Larkfield is about 5 miles by road. The visit is free of charge. The price you are given afterwards is one fixed written figure, and our workmanship carries a 10-year guarantee, also written. To start, use the quote form, WhatsApp on 07880 284133 or info@orchardskylightsmaidstone.co.uk.

Close by are West Malling and Aylesford. New Hythe and Aylesford stations serve Larkfield with trains to Maidstone, Paddock Wood and the Medway towns.