Skylight and rooflight fitting in Cuxton
Cuxton sits on the left bank of the River Medway, with the North Downs rising behind it and the A228 running through the middle. A kitchen extension, a bedroom under the slope or a bathroom between two other rooms can all borrow daylight from the roof overhead.
- Free survey, fixed written quote
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
Rooms in a Cuxton house that lose their light
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1 The kitchen added at the back Where a house on a valley side gets a kitchen at the rear, the old back window ends up looking into the new room. The flat or low roof of that extension is the natural place to bring the light back. -
2 The back bedroom upstairs A back bedroom with one small window has its ceiling formed by the roof slope. That slope is the single place where a roof window can go. -
3 The bathroom between two rooms A bathroom hemmed in by bedrooms on both sides has no outer wall to open. A sun tunnel or roof window overhead gives it daylight without moving a pipe.
Kitchens added on the valley side
Sloping ground changes how a rear extension is built, and where its light comes from.
Cuxton lies on the left bank of the River Medway, in the North Downs, and Ranscombe Farm straddles the North Downs Way on the high ground above the village. A house on a valley side has a back garden that climbs or drops away from it, and a rear extension has to answer to that. The floor may step down from the old house, the roof may sit lower than you would expect, and the old kitchen window, once a generous source of daylight, ends up facing a new wall.
The new kitchen has its own glazing, usually doors or a wide window onto the garden. The trouble is further in. The strip of floor between the new doors and the old house is where the worktops go, and it is the part of the kitchen that gets the least light. A rooflight over that strip works well because it lights the work surface directly instead of the floor beside the glass.
Words for a flat roof
- Falls
- The gentle slope built into a flat roof so that rainwater runs to the gutter.
- Kerb
- The low timber or insulated frame fixed round an opening, on which a rooflight sits.
- Lantern
- A rooflight with glazed sides and a ridge, standing proud of a flat roof; Approved Document L counts it as a rooflight.
- Deck
- The boarding that forms the structural surface of a flat roof, under the waterproof covering.
Choosing between flat unit and lantern
A flat rooflight sits low on a kerb and is the lighter intervention. A lantern is taller, with glass on its sloping sides and ridge, and it floods more of the ceiling. Which fits depends on the roof: its falls, its joists and the depth of the build-up above the ceiling. The page on roof lanterns goes through the types. A lantern rising from a flat roof usually stands more than 150 mm proud, outside Class C permitted development, so Medway Council, the planning authority for Cuxton, is where the first enquiry goes, and the lantern planning page explains the reasoning.
Buildings with another past
Whorne's Place was a mansion put up on the river by Sir William Whorne, Lord Mayor of London in 1487. It was pulled down in 1782, and only an outlying granary survives, now a house that still carries the name. Upper Bush has four houses from the 14th century and a Tudor yeoman's house. Those are an unusual group, but they illustrate a point that matters for any building with an earlier use: a home made by converting a barn, a granary or a similar building may have no householder permitted development rights at all. Our planning guide explains it, and we ask how a building began before we say anything about glass for it.
The railway has its own place in the village. Cuxton station is on the Medway Valley line between Strood and Maidstone, and the large chalk quarry worked by Rugby Cement in the 20th century has since closed and been landscaped. Neither fact changes what is above your kitchen, and we treat each roof as its own case.
Which way do the joists run? How deep is the build-up between the ceiling and the covering? Is the covering sound, or due for renewal anyway? If the roof is coming off for another reason, that is the cheapest moment to form an opening in it, and a kitchen extension under construction can have its upstand built into the roof from the start. It also lets us agree the position of the glass with the builder before the deck is boarded, so the opening, the upstand and the ceiling finish all line up with the worktop layout.
A flat extension roof often has a timber deck, a layer of insulation and a waterproof covering on top. The opening is framed in the deck first, and the upstand carries the waterproofing up its sides, so the order of work on the roof is set by what is already there. Where the ground behind the house climbs, the scaffold stands on a level base before anyone goes onto the roof. The ceiling below is finished last, once the glass is in and weathered.
The back bedroom under the slope
In an older house the bedroom at the back has often been fitted into the roof, with a sloping ceiling on one side and a window set low in the wall. In a later house it is simply the second-best room upstairs. Both can share a complaint: the window is small, the daylight stops short, and the far corner by the door is where the wardrobe lives because no one wants to read there.
A roof window in the slope fixes that from above. It sits higher than any wall window could, so its light reaches the ceiling and the back of the room. We choose the position at the survey by lying on the bed, in effect: what you see from the pillow, and what the sun does across the floor, matter more than what the plan says. The size comes from the rafters, since the frame has to sit between them or the rafter has to be trimmed with a header, and we check the loft before we offer a size.
Myth
A roof window over the bed will make the room too bright to sleep in.
Fact
Roof windows can be fitted with blinds that darken the room, and we talk through the choice at the survey. The window also lets heat out when it opens, which is a gain for a bedroom under the tiles.
Headroom matters in these rooms. Under a steep slope the useful floor area is the part where you can stand, and a roof window brings daylight to the low edge where a wall window never could. It also changes how the ceiling looks: the sloping plane catches light from above and bounces it down the room. We note the ceiling finish at the survey, because a pale, smooth surface and a dark, boarded one behave differently.
Sleep and brightness
A bedroom with a roof window gets the sky as well as the light, and some owners worry about it being too bright at six in the morning. Roof windows take blinds designed for them, and we go through the options at the survey so the room can be darkened. A window that opens also lets warm air out of a room under the tiles, which helps in summer. If the unit is out of reach, a motorised one is the answer, and the page on electric opening rooflights shows what that involves.
Replacing an old unit
Some back bedrooms already have a roof window that has seen better days, with a stiff catch or misting between the panes. A new unit in that opening has to meet the energy limit for its type, and the Building Regulations guide gives the figures. Where the new unit matches the old frame size, the work can stay inside the existing opening, which is simpler than forming a fresh one.
Bathrooms, and a survey from Maidstone
Bathrooms are planned round the plumbing, and daylight is whatever is left over. The result is often a first-floor bathroom with a frosted window or nothing at all if the room sits between two bedrooms. Light from above is one of the few ways to give a room like that a view of the sky.
On a pitched roof, a roof window over the bath lets the light fall on the wet end of the room, and an opening window can let the steam out. If the loft is deep or the rafters are in the way, a sun tunnel feeds a diffuser in the ceiling. Both call for glazing, a vent and a finish inside the opening that can cope with damp.
Parts of a bathroom roof opening
- Sun tunnel
- A roof dome linked to a diffuser in the ceiling by a shaft, so daylight can pass a deep loft.
- Reveal
- The lined faces of the cut opening on the room side, finished after the unit is in.
- Condensation
- Moisture that forms on cold surfaces in a damp room, which the glazing and the vent are chosen to handle.
Any new roof opening is building work, and we handle the Building Control notification where it is notifiable.
Planning
For planning, Cuxton falls under Medway Council. The first question is often whether a rooflight needs permission at all, and the planning permission guide answers that for houses, flats and converted buildings.
From Maidstone to the village
The A228 runs through the village and connects with the M2 and M20. Close neighbours on our list are Halling, Strood and Rochester. The first visit is free, and the quote after it is fixed and in writing.
A bathroom job usually sits alongside other work, a new suite or fresh tiling, and the timing is worth planning. If the room is about to be stripped out, say so when you message us: the roof opening and the finishing inside are easier to coordinate with the plumber and the tiler than to fit in afterwards, and we can agree the order of work with them. Tell us which wall the bath or shower sits against, since the unit should sit over the wet end of the room and clear of any extractor route.
To start, send a photograph of the room and your postcode on WhatsApp, 07880 284133, or email info@orchardskylightsmaidstone.co.uk. The quote form works too.
Cuxton kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms
My Cuxton kitchen extension has a flat roof and a dark inner corner. Where would a rooflight go?
Over the worktop strip, between the new garden doors and the old house wall, since that is where the light runs out. We confirm the exact spot at the survey by checking the joists and the falls.
Our house began as a barn or granary. Does that change anything?
It can. Houses made by converting barns and similar buildings may lack the householder permitted development rights, so planning permission could be needed for a rooflight that an ordinary house could have without. The planning guide sets out how to check.
Who do I contact about permission for a Cuxton roof window?
Medway Council, which is the local planning authority for the village. For an ordinary house it may not be needed at all; the planning permission guide lists what applies. If the property is a conversion, a flat or a house with a planning condition on its permission, mention that when you ask.
What is the distance from Maidstone to Cuxton?
The road from Maidstone to Cuxton runs about 11 miles north-west.
Will a roof window make our back bedroom too bright to sleep in?
Roof windows take their own blinds, so the room can be darkened at night.
Nearby towns to Cuxton
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