Borough Green skylights and rooflights
Borough Green grew up along the road and the railway, and it has outgrown the older village of Wrotham next to it. Dining rooms, bathrooms and loft rooms in its houses can all be lit from the roof when the walls will not reach.
- Free survey, fixed written quote
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
Why does a Borough Green dining room go dark?
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1 A middle room with one window A dining room between the lounge and the kitchen often has a single window, and sometimes none once a side or rear extension has been added. Glass overhead is the one source the neighbouring rooms cannot block. -
2 Bathrooms on the landing A first-floor bathroom set between two bedrooms has no outside wall to put a window in. Daylight can come from the roof instead, down a tube or through a window in the slope. -
3 Loft rooms under the slope A converted loft has the roof for its walls and a pitched ceiling above the bed. Roof windows are the natural way to light it, and they carry a few rules of their own.
Along the A25: a village that outgrew its neighbour
A railway station, a main road and a few former pubs explain the houses.
The centre of Borough Green sits on the A25 between Maidstone and Sevenoaks, and the M26 runs through the middle of it, dividing Wrotham from Borough Green. The London, Chatham and Dover Railway opened its line to Maidstone on 1 June 1874 and built a station named Wrotham and Borough Green. The names were later reversed, because the station stood inside Borough Green and the settlement had outgrown Wrotham. The parish had 360 residents in 1841, so it was a small place then.
The buildings carry that history in odd ways. The Church of the Good Shepherd was consecrated in 1906, and the Bull of 1753 survives. The Red Lion, Fox and Hounds (1837) and The Rock (1860) have been turned into private housing. Even the local council spent twenty-two years in a converted house at 2 Sevenoaks Road before it built its own headquarters at 16 to 18 Maidstone Road in 1924. When a house began as something else, we ask what the building was and how the change was approved.
| Room | Option at survey |
|---|---|
| Dining room under a flat roof | Roof lantern or flat rooflight, with planning checked first for a lantern |
| Dining room in a pitched roof | Roof window in the slope above it |
| First-floor bathroom | Sun tunnel through the loft, or a roof window with obscured glass |
| Loft room | Roof windows sized to the opening and the way out |
Shops, flats and the centre
A flat or maisonette above a shop has no householder permitted development rights, so a rooflight there goes to the council as an application, while a freehold house next door follows a different route. We ask early which of the two you have, because it changes the steps.
Converted buildings and permitted development
Where a building became a home through a change of use under permitted development (an office, shop or barn, say), householder rights are usually missing, so a rooflight there may need an application that a purpose-built house would escape. Flats and maisonettes are in the same position wherever they stand. A former pub that is now a home follows the plan of the building it was, so the roof structure and the room layout need reading on site. The planning history sits with Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, the local planning authority, and we ask for whatever paperwork you have.
Dining rooms with a lounge and a kitchen either side
A dining room with the lounge on one side and the kitchen on the other may have an outside wall at one end only, if that. Glass in the roof above it gives the room a source of its own. Where the room sits under a flat roof, such as an infill or a rear addition, a roof lantern fits above it. Planning treats a lantern differently from a flat unit: because one on a flat roof normally rises past 150 mm above the roof surface, it generally sits outside Class C and calls for an application, unless the council has told you otherwise. What is involved is laid out in the lantern planning and Building Regulations guide. A flat rooflight is the alternative, and the flat roof rooflight range shows what is available.
A lantern spreads light from its sloping glass and lifts the ceiling, while a flat rooflight is the lower, plainer choice. Over a dining room the decision turns on the ceiling height and the depth of the roof build-up, both of which we measure on site.
A building that has changed use may carry roof alterations from different periods. We look at the covering, the rafters and any earlier patches from the loft before an opening is marked, since each decides where the frame can sit.
Under a pitched roof, the dining room takes a window set into the slope over it, or a sun tunnel where the roof space is deep. We read the covering, the falls and the joist or rafter direction over the room at the survey, and the product follows from them.
The same ground floor often has a hall, a cloakroom or a utility room against the party wall with no window. Those are the next candidates once the dining room is dealt with, and a single roof opening sometimes reaches two of them at once if the rooms lie side by side.
Landing bathrooms and rooms in the roof
A bathroom in the heart of the first floor, between two bedrooms and above the hall, has no outside wall to put a window in. Where a loft sits above it, a sun tunnel carries daylight through the roof space, from a roof dome down to a ceiling diffuser. If the bathroom sits against a pitched slope, a roof window with obscured glass fits instead. Building Regulations set no daylight requirement for houses in England, so the reason to do it is the room itself. The bathroom sun tunnel page covers how the options compare, and ventilation is planned alongside the unit at the survey.
Box rooms and landings as well
Upstairs in a house of this kind, the bathroom is rarely the only space without a window. The landing, the stair and a small third bedroom often share the same problem, and one roof window over the stairwell can lift all three. The size of the opening comes from the rafter spacing: a code such as MK04 tells you the width in its letters and the height in its digits, and we pick the size that fits between the members where we can, so fewer rafters are cut.
Obscured glass in the bathroom
Obscured glass lets daylight through while hiding what is on the other side, which suits a bathroom. A unit in the slope over a bath or shower can be specified with it, and a sun tunnel diffuser gives the same softness by nature.
Light in a loft room through the day
A loft room with windows on one slope only gets its light from one side. Windows on both slopes, or one in a gable, let it cross the room, and the room feels larger for it. Sill height matters as well: a window set low gives a view from a chair or the bed, and one set higher gives more daylight to the middle of the floor. We talk through those choices at the survey and mark the positions on the slope.
The loft room
A loft conversion is lit by its roof, and the number, size and position of the windows decide how it feels. On a two-storey house, the loft sits more than 4.5 m up, so it normally needs a protected escape route down the stairs, and a roof window is not accepted in place of that route. Where the house is a bungalow or a chalet bungalow within that height, the answer changes, and a roof window can count as the way out if it meets the requirements listed in the Building Regulations guide.
On the energy side, a new roof window must meet the window limit of 1.4 W/m²K under Part L, or Window Energy Rating band B at minimum. A rooflight or lantern is held to 2.2 W/m²K. We specify the glazing to the figure for the product, and we handle the Building Control notification where the work is notifiable.
Steam and ventilation
A bathroom roof window that opens lets steam out, and one that stays shut relies on the extractor, so the choice sets what ventilation is planned with the unit. A sun tunnel is sealed and passes light only, so the extractor keeps its own route through the loft and the tube is kept clear of the duct.
Lining the loft-room window
The depth of insulation in a loft slope sets how deep the window lining runs, and that depth is measured at the survey with the rafters. Where the room is wide enough for windows on both slopes, the sill height is chosen so a bed does not end up beneath the glass.
Making good inside
The opening in a loft ceiling or slope is formed with a lining that returns the plaster to the frame, so the window sits in a clean reveal. We leave the surfaces ready for paint, and nothing in the room is left in a state that needs another trade to come and finish it.
What you are left with
When the work is finished you keep the sign-off where the job was notifiable and our 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing. A buyer or a solicitor may ask for both if the house is sold, so they are worth filing with the deeds.
What moves the figure
After the survey the quote is fixed and written. A loft room usually involves more cost items than a dining room does.
Booking a visit
You can reach us on WhatsApp at 07880 284133 or by email at info@orchardskylightsmaidstone.co.uk, and the quote form is further down. One trip can also take in Ightham, Wrotham and Vigo Village.
Where the detail in a loft-room quote comes from
- Roof covering and raftersTiles or slate, rafter spacing and the work to trim the opening.
- Number and size of unitsOne large window or two smaller ones changes the framing and flashings.
- Glazing specificationThermal performance, safety glass and any obscured panes.
- Access to the roofHow the roof is reached for the work.
- Finish insideLining the reveals and leaving the room ready for paint.
Borough Green dining rooms and converted pubs
Do old pubs that are now houses need anything special for a rooflight?
The building's history is what counts. A house created by converting a pub, shop or similar building under change-of-use permitted development may have no householder rights, so we ask how the conversion was approved before choosing a product. Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council holds that planning history, and we can go through the papers with you at the survey.
What is the distance to Borough Green, and does the survey cost anything?
About 12 miles west of Maidstone by road, and the survey is free.
Our dining room is in the middle of the house and always dim. What goes above it?
That depends on the roof over it. A flat roof takes a lantern or a flat rooflight, and a pitched roof takes a roof window in the slope. A lantern normally needs planning permission, which the lantern planning guide explains.
Could a roof window in a converted loft serve as the way out in a fire?
Under a bungalow or chalet bungalow roof within the height limit, it can, on the terms listed in the Building Regulations guide. On a two-storey house the loft normally needs a protected route down the stairs.
Nearby towns to Borough Green
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.