Iwade skylights and rooflights

A through-room with two ends

Taking out the wall between a front lounge and a back dining room leaves a long room with a window at the street end and doors or a window at the garden end. In the middle, daylight has to travel a long way from either side. The dining table usually sits in the middle or at the garden end, and the sofa at the street end. Whichever end gets less, the room as a whole feels darker than its two windows suggest.

A rooflight needs a roof directly overhead. If the through-room has bedrooms above it, the slope is too far away. When the room occupies a one-storey part of the house, with a flat or pitched roof of its own, a rooflight or roof window is possible. It lights the middle of the room from above, so the table and the sofa share one bright patch.

In a long through-room, two smaller openings spaced along the roof can serve better than one large one, because they spread the patches of light along the length of the room.

Choosing the opening for the dining area

The size comes from the room. A wide opening over the table puts the light where people sit, and a long narrow one follows the shape of a through-room. We also look at the roof covering, because tiles suit a roof window, while a flat roof suits a low rooflight, or a lantern where the room allows. A flat roof rooflight stands on an upstand, and a roof window fits flush with the surrounding slope. The Building Regulations define the two in those terms, and our quotation uses the same words.

The planning rule that bites here is the one for any extension roof: a lantern on a flat roof usually stands more than 150 mm proud, so it normally needs permission, whereas a low rooflight may not. Swale Borough Council handles planning for Iwade, and our planning guide sets out how to tell the cases apart.

Furniture drives the last decisions. A fixed table asks for the opening to be centred over it, while a table that moves lets the rooflight sit wherever the structure allows. We ask which you have, and whether you plan to move the table when the room is lighter.

The ceiling height matters as well. In a room with a low ceiling, the lining around a rooflight has little depth to spread the light, so a wider, shallower opening may suit better than a tall one. With a high ceiling or a sloping one, the light comes in at an angle and can wash a wall as well as the table. We look at both when we measure up, and we check that a beam or a chimney breast is not in the way of the position you have in mind.

Heating belongs in the conversation. The energy rules set a limit on heat loss for new and replacement units in an existing home. We work to that limit and talk through glazing options that suit how you use the room.

Sun tunnel or roof window

For a bathroom directly under the loft, the sun tunnel in a bathroom is usually the first idea. A small dome gathers light on the roof, a reflective tube carries it across the attic, and a round panel in the ceiling spreads it below. That panel is flush with the plasterboard, so it takes up nothing in a small room. A tunnel needs a clear route past rafters, wiring and insulation, and a straight run gives more light than one with bends.

If the bathroom is inside a loft conversion, or sits directly beneath a slope, a roof window is the other choice. It lets you see sky as well as feel light, and a unit that opens lets steam out. The glazing around a bath needs thought, since the room is humid and the glass can mist. At survey we talk about the opening method, the glass and where the unit sits relative to the bath and the shower.

The loft has to be looked at before either goes ahead. Pipes, cables, the tank and the insulation all share the space where a tunnel or an opening goes. We trace the route from above, and if it cannot be a straight line we describe the compromise before any price is given.

Condensation and the glass

A bathroom is a damp room, and a roof window in it is a cool surface, so the way it is sealed and lined matters. Our guide on why rooflights mist up explains the difference between moisture on the inside face of the glass and a failed seal between the panes.

An en suite is a smaller version of the same problem. It can be a cupboard-sized room with a shower tray and a toilet, and a ceiling light that stays on through the shower. The route for a tunnel to such a room is often the short one, because the room is usually in the middle of the roof space and the dome can sit directly above it.

In a bathroom the position of the daylight matters as much as the amount. Light over the basin and mirror helps at the start of the day, light over the bath needs glass that is well sealed against steam, and light over the shower tray needs the unit set clear of the spray. Those positions are marked on the ceiling at the survey.

The worktop wall

An extension with garden doors at the back and a blank flank wall at the side has a bright end and a shadowed one. The sink or the hob often sits against that flank wall. A rooflight above the worktop gives the cook daylight on the work, and a second one over the dining end can balance the room. The position comes from where the units will stand, which is why we ask for the kitchen layout. If a dining table stands at the garden end, the doors there will light it well enough and a rooflight can go over the worktops alone. If the extension is a long galley with no table, two rooflights in a row may suit it better than one.

On a flat roof we fit a flat rooflight on an upstand or a roof lantern, and on a pitched extension roof a roof window. Underneath, the deck, the insulation and the joist direction decide how the opening is formed. A kitchen needs ventilation too, so we look at where the extractor duct runs before the position is final.

Listed buildings and consent

To the north of the village stands a Grade II listed heavy anti-aircraft gunsite from the Second World War. Listing applies building by building. The listed building rooflights page covers what it means for a roof window.

For an ordinary house, the question is a different one: whether the unit counts as permitted development. The planning guide covers it. Building Control comes into it as well. A new roof opening is building work, and we handle the Building Control notification where it is notifiable.

Booking the survey

Nothing is priced until we have seen the roof, and that visit costs nothing. A fixed figure in writing follows, and the work carries our 10-year workmanship guarantee. A photo of the room sent by WhatsApp to 07880 284133 or emailed to info@orchardskylightsmaidstone.co.uk starts it off, as does the quote form below. We also cover Sittingbourne, Queenborough and Newington.

Whichever unit suits, the lining inside the room is finished to match the ceiling it meets.