Skylights and rooflights in Charing
Charing lies in the Ashford district, where the ground climbs towards the North Downs escarpment. Garden rooms, loft rooms and box rooms here can take daylight from the roof when their walls give too little.
- Free survey, fixed written quote
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
Along the Pilgrims' Way and below the Downs
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1 Ground that rises behind Charing reaches up to the escarpment. Where land climbs behind a house, back rooms can see less sky than the same rooms on level ground. -
2 Houses strung along a road The A20 and the Pilgrims' Way both serve the parish. Houses laid along a through road often have a street face and a garden face, with stairs and landing in between. -
3 Rooms added at the back or top A garden room, a loft room or a converted box room is lit by one small opening at best. A rooflight can add a second source.
Charing under the escarpment
Landscape and street shape decide how much sky a room can see.
Charing sits at the foot of the North Downs and reaches up to the escarpment. The Upper Great Stour once drove two watermills here, and two windmills stood in the parish too. One of them was Charing Mill, also known as Field Mill, a smock mill on the Downs above the village, built in the early nineteenth century and last worked in 1891. Charing Heath Mill, another smock mill, was demolished around 1878. Down in the village, the Archbishop's Palace stands beside the church, an ancient possession of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church tower dates from the 14th century, and most of the rest was rebuilt after a catastrophic fire in the 16th.
| Local feature | What it means for a room | Where we would look |
|---|---|---|
| Foot of the North Downs | Rising ground can shorten the view of sky from rear windows | Back rooms and the garden room |
| The A20 and the Pilgrims' Way | Houses along a through road have a front and a back, with an unlit middle | Landing, stairs and box room |
| Charing conservation area | A boundary to check before a roof opening is chosen | Front slopes in particular |
What the land does to a window
A hill behind a house narrows the patch of sky that a rear window sees. How much depends on the house and its garden, and the loss is greatest in rooms that face away from the sun. For those rooms an opening in the roof often gives a better view of sky than any change to the wall, because the roof looks over whatever stands in front of the glass.
Trees and neighbouring roofs matter as much as the hill. A rear window two metres from a boundary hedge sees a slice of sky, while a roof window above the same room sees almost all of it. We stand in the room with you, look up through the proposed spot and judge what the sky offers there, and we check the aspect of the slope for sun in the afternoon, since a west-facing slope on a hot day brings in more heat than a north-facing one.
A station, a road and a long street
Charing railway station opened on 1 July 1884 as part of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway's extension to Ashford, and direct trains now run to Ashford International and to London Victoria via Maidstone East. The A20 and the M20 also serve the parish. Houses laid out along a long road are often narrow at the front and deeper towards the garden, which leaves the stairs and landing buried at the heart of the house, with no wall to the outside. We read each house on its own, but the shape is a useful starting guess before the survey. Where a hall in a long house has no window, the same tunnel approach works, as long as the loft route is clear.
The garden room as a test case
A garden room makes a good test. Its roof is usually flat and low, and its glazing sits in the walls that face the lawn or the house. A roof lantern over the middle sends light to the back wall and the corners that the doors never reach. Since a lantern on a flat roof generally stands more than 150 mm above it, planning permission is normally needed for one, unless the council confirms the opposite. A detached garden room is also a separate building from the house, so we read its status and any conditions on its permission before quoting. Our planning guide sets out the questions, and our page on roof lanterns explains the product.
Loft rooms and what moves the price
A loft room under a pitched roof gets its light from the slope itself, because the ceiling is the roof. Roof windows set into that slope light the room from above and show the sky, and the same opening can serve as an escape route in one kind of house and cannot in another.
Escape from a loft
On a two-storey house, a loft conversion creates a storey above 4.5 m, and Approved Document B normally calls for a protected escape route down the stairs. The roof window up there does not count as that route. With a bungalow or chalet bungalow under that height limit, the roof window may double as the escape window once it satisfies the rules in the Building Regulations guide. Which case applies to you comes out of the survey.
The energy standard
Part L 2021 sets a limit of 1.4 W/m²K for a new or replacement roof window in an existing dwelling, or Window Energy Rating band B at minimum. A rooflight or roof lantern is held to 2.2 W/m²K. The two figures differ because the Regulations treat the two products as different things.
Pricing from what is in the opening
A figure only means something once the roof has been seen, and the cost band below lists what moves it. Our pages on roof windows and sun tunnels show the products that suit the slope, and the Building Control notification is ours to handle where the work is notifiable.
Chalet bungalows and low eaves
In a chalet bungalow the bedrooms sit inside the roof, and the slope runs down almost to the floor at the edges. Roof windows there work in pairs or in a row, and the position of each one is set by where the beds, wardrobes and desks will stand, since a window behind a wardrobe wastes its light. Headroom under the glass is measured with the furniture in mind, and the sill height is checked against the escape rules.
Keep the loft floor in mind as well. A loft room that is already boarded and fitted out needs more care getting materials and a scaffold tower to the opening than a loft that is still empty, and where the bedrooms below must stay usable during the job, that route is planned with you. In a chalet bungalow, a roof window set high on the slope lights the middle of the room and a lower one gives a view out.
What changes the price of a loft opening
- Roof coveringSlate, plain tile and concrete tile are cut and flashed differently.
- Rafter workHow many rafters are trimmed and how the frame around the unit is built.
- Unit size and typeFixed, opening or electric, and the width and height chosen.
- Access to the loftHatch size, scaffold or tower, and distance from the van.
- Finish insideLining, plaster and decoration to the splayed reveal.
Box rooms and the paperwork
A box room is the smallest bedroom in the house, usually over the stairs or the front door, with a single window that gives it little. A roof window in a box room that lies under the slope doubles its light sources. Where the room sits below a flat ceiling with a loft above, a sun tunnel brings daylight through the loft and into the room through a diffuser, with only a small dome visible from outside. Used as a study, the same room needs the glare controlled, and a blind is specified with the unit.
Tunnels come in rigid and flexible forms, and the run between roof and ceiling, with its bends and its length, decides which suits. Our guide to rigid or flexible sun tunnels compares them. A diffuser in the ceiling spreads the light.
Roof terms on a Charing quote
- Roof window
- A window that sits in line with the roof slope around it, facing the same way.
- Rooflight
- A glazed unit installed out of plane with the surface of the roof, on a kerb or upstand. A roof lantern is one.
- Sun tunnel
- A tube that carries daylight from a small roof opening to a diffuser in the ceiling.
- Article 4 direction
- A council direction that removes permitted development rights in a defined area.
A box room has little floor to spare, so a roof window is placed to clear the bed and the desk, and the lined reveal is kept shallow so the light spreads wide.
Who decides what
Ashford Borough Council takes planning applications for Charing. Charing has a conservation area named after the village, and the council publishes its conservation area information on its own website. Our conservation area rooflight guide goes through the extra care in the choice and position of the unit.
Getting to you
Charing is about 15 miles east of Maidstone. A survey with us costs nothing, and the fixed written quote that follows spells out the product, the work to the roof and the finishing indoors. The 10-year workmanship guarantee reaches you in writing when the job ends. Tell us about the room through the quote form, by WhatsApp on 07880 284133 or at info@orchardskylightsmaidstone.co.uk.
Box rooms, lanterns and escape routes
Does the Charing conservation area stop me fitting a roof window?
Not on its own. Permitted development for a rooflight on a house stays in place inside a conservation area unless an Article 4 direction removes it, and the council's records show whether one applies. If an application does turn out to be needed, the council weighs the kind of unit and which way its slope faces. Our planning guide covers it.
What do I need for a roof lantern on a garden room?
Think first about the building. A detached garden room is separate from the house, and any condition attached to its permission has to be read before a lantern is ordered. The lantern itself usually stands more than 150 mm proud of a flat roof, which is the detail the council looks at.
Who decides whether my Charing rooflight needs an application?
Ashford Borough Council is the local planning authority. The answer turns on the type of building, how far the unit stands proud of the roof and whether any condition on the house has removed the usual rights.
How big a roof window will fit in a box room?
Codes such as MK04 give the width in the letters and the height in the digits. The size that fits depends on the rafter spacing and the headroom under the glass, and a sun tunnel is the alternative where the room sits below a flat ceiling.
Can the roof window in my loft room count as its fire escape?
On a two-storey house it cannot: a loft conversion creates a storey above 4.5 m, which normally needs a protected escape route down the stairs. A bungalow or chalet bungalow under that height is different: its roof window may be the escape window when it meets the escape requirements.
How do I tell a rooflight from a roof window on a quote?
A roof window sits in plane with the slope, while a rooflight is installed out of plane on a kerb or upstand. They carry different energy limits, 1.4 W/m²K for the window and 2.2 W/m²K for the rooflight, and the quote names which one is being fitted.
Nearby towns to Charing
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