Rooflights and skylights for Otford homes

The through-lounge in winter

Where the old parlour and the dining room have become one long space, the windows sit at the two ends. The ends get daylight. The stretch between is the furthest from both panes, and with the winter sun low it needs lamps long before the ends do. A rooflight can only help when a roof stands above the room or there is a clear route up to one. Under a bungalow roof, or beneath a single-storey addition at the back, a flat rooflight, or a lantern, set over the middle of the floor puts sky precisely where the room is dimmest. Where bedrooms sit directly above the lounge, the light has to be brought round them, perhaps through the roof of a side extension, and the survey establishes whether any route exists at all.

A flat rooflight over the middle of a through-lounge sends a patch of light across the floor that travels as the sun moves. Placed centrally, it brightens the sofa group at one hour and the table at another, and the size is chosen against the depth of the room.

The direction a roof faces changes the quality of the light. A south-facing pane brings in direct sun for much of the day, a north-facing one gives a steadier, cooler glow, and east and west deliver their light at either end of the day. An east slope suits a kitchen that wants its light early; a west slope lifts a lounge that is used in the evening. We note the aspect of the slope before suggesting a size, and we ask when the room is used.

Winter is also when people worry about the cold from glass overhead. Heat loss through a roof opening depends on the glazing's U-value, and Part L of the Building Regulations sets a limit for each type of unit. Our U-values guide sets out the figures.

Cottages and older village houses

Houses built before the 20th century tend to have thick walls, small window openings and low ceilings. A deep reveal cuts the angle of the light, so the room behind a small window can stay gloomy at noon. A room that gains a good deal is the one in the roof, a bedroom or a study under the slope, where a roof window adds a view of sky as well as brightness. The roof window range covers the sizes and the way each sits in a slope. The tiles around the opening matter too: an old clay tile roof is cut and made good differently from a modern concrete one, and the battens and underlay beneath are checked before an opening is marked out.

Plans from the twentieth century

Semis and detached houses from the 1930s onwards are generally wider and shallower, but they bring dim places of their own: a stair hall at the heart of the plan, a landing without a window, a cloakroom beneath the stairs. Of those, the landing is the one with a roof above it, which makes it the most workable.

What a conservation area changes

Class C permitted development for a rooflight on a house carries on inside a conservation area until an Article 4 direction takes it away, and we look for one against the address. The area does change the care taken over the unit: its profile in the roof, which slope it sits on and how it beds into the tiles. The conditions for planning sit in our skylight planning guide, and the conservation area guide adds the points particular to conservation areas. Boundaries follow streets, so the council's own records settle which side of a line a house falls on.

Listed houses

A listed house keeps its Class C rights, yet a new or altered roof window will almost always call for listed building consent from Sevenoaks District Council, and the listing governs what can be fitted. The listed buildings guide walks through the contents of an application. With around forty listed buildings inside the conservation area, a survey in the old core opens with a question about the listing.

What moves the price

The size of the unit is one line on a quote. The rest follow from the roof it goes into, and an older roof raises more questions than a recent one: how the tiles are laid, what the rafters are, what the loft holds. A new opening is building work, so we handle the Building Control notification where the work is notifiable, and the Building Regulations guide lists what is checked.

Sizes for roof windows follow a code. In something like MK04, the letters give the width and the digits the height, so a quick read of the code on an existing window tells us what it was. When we replace or add, we match the opening to the rafters.

A roof window that is already there

An Otford roof may already carry a window or two from an earlier owner. If one has failed, or the room under it still feels dim, the size code and the frame tell us what is in the roof. A replacement fits the opening that exists, so the existing flashings and the line of the tiles are examined first. Whether a new unit can be larger than the old one is a question for the rafters beside it. The guide to swapping an old window follows that job through.

The utility room

A utility room built on beside the back door may have a door, a worktop and one small window. If it sits beneath a flat or low-pitched roof, a small flat rooflight over the worktop is a modest job. A utility room also collects damp air from the washing line indoors, and an opening rooflight, such as an electric opening unit, lets that air out as well as letting light in. If the roof is shared with a kitchen extension, the rooflight can sit on the line between the two rooms so that some of the light reaches both. A rooflight on a kerb stands up from a flat roof, so the height gets checked against the planning rules before an order goes in; the guide to planning for flat roof skylights sets it out.

Booking a survey

The nearest places we also cover are Dunton Green, Seal and Sevenoaks. After the visit, the figure you receive is fixed and written down. The finished job carries a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing. The quickest route is WhatsApp on 07880 284133 with the room and the road; email goes to info@orchardskylightsmaidstone.co.uk, and the form is there too.