Skylight and rooflight fitting in Benenden
Benenden is a Weald village with centuries of building behind it: iron, cloth, mills, a rebuilt Tudor house at Hemsted Park. Houses with that kind of past tend to have been altered more than once, and the rooms added along the way are the ones that end up dim.
- Free survey, fixed written quote
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
Goddard's Green Road, Hemsted Park and the mills
-
1 Old plans with small windows The house in Hemsted Park, one of Benenden's Tudor buildings, was rebuilt in 1860, and a house with roots that deep may have been rebuilt and altered more than once. A box room added along the way can have one small window, or none. -
2 A kitchen added to the back A kitchen extension on an older house covers the back wall. The room it was built against loses its outside light, and the roof of the extension is often the place to win it back. -
3 Lounges that run front to back A through-lounge has windows at both ends and a dim middle. Where roof lies directly overhead, a tube from the ridge side or a pitched-roof window can reach that middle.
Iron, cloth and the age of the houses
A village with this much history rarely has a house that was built in one go.
The parish of Benenden lies on the Weald, 6 miles west of Tenterden. The Wealden iron industry was working here before the Romans arrived, and evidence of two Roman roads built to carry the iron out of the Weald has been found, along with a Roman settlement at Hemsted, now the site of Benenden School. The ironmasters carried on what the Romans had started, and cloth-making, the other major industry, helped make the village prosperous.
Roof terms for a house altered in stages
- Rafter
- The inclined timber the tiles or slates are fixed over.
- Trimmer
- A timber framing the edge of a new opening so the cut rafters stay supported.
- Flashing
- The weathering that closes the gap between a roof window and the covering round it.
- Kerb
- The upstand around a flat-roof opening that the glass unit is seated on.
Mills and a hospital road
Water and wind did much of the work. Wandle Mill was a watermill on the River Rother, East End Mill a post mill that stood where the chest hospital was later built and was demolished around 1870, and a pair of mills lay to the east of the village. In 1907 a consortium of trade unions and friendly societies set up a chest hospital on Goddard's Green Road, to treat tuberculosis. The village hall, funded by Lord Rothermere, opened in 1977.
That is a long run of different builders. A prosperous village of this kind collects houses from several centuries, each altered to its owner's needs, and we find the age and construction of yours at the survey.
Reaching the house
Where a house stands down a narrow lane or along a long track, the questions are about the vehicle as much as the roof: where the van can stand, how far the glass has to be carried, and whether scaffold has room at the eaves. We ask about the approach on the first call and look again when we arrive, so the plan for the day is made round your drive.
What a roof of several ages looks like from the loft
Where a house has been extended in stages, the loft often shows it. The old section may carry heavier timbers at a different spacing from the newer one, and the join between them can step in height or direction. A new opening has to be framed in whichever part of the roof it lands in, so the position of a roof window or tube is settled with that in mind. Moving it a few hundred millimetres along a slope can turn a straightforward job into a complicated one, or the reverse.
The extension kitchen and the long lounge
Houses that have been added to over the years often end up with a kitchen at the back and a lounge that runs through from front to back. Both are rooms where the walls hold the windows and the middle misses out.
Myth
An old Weald house has the wrong kind of roof for a rooflight.
Fact
A roof window can go into an older roof where the timbers allow it. Whether an application is needed depends on the kind of house, how far the unit sits proud and what its planning history says, all of which our planning guide sets out.
The kitchen extension
An extension kitchen usually has garden doors or a window along the back wall, with the old rear wall of the house running down one side. The part of the room next to that old wall is the dimmest, and so is whatever room used to have its window there. A flat rooflight placed near the old wall line lights both. A lantern does the same job with more height and more glass, and it normally stands far enough above the roof to need a planning application, which is dealt with in our guide to lantern planning rules.
What the extension roof is made of matters as much as the glass. A warm roof and a cold roof need different upstands and different fixing, and the covering round the opening has to be taken back and re-sealed. We look at the underside from the loft or from inside, where we can, before a lantern is priced.
Glass, sun and fresh air
A south-facing extension collects sun, and a rooflight over it takes its share. The glazing specification is a choice we price with you, and a rooflight or roof window that opens is another, which helps a kitchen clear steam and heat. In a lounge the question is usually glare on a television or a screen, so we talk through where the sun will fall before the position is marked. A blind fitted to the unit also keeps glare off a screen.
Finishing inside
Once the glass is fitted, the well between roof and ceiling is lined and decorated so that it reads as part of the room. In an old house the ceiling around the opening may be lath and plaster or plasterboard, and the two take the finish differently, so we check which you have before promising a clean edge. The sides of that well are usually splayed to spread the light, and a wider splay gives more of it to the walls.
The through-lounge
In a lounge that goes right through from front to back, the windows sit at the two ends and the seating in the middle lies between them. In late afternoon the two ends can be bright while the seating in the middle needs a lamp. Where the lounge has roof directly above, as it does in a bungalow or on the top floor of a chalet, a roof window or a tube through the loft can light the middle. Where a bedroom sits over the lounge there is no roof to use, and the better answer may sit elsewhere in the house.
A skylight over a lounge is something people see every time they sit down, so its position and size are worth deciding with the furniture in mind. We stand in the room with you and mark the places on the ceiling before anything is chosen.
The box room, the council and the first message
Upstairs, the box room is the room that tends to go without a proper window. It is small, often tucked at the front or back above the stairs, and it may have one narrow window or none. If it sits under the slope, a roof window brings in light and a view of sky.
| Room | Where the roof is | Route to try |
|---|---|---|
| Box room | Under the slope, with one small window | Roof window sized to the room |
| Kitchen extension | Flat or pitched roof at the back | Flat rooflight or lantern near the old wall |
| Through-lounge | Directly overhead only in a bungalow or chalet | Roof window or tube over the middle |
Size and position
In a small room, size matters in both directions. A unit that fills the slope makes the room feel smaller, and a tiny one leaves a dark corner. We work from the sill height and the headroom, and we mark where the frame would fall on the ceiling so you can see it. If the room is going to be used as a bedroom, the window may also be wanted as the way out; the Building Regulations guide gives the opening sizes and the limit on a two-storey house.
Sill height is the measurement we check first in a box room. Too high and you see only sky when seated; too low and the frame meets the furniture. We sit on the bed or at the desk and mark the spot on the ceiling.
Fresh air matters in a small room as much as daylight. A roof window that opens lets a small room kept for homework or a cot clear stale air, and an opening unit can be chosen for that reason. Where the room is used for sleeping, we confirm the details of the opening at survey.
Planning at Tunbridge Wells
Benenden is in the borough of Tunbridge Wells, and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council takes its planning applications. Rooflights on houses can often go in without an application, subject to the limits in the planning guide, which also covers flats and converted buildings. We run your house against that list before quoting.
From Maidstone, and how to reach us
Benenden is about 16 road miles south of Maidstone. The free survey comes first. A fixed written quote follows, we handle the Building Control notification where it applies, and a written 10-year workmanship guarantee comes with the finished job.
WhatsApp 07880 284133 reaches us, and so does info@orchardskylightsmaidstone.co.uk. The quote form works too.
Weald houses altered in stages
Will the distance from Maidstone add to the cost of the survey?
No. Distance makes no difference to the cost of the survey, and Benenden sits inside our patch.
When would Tunbridge Wells Borough Council need to be involved in our rooflight?
When the house or the unit falls outside what permitted development allows: a flat, a house created by converting another building under change-of-use permitted development, a condition on the planning permission, or a unit that stands out too far. The planning guide lists the tests, and we run them at the survey.
Our box room is under the eaves and has one tiny window. Can a roof window go in?
If the room sits under the slope with enough headroom, yes. We check the rafters, the height of the sill from the floor and the size of unit that will not crowd a small ceiling. The frame size follows the room.
What would you fit over a through-lounge that is dark in the middle?
That depends on what is above it. In a bungalow, glass in the roof straight over the middle of the room, window or tube. Where a bedroom sits on top, the roof is not available and we look at other routes for the light. Standing in the room is the quickest way to tell. We also look at how the furniture is arranged, since the glass should sit over the part of the room people use.
What suits a kitchen extension on a house that has been altered several times?
Glass in the extension roof, set where old wall meets new roof: a flat unit or a lantern, depending on the opening. The roof build-up decides the details, and a house with several ages in its roof can have surprises under the covering, which is why we look from the loft before pricing.
Nearby towns to Benenden
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.