Rooflights and skylights for Chatham homes
Chatham sits where the lower dip slope of the North Downs meets the River Medway, about 9 miles north of our Maidstone base. Its terraced streets and its newer estates leave different rooms short of daylight, and the roof is usually where we put it back.
- Free survey, fixed written quote
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
What each building era leaves in shadow
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1 Victorian terraces, deep and narrow Chatham has streets of Victorian terraces. Houses from that century are typically one room wide and several deep, so the first-floor landing ends up without any outside wall of its own. -
2 Newer estates beyond the Dockyard St Mary's Island, once marshy ground, now carries several new housing estates. When a house from a development like that gains a garden room, the roof of the new room is the first place to look for extra daylight. -
3 Back bedrooms with one small window The bedroom at the back of an older house often looks onto a yard through a single window. A roof window set into the back slope adds a second source of light from another direction.
Victorian streets behind the High Street
Party walls on both sides leave the middle of the plan to borrow its light.
Chatham's Victorian terraces fill the streets between the High Street and Luton village. A house of that age is usually built to one pattern: a parlour facing the street, a second room behind it, and a narrower wing at the back that holds the kitchen. Party walls close both sides, so daylight enters only at the two ends of the plan, and anything in the middle depends on whatever the doors let through.
Four terms from this chapter
- Back addition
- The narrower wing at the rear of a terrace, usually holding the kitchen below and a small bedroom above.
- Party wall
- The wall shared with the house next door, which leaves no space for a window.
- Roof window
- A window that lies flat in the slope, following the line of the roof around it.
- Rooflight
- A glazed unit installed out of plane with the surface of the roof, on a kerb or upstand.
The landing in the middle
Upstairs the plan repeats itself. The landing lies between the front and back bedrooms with a party wall on either hand, and it borrows light from open doors and, if there is one, a fanlight. Where the loft is an empty roof space above a flat ceiling, a sun tunnel can carry daylight down to the stairs through the roof void. Where the stairs rise under a sloping ceiling that follows the rafters, a roof window can go into the slope directly above them. We settle which of the two fits from the ceiling and the loft access when we visit; our sun tunnel and roof window pages describe what each one is.
The back bedroom
The bedroom at the back of the rear wing tends to have a single window onto a yard or a neighbour's side wall. If its ceiling follows the roof, a roof window set into the back slope gives it a second window high up and a view of sky, from a different direction to the first. Light that arrives from above also reaches the far wall of a narrow room, where a side window leaves a shadow, so a bed can sit against either wall without losing the daylight. If the ceiling is flat with a loft above, a sun tunnel is the route, and the loft hatch tells us early whether a clear run exists between roof and ceiling. The back slope is the usual place for the unit on a terrace, which keeps the street front unchanged, and the shaft below the opening is lined and finished ready for paint.
The town sits where the lower part of the North Downs dip slope meets the Medway, and which way a rear slope faces changes from one street to the next. We read the aspect from the roof itself and not from the map, because it sets how much sun the new opening gets and which glazing makes sense above a bedroom.
The roof coverings on terraces of this period vary, and so does what has been done to them since. Some have been re-covered, some patched, and some have had an earlier rooflight fitted that now mists between the panes. Any of those changes what the opening costs and how we flash it, and none of it shows from the pavement. Access matters on a terrace too: materials for the roof usually travel through the house or along a shared passage, so the route is noted before the date is set, and the ceiling below is protected along it.
Garden rooms on the newer estates
Beyond the Dockyard the housing is recent.
What goes on the roof of a garden room? The newer streets prompt it, because beyond Chatham Dockyard the marshy ground now called St Mary's Island has several new developments of housing estates. A house on a newer estate may have an open plan on the ground floor and a garden room or a rear extension added later. On the newer estates the ground-floor plan is often open, so a rooflight over a garden room can also reach the kitchen or dining area beside it. The added room is bright at its glazed end. The space between the new room and the old house is where daylight falls away.
From enquiry to a finished roof
- Tell us about the dim room Message the WhatsApp number 07880 284133 or email info@orchardskylightsmaidstone.co.uk with a few words on the room and the roof above it.
- A free survey visit We measure the opening, check how the roof is built up and note anything that affects access.
- A fixed written quote The quote names the unit, the work around it and the finish inside, and its figure is fixed before anything is booked.
- Fitting The roof is opened, the unit is set and weathered, and the ceiling and reveals are finished inside.
- Notification and guarantee We handle the Building Control notification where the work is notifiable, and the workmanship carries a 10-year guarantee in writing.
Flat roof, flat rooflight
A garden room usually has a flat or very shallow roof. A flat rooflight set into it sits low and is the simplest way to put a patch of sky over the middle of the room. A roof lantern is taller. It usually stands well above the surface of a flat roof, and anything that stands more than 150 mm proud of the original roof normally falls outside Class C permitted development, so a lantern usually needs planning permission unless the council confirms otherwise. Our roof lantern planning guide goes through it, and so does the skylight planning permission guide.
The room beside it
The garden room is only half the story. A new extension often takes light from the room it was built against, or from the hall behind it. When we survey a house like this we stand in the room that has gone dim and work back up through the ceiling to the roof. A rooflight on the garden room can reach that room too if it is positioned near the join between old wall and new roof. If it is not, the old room may need a roof window of its own, or a sun tunnel if the loft above it is clear. On a landing or a hall the choice is sometimes settled by the stairs themselves: the height of the stairwell and the shape of the roof above it favour a tube from the roof or a window over the top flight.
The route in outline
A house with a pitched roof over the old part and a flat roof over the new part is one we meet on garden-room jobs, and both roofs are dealt with in the same visit.
Conservation areas, listed buildings and Medway Council
Conservation areas in Chatham include Maidstone Road (Chatham), New Road (Chatham) and Chatham Historic Dockyard. A house within one of them keeps its Class C rights for a roof window or rooflight until an Article 4 direction takes them away, because a conservation area on its own has no such effect. Medway Council's records show whether one applies to your address. Our conservation area rooflight guide and the page on Article 4 and rooflights explain what changes when one does.
| Kind of house | What applies | Where to read more |
|---|---|---|
| House outside any special area | Class C permitted development usually covers a roof window or rooflight that meets its limits | Planning permission guide |
| House in a conservation area | Class C still applies unless an Article 4 direction has removed it | Article 4 guide |
| Listed house | Class C rights remain, but a new or altered roof window will almost always need listed building consent | Listed buildings guide |
| Flat or maisonette | No householder permitted development rights, so an application to the council is the route | Planning permission guide |
Listed houses
Chatham Town Hall in The Brook is Grade II listed, and listed buildings stand in the middle of the town. A listed house keeps its Class C rights on paper, but a new or altered roof window in one will almost always need listed building consent, and Medway Council decides it. We would talk that through with you long before any quote, and the steps are laid out on the listed buildings page.
Who decides what
Planning applications in Chatham go to Medway Council. Separately from planning, cutting through a roof counts as building work, which brings in the structure, the energy performance of the glazing and, in a loft, fire and escape. Our Building Regulations guide covers what is checked.
If you live in Gillingham or near the Rochester side of the Medway, we work there too: see Gillingham and Rochester. We also cover Strood, about a mile and a half north-west of the centre.
Terrace landings and garden-room roofs
Our landing in a Victorian terrace off the High Street has no daylight at all. What would suit it?
A terrace landing normally has a party wall on each side and no outside wall, so the light has to come from above. A roof window set into the back slope suits a landing under a sloping ceiling. A sun tunnel suits one with a flat ceiling and a loft above. The survey tells us which, since it depends on the loft access and the rafters.
What does living near the Dockyard change about fitting a rooflight?
Chatham Historic Dockyard is a conservation area, but being inside one does not by itself remove permitted development for a rooflight; only an Article 4 direction does. Medway Council's records settle the position for your address, and our conservation area guide explains what changes if an application is needed.
How do I read the difference between a rooflight and a roof window on a quote?
The Approved Document L glossary defines a rooflight as a glazed unit installed out of plane with the roof surface, on a kerb or upstand, and a roof window as one installed in the same orientation as, and in plane with, the surrounding roof. A roof lantern counts as a rooflight. Under Part L 2021 for existing dwellings, a new or replacement roof window takes the window limit of 1.4 W/m²K (or Window Energy Rating band B minimum), while a rooflight or roof lantern takes 2.2 W/m²K.
What goes on the roof of a garden room?
The build of the roof and its pitch decide it. A flat roof takes a flat rooflight or a lantern. A lantern usually needs planning permission, unless Medway Council confirms otherwise. A flat rooflight sits lower on the roof.
Who checks the work once a new roof window is in?
Cutting a new opening in a roof is building work, so the council's building control team or a registered building control approver signs it off. They look at the structure around the opening, the energy performance of the unit and, where there is a room in the roof, fire and escape.
Nearby towns to Chatham
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Or on 07880 284133, or call 01622 277162
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