Skylight and rooflight fitting in Halling
Halling is a village on the North Downs, between the M20 and the M2. Rooms that can want light from above include a back bedroom under a slope, the stairwell and the landing.
- Free survey, fixed written quote
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
Upper Halling and the valley floor
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1 Conversions with unusual roofs Upper Halling has a Victorian pumping station that was converted into accommodation. A converted building may keep the roof of its first use, so we study how it is put together before we name a product. -
2 Back bedrooms facing the slope A bedroom at the back, with part of the ceiling pitched, may have only a small window to the garden. A roof window gives the far side of the room a second source of light. -
3 A stair lit from one end A flight that passes a single small window leaves the other end dim. A unit over the stairwell lights each tread and the top landing as well.
A village between two motorways
Chalk, a river and a railway are part of the village's story.
Halling is a village on the North Downs in the northern part of Kent, and it sits between the M20 and the M2, which gives it good road links. The earliest sign of people there is Halling Man, a Neolithic skeleton found in 1912 behind the present railway station, and the first written record of the place dates from the 8th century. Its chalk was mainly shipped by barge via the River Medway, and the village is also the site of a former Bishop's Palace, which the Church before the Reformation provided as a luxury for its bishops.
On any plot that slopes, the rear garden can sit at a different height from the road, and that affects how we reach the roof as much as it affects the view from the bedroom window. We look at the ground as well as the roof.
From our Maidstone base the village is about 9 miles away to the north-west, and the survey costs nothing.
The back bedroom under the slope
A bedroom at the back of a house often has its ceiling cut by the roof pitch on one side. The wall below the pitch is short, so the window, if there is one on that side, tends to be small and low. The light it lets in dies away before it reaches the opposite wall, and in winter the corner by the bed can stay dim until the lamp goes on.
A roof window placed up the pitch above the bed solves the geometry. It sits higher than any wall window could, so it lights the ceiling and the far wall, and from the pillow you see sky. For a room that is also somewhere to read or work, that second source makes the daytime use of it far easier. Our roof windows are fitted into the slope and finished with a lined reveal, so the new opening reads as part of the room. The finished reveal is plastered and left ready for paint, so the new opening sits tidily in the ceiling line.
The direction the slope faces changes the character of the light. A slope turned towards the south-east catches sun early in the day, which suits a bedroom you wake in. A slope facing north gives an even, cool light all day, which suits a room for reading or a desk. We note the compass direction at the survey, and talk through glass options if the room turns bright and warm.
We stand on the bedroom floor, note where the bed and wardrobe go, look at the rafters from below and decide where the opening does the most good. A window too near the eaves lights the floor but tells you little about the sky. One too near the ridge can sit awkwardly against the ceiling line.
What moves the price of a back-bedroom job
- Angle of the slopeThe pitch decides which frame and flashings we specify.
- Roof coveringPlain tiles, concrete tiles and slates are each lifted and relaid in their own way.
- Reach from insideRoom to work under the rafters, and furniture to move or cover.
- The finishLining the reveal, plaster edges and the surface left ready for paint.
Which kind of building is it?
How a building came to be a home is the first thing we ask in Halling, because the answer sets which planning route applies. For Halling, Medway Council takes the planning applications. Householder permitted development rights belong to houses, and several kinds of building sit outside them.
A listed house keeps its Class C rights, but a new or altered roof window there will almost always need listed building consent. Householder rights do not extend to flats and maisonettes. Houses made from a former barn, shop or office under change-of-use permitted development have none either. A condition on a house's planning permission can also have taken them away, so we check the history and never assume. Our skylight planning guide gives the conditions in full.
| Building | The first question |
|---|---|
| A house built as a house | Has a condition on its planning permission removed householder rights? |
| A flat or maisonette | No householder rights apply, so the council is asked before anything else. |
| A former barn, shop, office or similar building | Was the home made under change-of-use permitted development? If so, householder rights do not apply. |
| A listed house | A new or altered roof window will almost always need listed building consent. |
Before the survey, two things help. The first is the age of the house and how it came to be a home, with any planning papers you hold. The second is a photograph of each roof slope from the garden. With those we arrive knowing what we are likely to find, and the council's records fill in the rest.
The Halling conservation area
A conservation area covers part of the village and shares its name. If an application has to be made, the unit chosen, the slope and the covering count for more. We check your address against what Medway Council holds. Our conservation area rooflight guide covers what changes.
Converted buildings in Upper Halling
Upper Halling holds a pumping station, built recently after a Victorian one was converted into accommodation, along with filter beds and a small underground reservoir and spring. A building put up for a utility may have a roof and room layout that follow no house plan. If your home started life as something other than a house, tell us what, because it changes what we measure and what the council is asked.
Building work follows the same rule everywhere. A new opening in a roof is building work, and a new or replacement roof window takes the window energy limit of 1.4 W/m²K, or Window Energy Rating band B at minimum. We handle the Building Control notification where the work is notifiable, and either the council or a registered building control approver signs it off. The Building Regulations guide shows what they look at.
Over the stairs, and the day we fit
Where a stair rises past one small window, the climb is bright at one end and dim at the other. The landing at the top is often the dimmer end, because the window serves the flight below it and the doors on the landing are closed. A roof window over the stairwell fixes the imbalance, because daylight drops the full height of the void and falls on every tread.
Where a loft lies between ceiling and roof, a sun tunnel serves the stairs through a smaller roof opening, and a stairwell with a boarded loft over it is just the sort of place where the route needs planning. Sun tunnels need a clear line from roof to ceiling, so the loft is checked from above before a position is chosen. We choose between the two on the survey by looking at the slope, the loft and the line down to the ceiling. If you have a back bedroom and a stairwell to do, we can survey both in the same visit and list each opening on its own line of the quote.
Myth
A sun tunnel is just a small roof window.
Fact
A roof window is a glazed unit in the plane of the roof. A sun tunnel is a tube that runs from a cap on the roof down to a diffuser at ceiling level; it suits a spot with loft space in between.
The landing at the top deserves its own look. A roof window placed over the stairwell lights the flight and spills onto the landing as well, but a landing set to one side of the stair opening may sit outside that pool of light. At the survey we look up from the landing itself and trace where the pitch runs, because moving the opening by half a metre along the slope can put it above the landing and the stairs together.
Working above the stairs
On the day, the first job is the cover for the stair, then the opening. The tiles or slates around the chosen spot are lifted and set aside, the rafters are trimmed and framed to take the unit, and the frame is fixed and flashed before the inside is touched. Only then do we cut through the ceiling lining, so the room below is open to the weather for as short a time as the work allows. Where the loft above the landing is boarded, the boards are lifted along the route of the shaft and put back afterwards. Offcuts and old lining are bagged and carried out through the house under cover, never dropped down the stairwell.
A stairwell is also the route everyone in the house uses, so we cover the treads, the banister and the hall floor before anyone goes up, and keep the flight clear of tools. Inside, the lining is built so the ceiling meets the new reveal cleanly, and the dust sheets come off only once the room is swept. If the stair turns, the landing can sit under a different part of the roof from the lower flight, so we trace the line up from the hall and mark the rafter bays on both. When we finish, you have our 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing.
Book a survey on WhatsApp at 07880 284133, drop a line to info@orchardskylightsmaidstone.co.uk, or use the form lower down. Close by, Cuxton, Snodland and Eccles get the same free survey and a fixed written quote.
Back bedrooms, stairs and converted buildings
Our house is in the Halling conservation area. What does that change?
A conservation area alone does not remove permitted development rights; an Article 4 direction does. The things that change are the care taken over the unit, the slope and the covering if an application is needed. We check your address against Medway Council's records, and the conservation area guide explains the rest.
Our home is a conversion. Can it still have a roof window?
That depends on how the conversion was permitted. Householder rights are absent from a home created out of a barn, shop or office under change-of-use permitted development, and a planning condition can also have removed them. In either case we ask Medway Council what applies before work is priced.
Which comes first, the back bedroom or the stairs?
Whichever room you use most in daylight. They are separate openings, but one visit covers both and the quote lists each on its own line. If you would rather start with the bedroom, the stairs can follow in a later visit.
What does a sun tunnel need from the loft?
A clear line from the roof to the ceiling below, with room for the tube. Boxes and boarding in the way get moved on the day, and we look at the route from above at the survey.
Nearby towns to Halling
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.