Rooflights and skylights for Westerham homes
Westerham is a town on the River Darent in the Sevenoaks District, with a church that goes back to the 13th century and a long record of building and rebuilding since. A stairwell, a kitchen extension or a back bedroom that has stayed dim can be lit through the roof above it.
- Free survey, fixed written quote
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
What leaves some Westerham rooms in the dark?
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1 A stairwell with walls all round When the staircase sits in the centre of a plan, every wall around it faces another room. The window at the top of the flight may be the only daylight, and a window in the roof above gives the whole flight a second source. -
2 An extension that closed the old window A kitchen extension built across the back covers the glass the original rooms looked through. The roof over the new space is the nearest place to bring light back in. -
3 A back bedroom with a small window An upstairs room at the rear, close under the eaves, often has one modest window. A roof window in the same slope adds light from higher up and a view of the sky.
Stairwells first, then whatever was built on the back
Houses altered over centuries can have rooms that were never meant to be bright.
Westerham's buildings cover a wide span. St Mary's Church is thought to date from the 13th century and was much altered in Victorian times, the Congregational church goes back to 1839 and the Catholic church of St John the Baptist opened in 1955. Houses in a town with that long a history are often altered and extended in ways their first builders never planned, so we start with the plan in front of us and work out where the daylight stops.
Before the quote is written
- Find the dim spot We stand in the room and mark where the light from the existing windows runs out.
- Go up and look We check the roof covering, the rafters or joists, and what lies in the loft above.
- Choose the product Roof window, rooflight, lantern or sun tunnel: the roof and the room decide between them.
- Put it in writing A fixed written quote after the free survey.
The staircase in the middle
A stairwell that runs up the centre of a house is lit by whatever window happens to sit at the top. On the ground floor, its light comes from the hall door, if there is one with glass. A roof window placed in the slope directly over the top flight changes the whole stair, because the daylight drops from above and reaches the lower treads.
Where a loft room or a boarded roof space sits in the way, the tube of a sun tunnel may do the same work with less disruption to the ceiling. The loft tells us which one suits, so we climb up and look before any figure is written down.
Behind the new kitchen
The old back window now faces the new space and still passes a little light to the room behind it. A roof opening adds to that borrowed light, and the best place for the glass is the seam where the old house meets the addition.
The choice between a flat roof rooflight and a roof lantern comes down to the build-up of the roof and the height available. A lantern stands proud of a flat roof and usually falls outside Class C, so it normally needs an application.
Light on the landing too
A stairwell window in the roof often serves the landing at the same time, since the two share one open space. The handrail, the pictures on the wall and the colour of the paint all read differently under daylight from above. We suggest looking at the walls in the evening and at midday before choosing finishes, because a roof window will show up every shade that was chosen under a lamp.
Three rooms in one visit
A stairwell, the kitchen and a bedroom may each benefit, and a single visit covers all three. Sometimes the best answer is to light only one of them.
What is on the roof
An older house can carry clay tiles on one slope, slate on another and a felt or membrane covering where the back was extended. Each covering takes its own flashing, so the first look from the garden and from the loft decides the flashing kit. Clay tiles are lifted and relaid around the opening, slate is cut to the frame, and a flat roof is built up in layers to a kerb whose height depends on the insulation under the covering.
The way a slope faces matters as well. A rear slope facing south gives a stairwell strong light for hours at a time, and a blind may suit it. On a slope facing north the light is steadier and cooler from morning to evening.
Listed buildings, a conservation area and the district council
Westerham's planning decisions are made by Sevenoaks District Council. For a house, the Class C conditions decide whether a rooflight needs an application at all, and they are listed in full in our planning permission guide for skylights.
The town has listed buildings of its own. The parish church carries a Grade II* listing, and the chapel connected with the Congregational Federation is Grade II. Those two are public buildings, and a cottage or house you own may or may not be listed. If yours is, a new or altered roof window almost always needs listed building consent, which sits outside permitted development altogether. How that route works is covered in our listed-building rooflight page.
Words that decide consent
- Listed building consent
- Separate permission from the council for altering a listed building.
- Article 4 direction
- A council order that removes certain permitted development rights in a defined area.
- Class C
- The section of the permitted development order dealing with roof alterations to a house, rooflights and roof windows included.
- Registered building control approver
- A private body registered to inspect and approve building work, as an alternative to the council's own team.
At a listed property the survey takes on a different character. We photograph the roof from several angles, note the covering and the rafter layout and record where the proposed unit would sit relative to the ridge and the eaves. That record goes to whoever prepares the application, so the council sees accurate measurements.
The Westerham conservation area
Westerham has a conservation area of the same name, and your address is one of the first things we check with the council.
Checking the structure
A new opening in the roof falls under the Building Regulations as building work. The timbers round it, the heat loss through the glass and, where the room is in the roof, the route out in a fire are all matters for the Building Regulations. The notification to Building Control is ours to make where the work needs one, and the Building Regulations guide explains who inspects what.
One practical point for older roofs: in a house that has been altered over a long time, rafter spacing can differ from a standard layout. The window may then have to move a few centimetres, or be sized to the gap between two timbers. We measure that in the loft before anything is ordered.
A back bedroom, and the road from Maidstone
The back bedroom is where a house shows its age. It is often the smaller of the upstairs rooms, tucked under the eaves, with a window cut to suit a wall rather than a person sitting up in bed. Light arrives low and from one side. A roof window above the bed end or along the sloping ceiling brings in a wider spread of sky, and the room feels bigger without a wall moving.
Where the room is in the roof space itself, the opening has an extra job. A roof window can serve as the escape window from a room in the roof of a bungalow or chalet bungalow, within limits set by Approved Document B on size and height. On a two-storey house, a converted loft normally needs its escape route protected all the way down the stairs, which is a different question altogether. We assess which applies at the survey, before any product is picked.
Myth
Westerham is too far west for a Maidstone firm to survey.
Fact
Westerham sits within our survey area, and a visit costs you nothing.
A roof window also changes the evening. Bedrooms with a single side window go dark early in winter, and glass in the slope keeps some colour in the room after the garden has gone grey. A blind designed for roof windows closes the room again at night, so the opening works in both directions.
Headroom and view
Under a sloping ceiling the headroom shrinks towards the eaves, and a window in the roof brings the view of the sky right into the part of the room where someone is sitting or lying down. We choose the position by sitting in the room at the height of a pillow, and mark where the view and the light fall together.
Sloping ceilings also change how a bedroom is furnished. A bed placed under the low edge of the slope loses light, and moving the glass further up the roof lets the bed stay where it is. A wardrobe or a chest of drawers is best placed beside the low edge, where the ceiling is too low to stand under.
How far we travel
Westerham is recorded as early as the 9th century and appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Oistreham. The River Darent, which flows through the town, formerly powered three watermills. What we survey today are the houses and extensions of later centuries, and each gets its own look at the roof, the loft and the dim rooms below.
Westerham is about 24 road miles west of Maidstone, inside the 30 miles we cover. The A233 runs north from the town to Biggin Hill and Bromley, the M25 lies to the north, and Oxted station is 4 miles away.
Distance changes nothing about what you receive. You receive a fixed quote in writing. Our 10-year workmanship guarantee is given in writing when the work is complete.
Neighbouring towns on our list include Sevenoaks, about five miles east as the crow flies, and Edenbridge, a little under five miles south. If you would like a visit, WhatsApp 07880 284133 reaches us directly, and so does the quote form lower down.
Stairwells, listed cottages, back bedrooms
How do I get light into a stairwell with no outside wall?
Through the roof above it. A window in the slope over the top flight does it directly, and a sun tunnel does it across a loft. Rafters and the space overhead decide.
Does living inside the Westerham conservation area change what you can fit?
Not by itself. The conservation area leaves permitted development rights alone unless an Article 4 direction applies there as well. If an application is needed, attention turns to the design of the unit and which slope it sits on.
Our cottage is listed. Who do we speak to before anything is cut?
Sevenoaks District Council deals with listed buildings in Westerham, and that is a separate permission from planning. We can measure the roof and describe the proposed unit so the application has accurate drawings behind it.
What would you fit over a back bedroom with one small window?
A roof window in the same slope, positioned over the bed end or the middle of the floor. The rafter spacing and the tile type set its size. If the room is formed within a bungalow or chalet roof, the window can also serve as the escape window, provided the room is within the 4.5 m height limit and the opening meets the size and sill-height rules in Approved Document B, and we check that against your room.
Who checks the building work after the roof has been opened?
Either Sevenoaks District Council's building control team or a registered building control approver. We make the notification for any work that requires one.
Nearby towns to Westerham
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.