Ackworth Moor Top skylights and rooflights for bungalow loft rooms and flat-roofed extensions

Sill height and the bed beneath

Anyone using the window as a way out has to reach it, so the lowest edge of the opening cannot sit too far above the floor, and there needs to be room to step up. The bedroom furniture is placed in the plan from the start. Where a bed stands under the slope, a window that pivots about a spindle halfway up is the usual pick, since the sash swings clear of the bedding. A top-hung window swings outward from its head and keeps the space below it open, which suits a corner with nothing beneath.

Fitting into a later tiled roof

Concrete tiles are common on later roofs, and the flashing for them follows the tile profile. The tiles around the opening are cut and bedded back to the frame, with a collar over the upper edge to carry water around it. The rafters are trimmed round the gap, which alters the roof structure and is treated as structural work.

A rooflight on a bungalow is normally permitted development, and anything that can change that is listed on the planning and regulations page; Wakefield Council handles Ackworth Moor Top.

Daylight for the loft stair

The stair up to a converted bungalow loft is often the gloomiest part of the conversion, since it climbs from a hall that has no window. A second roof window above the stair head throws daylight down the flight. Where two units sit close together on one slope they can share a single weathering detail, which saves cutting more of the roof than necessary.

Reading the garage ceiling from below

The rooflight has to line up with the ceiling of the converted room, which may be a lowered one added during the conversion. The hole through that ceiling is lined and plastered with a splayed finish so the light travels to the corners. Where the flat roof joists run across the opening, they are trimmed round it, and that is the structural part of the job.

Choosing between a rooflight and a lantern

A garage ceiling is low, and a lantern adds height above the roof as well as inside the room, which can carry it past what permitted development allows. A flat rooflight stays close to the roof plane and usually remains within the limit. Where a lantern is wanted for its shape, the planning page linked above sets out the position, and the question goes to Wakefield Council.

Where the water goes on a flat roof

Rain on a flat roof is led to the gutter or the outlet by a gentle fall in the deck. The new kerb stands above that surface, and water arriving from the higher side is guided round it instead of banking up against it. If the roof drains towards the position where the rooflight is wanted, the unit can be shifted along the ceiling to keep the flow clear of it.

Warmth and glare in a former garage

The roof of a converted garage can have less insulation than the rest of the house, so the glazing specification counts. New or replacement rooflights must reach 2.2 W/m²K, and a solar-control layer on the glass takes the edge off summer sun in a small room. The glass faces the sky, so nobody looks in. A blind under the rooflight gives control of glare for an office or a screen.

Bringing power to the roof

The motor needs a supply, and an electrician brings a cable to the rooflight position. In a bungalow that route is shorter than in a house, since the loft space sits straight above the kitchen. The cable can follow the rafters and come down beside the opening, so very little of the finished ceiling is disturbed. The electrical connection is made by a qualified electrician, and the rooflight work is ours.

How the sash is controlled

Opening is by a wall-mounted button or a pocket remote, and the button is placed where the cook can reach it from the worktop. A handset is useful for a unit set high in a tall ceiling, because it can sit in a drawer or on a shelf. Whichever is chosen, the controls are tested with the sash fully open and fully shut before the job closes.

Where the rooflight goes in relation to the cooker

The best position is over the zone where steam collects, but a little to one side of the hob, because grease settling on the glass directly above it dulls the light. On a flat roof the unit rests on a kerb; on a pitched tiled roof it goes into the slope on a flashing kit.

Glass that copes with a kitchen

The glass in a kitchen meets steam and heat from the hob, so a tight seal and a warm inner pane limit condensation. A coated, double-glazed unit with an insulating edge is the usual choice. The ventilation side of these units is covered under opening rooflights for ventilation.

On fitting day the kerb or flashing goes in first and then the frame and the glass.