Barnsley skylights and rooflights for flats above shops and tall villa stairs
21.7 road miles south of Leeds city centre
Skylight installation in Barnsley covers the flat above a town-centre shop, the electric unit over a tall villa stairwell and the glass roof on a rear extension.
Barnsley rooms that old walls and new extensions leave short of light
Stone and brick terraces, tall villas and deep rear extensions each push some part of the house far from a window.
Villa stairwellA tall stair in an old villa climbs past floors with no window to light it.
Dining endThe dining end of an extension sits deep behind the old back wall of a terrace.
Boxed-in bathroomA bathroom boxed into the middle of a conversion has walls and floors around all sides.
What suits Barnsley's town buildings and newer extensions
Upper floors and stone villas ask for neat, low units, while the extensions behind them can take larger ones.
-
Flat Roof Rooflights
A low flat rooflight for a utility, hall or small kitchen, or for the back room of a flat under a flat roof.
-
Sun Tunnels
A tube for a windowless office back room or store, where the roof sits directly above.
-
Electric & Opening Rooflights
A wall switch or handset opens the unit over a tall stairwell, where the ceiling is out of arm's reach.
-
Roof Lanterns
A lantern over a wider kitchen or dining extension, bringing light in from the pitched glass as well as from overhead.
-
Conservation Rooflights
A slim black frame lying low on a slate slope, for a street inside a conservation area where the roof is seen from the road.
What Barnsley owners ask about upper floors and new extensions
The first answer covers a flat above a shop and the second a villa stairwell. The third compares two choices for an extension roof.
Can the flat above a Barnsley shop or office take a rooflight?
The upper floors of a town-centre building are a different job from a house. The roof above them may be flat at the back, pitched behind a parapet at the front, or a mix of both. The people who live below it are not always the people who look after it, and that shapes the order in which things are done.
Skylight installation in Barnsley for a flat or an office therefore starts with who has to agree. The product comes second, because a flat without consent cannot use a rooflight however well it is chosen.
Permission for a flat
Barnsley Council takes any application, and what planning and Building Regulations say about skylights explains how flats differ from houses.
Reading the lease
The lease tells you whose consent covers work on the roof, and a managing agent, where there is one, is the person to ask. The written quote is the document to hand over, and it gives the agent a definite unit to read: it records the room, the rooflight and its size. Our team notifies Building Control about the job.
Units for a flat or an office
A flat roof at the back of the building takes a flat rooflight standing on an upstand cut into the covering. A windowless store, a back office or an inner bathroom takes a sun tunnel where the roof sits straight above it, and our comparison of sun tunnels with roof windows sets out how the two compare. A pitched slope over a top-floor flat takes a roof window.
Which room gains most
In a top-floor flat the room that gains most is usually the one under the flat roof: a kitchen at the back, a bathroom with no window or a hall with doors on every side. A rooflight directly above gives such a room daylight from overhead where the walls give none.
Carrying glass up a narrow stair
In a town-centre building the glass may have to travel through a shop, up a communal stair and out through a hatch. We plan that route before the unit is ordered, since a pane that will not turn a corner on the stair cannot be used, however good it looks on paper.
Working above other people
Noise, dust and a door left open to the roof all reach the people on the floors below. Landings and stair treads are covered, and the opening is closed against the weather whenever we stop.
Small commercial roofs
We welcome small commercial jobs across the same range of products as houses. An office, a surgery or a workshop with a flat roof can take a rooflight with the same upstand and covering details that a house roof needs.
- Myth: A rooflight in the top flat is the same job as one in a house.
- Fact: A flat has different paperwork, so the permission and the lease come before the product.
- Myth: A sun tunnel is only for houses.
- Fact: It suits any windowless room with roof directly above it, including a shop store or an office back room.
Is an electric rooflight worth having over a tall stairwell in a Barnsley villa?
A Victorian villa stair climbs two or three floors, and the top of it sits a long way above the hall. A window at that height can be opened only with a pole or a ladder, so in practice it stays shut. An electric rooflight at the top of the stairwell solves the reach problem, because the switch is on the wall at hand height.
Switch or handset
A wall switch suits a stairwell where the control can live next to the light switch. A handset suits a unit that is opened from a landing or a bedroom. The ways of powering the opening are compared under electric, solar or manual rooflights.
Letting summer heat go
Heat gathers under the highest ceiling of the house, and an open rooflight there gives it a way out. Fresh air then comes in through windows lower down. How this works is set out in opening rooflights for ventilation.
Rain
A rain sensor shuts the rooflight when showers start, so a unit left open while the house is empty does not let water down the stairwell. Many models carry one, and we confirm that the model chosen does before it is ordered.
Getting power to the unit
An electric unit needs a supply, so the cable has to be routed from the loft to the switch. In a tall house that route can be long, and we look at it early, since it affects where the switch and any handset charger can go.
Where the stair meets the roof
Over the highest flight, the roof may be a hipped slope with little room for a frame. Where the slope is short, a smaller unit or a different position on the same slope is checked before the opening is cut.
Light for the flights below
The daylight from a rooflight at the top does not stop at the top landing. It falls down the stairwell, and each flight below picks up some of it. A pale wall and a white handrail return more light than dark paint or panelling, which is worth knowing before the walls are redecorated.
The plastering round the opening
Stairwell ceilings are high, so the plastering is done from a platform that spans the stair. The paint on the walls beside the opening is left clean, and the stair below is swept before the sheets come up.
Looking up the stairwell
How high the ceiling sits above the landing, where the rafters pass over the stair, and which wall would carry the switch.
Should the roof of a Barnsley rear extension take a flat rooflight or a lantern?
A terrace or semi in Barnsley can gain a single-storey extension across the back, with a flat roof and a deep floor plan. The glazed doors light one end of the new room, and the roof can light the rest. The two usual answers are a flat rooflight and a lantern, and they behave differently.
How they sit on the roof
A flat rooflight is a glazed panel in a low frame, so it rises only a little above the roof covering. A lantern is a little glass roof with pitched sides and stands tall on the roof. The differences are set out in detail under flat rooflight or roof lantern.
How they light the room
A flat rooflight sends the daylight straight down. A lantern admits it from overhead and from the pitched sides, so the light arrives from several directions and the room looks evenly lit. A small room gains little from the extra sides, and a wide dining kitchen gains a good deal.
Height and permission
A lantern stands tall on the roof, so the council needs asking unless the permission for the extension took it in. A flat rooflight is a smaller step; Barnsley Council is the authority for both.
Weight and structure
A lantern is heavier than a flat unit of the same footprint, so the roof structure under it is checked. A wide opening in either case alters how the roof carries its load, which means the framing is planned first.
Glare and summer heat
A glass roof over a kitchen collects the sun from late morning on, and a south-facing aspect adds to it. Glazing with a solar-control coating reduces the heat that comes through, and a blind under the lantern shades the table when the sun is strong. The choice is made when the unit is specified, since the coating is part of the glass.
Matching the unit to the covering
The upstand that carries the unit is dressed in the same material as the rest of the roof. Felt, rubber sheet and fibreglass each want their own treatment at the turn-up, so the covering is identified before the kerb is built.
When the roof comes off
The floor below is covered, the opening is framed and the kerb built, and the unit is set and weathered into the roof covering.
Flat rooflight and lantern compared
| Point | Flat rooflight | Roof lantern |
|---|---|---|
| Rise above the roof | Slim, close to the covering | Stands well above it |
| Direction of light | Straight down | Overhead and from the sides |
| Room it suits | Utility, hall or small kitchen | Wide kitchen or dining area |
Beyond Barnsley's town centre
Worsbrough, Dodworth, Barugh Green, Darton, Cudworth, Birdwell, Royston, Wombwell and Hoyland are the places closest to Barnsley. Every installation carries a workmanship guarantee that runs for ten years, and you can ring us on 0113 436 0654.
Further Barnsley answers on roofs above shops and stairs
Does a flat roof above a shop need a different rooflight from a house?
The covering on the roof and the structure under it set the choice, as they do for a house, so the first questions are what the roof is made of and how the glass will reach it. A shop roof with a built-up felt covering takes the same kind of upstand as a house extension.
Can a rooflight light a windowless office or store?
A windowless back room can be lit from above where the roof sits directly over it. A sun tunnel suits a small room, and a flat rooflight suits a larger one under a flat roof, with the room's size and the roof above it settling which.
Does the glass in a stairwell rooflight need cleaning from outside?
Rain washes a sloping rooflight, and a clean can be done from inside on a low unit or by a pole on a reachable one. Over a tall stairwell the glass is out of reach, which is one reason to choose a pane that keeps clean easily and to think about access when the position is set.
How do you protect the stair carpet while the roof is opened?
The stair and landing are covered with sheeting before any tool comes out, and the covering runs up to the wall on each side. Dust from the opening stays in the stairwell, and the sheeting comes up and the area is cleaned when the work finishes.
Get a free survey
- No obligation
- We survey before we price
- WhatsApp or phone, whichever suits
We arrange a survey, then send a fixed written quote. Nothing is booked until you say yes.