Skylight and rooflight installation for the bungalows and estate homes of Copmanthorpe

What a house can do without applying

No application is usually needed for a rooflight on a house, provided it projects no more than 150mm from the roof slope and sits no higher than the roof's highest point. Our full planning conditions for rooflights, with the Building Regulations are set out once there, and your roof is measured against them before a unit is chosen.

The cases that need a question

A listed building is a separate case: listed building consent comes before a new rooflight, whatever the wording of permitted development. A house in a conservation area may fall under an Article 4 direction, which can take those rights away. Roof work on flats is left out of permitted development, so permission is usually required, and the council can say more.

An extension still being built

A new kitchen extension often has its own planning permission, and the roof lantern may already be named in it. If the plans show a flat roof with no lantern, the lantern is a separate question, because a roof lantern usually rises well above 150mm and so often falls outside Class C. The council can say, and so can the paperwork for the extension itself.

Swapping a window that is already there

When a roof room already has a window whose glass has clouded or whose frame has worn, exchanging it in the same opening changes less of the roof than a new cut would. The house is checked first as usual, since a listed one can need consent, and the new unit is measured against the old opening.

When an application is made

If one of the cases above applies, the application names the unit and its position on the roof. Because the unit, its size and its room are settled in advance, the council is asked about one definite rooflight, and a later change of unit would reopen the position.

Neighbouring places, different councils

Copmanthorpe's neighbours do not all share its council. Tadcaster and Selby, which we also cover, fall under North Yorkshire Council, while Bishopthorpe and Upper Poppleton are in the City of York area. The right council is looked up for each address instead of being assumed from the postcode.

Escape from a room in the roof

In a bungalow or chalet, the window in the slope can serve as the escape from a room in the roof. Approved Document B lays down the smallest opening an escape window may have, so the window is chosen to meet it, with the sill at a height from which a person can climb out. A two-storey house is different: a loft conversion there needs a protected stair for its escape route.

Centre-pivot or top-hung

Pivoting around its middle, a centre-pivot window suits a bed or desk placed under the glass. The top-hung type swings outward on hinges along its head, leaving the space at the opening clear to stand in. Over a bed under the eaves, the centre-pivot is the more comfortable.

Cutting the opening

Cutting a new opening changes the roof structure. Trimmers join the rafters on either side and carry the load around the window, while the weathering suits the covering, concrete tile or slate. We notify Building Control about the opening, and the written quote gives the room along with the unit and its overall size.

Inside the room afterwards

Inside, the opening is lined from ceiling to window frame, and that lining, the reveal, is plastered to the agreed standard. On a sloping ceiling the reveal meets the window frame at an angle, and the plaster is brought neatly to the frame so the room is ready for paint.

Fitting a window in a roof that has trusses

Later bungalows can have roofs built from factory trusses instead of separate rafters. A truss is a braced frame, and cutting into one is a structural matter. We look in the loft to see how the roof is built before a window position is agreed, and where trusses run through the opening, the work is designed round them.

Short drops and long runs

A sun tunnel has a dome fixed to the roof, a reflective tube below it and a diffuser in the ceiling. For the same run a rigid tube is the more efficient light carrier, and flexible ones lose more. In a bungalow the run from roof to ceiling is short, so little light is lost along the tube. In a roof room, a longer drop favours a rigid tube.

Between the rafters or trusses

The tube is normally narrow enough to pass between the rafters. A cut rafter or joist makes it structural work. In a roof built from trusses, the tube is set in a gap between two of them, and the position is picked in the loft.

How many, and where

One tunnel lights the stretch of hall under it. On a long hallway, two or three diffusers spaced out along the ceiling light more of it. The doors to the bedrooms usually open off the hall, so the bright spots land where people walk through.

Where the loft is shallow

Bungalow lofts are often low, with little room to stand, and a dome sits on the outside of the roof while the tube lies close under the slope. A shallow loft limits how far a tube can bend, so a straight run from dome to diffuser is planned and the diffuser is placed directly under the dome where the hall allows.

Daylight and the bedroom doors

The doors along a bungalow hall are shut for much of the day, and a hall lit from above stays bright when they are. The light also spills through a glazed door or a panel where one has been fitted, which helps a bedroom at the end of the run.

The same unit in a bathroom

The inner bathroom of a bungalow is often beside the hall, and a second tunnel serves it. The two tubes can share a loft, because each needs only a narrow strip of floor and roof.