Rooflights and skylights for the brick houses of Featherstone

A sun tunnel through the loft space

The outside end of a sun tunnel is a clear dome on the roof. Below it, a mirror-lined tube crosses the loft and ends in a frosted diffuser set into the hall ceiling. Run for run, a rigid tube beats a flexible hose on the light it delivers, so we choose rigid tubing wherever the run is straight, and a short bungalow loft often allows exactly that.

Between the timbers

A narrow tube normally threads between neighbouring rafters and ceiling joists, which leaves the roof structure as it is. If a timber stands in the way and has to be cut, the job counts as structural work and is notifiable, and the written quote says so.

A roof window with a light well

When the hall is wide, or the loft is boarded for storage, a small roof window with a shaft down to the ceiling can serve better than a tube. Over a passage the two behave differently, and choosing between a tunnel and a window compares them.

Bedrooms in the roof

Some bungalows have a bedroom or two built into the roof. An escape route can be a roof window in such a room, since a bungalow roof room is low enough for the rule to allow it. Minimum opening sizes for such a window come from Approved Document B, and the one we propose is checked against them first.

Light for a closed-in bathroom

A bathroom with no outside wall gets no daylight from the hall. A second, smaller tunnel above it gives it its own daylight, and the fan and the light switch stay where they are. The diffuser is sealed to the ceiling, so steam from the bath does not climb into the tube.

How deep the tile sits

A concrete tile is deep and heavy, and it interlocks with its neighbours. The flashing kit has to rise to meet that depth, or rain can run behind the frame. A kit meant for slate is thinner and would leave gaps. Each maker lists kits for its own windows and for the common tile profiles, and we order the one that matches your roof.

Lifting and relaying

Tiles inside the opening come off by hand and are stacked. Those round the frame are lifted so the flashing can run beneath them, then laid back over it. A cracked one is replaced with a tile of the same profile where one can be found.

Battens and rafters

Under the tiles, the battens are cut back to the new frame and a short timber is fixed above and below it. The rafters set the width that will fit. A semi roof usually has rafters at regular spacing, and a window whose size code suits that spacing needs very little extra timber.

Choosing the sash

A sash that pivots at its middle swings clear of a bed or desk placed below it. One hinged along the top swings out and up, which leaves full headroom beside the sill. For a loft bedroom with a bed under the slope, the pivoting sash is the more common pick.

The membrane under the tiles

Beneath the battens there is normally an underlay, a membrane that catches any water that gets past the tiles. It is cut and dressed up to the frame, so the opening keeps the same protection the rest of the roof has.

Slate and tile each take their own kit, and the flashings for slate and tile are described in more detail.

Escape from a loft over two storeys

An escape window serves only storeys within 4.5m of the ground, measured to the floor of the room. A loft above the first floor of a two-storey house sits higher than that, so the stair itself has to be the route out. Approved Document B asks for a protected stair, with fire-resisting doors on the rooms that open on to it.

The detail belongs to the Building Regulations, and the rules for rooflight planning and Building Regulations give the wider picture.

What the roof window adds

The window gives the new room its daylight and a way to air it. Placed above the top flight, it also lights the stairwell below, which helps the landing that the new stair has crowded.

Planning in Featherstone

Wakefield Council handles planning applications for Featherstone. A window in the rear slope of a house usually sits within permitted development, and the conditions are in the guide above. A conversion that adds a dormer is a separate scheme, and the person who designs it takes that application forward.

Where our part begins

If your conversion is drawn already, we fit the rooflights shown. If it is still an idea, we can say which slope and which size suit the room. Either way, our fixed quote is written against the room to be lit, the unit picked and its dimensions, and we notify Building Control whenever the work calls for it.

Where the stair meets the new window

Before the window goes in, the top of the stair gets a look. If the new flight lands under the lowest part of the slope, the head of anyone climbing it has to clear the sloping ceiling, and a window higher up the slope can add headroom at that point. The window position and the stair are therefore fixed together, on paper, before any tile is lifted.

Finishing the room

The opening is lined with plasterboard and the reveal is left smooth, ready for you to paint. A sloping ceiling that runs up to the window lets the daylight spread across the plane and down into the room. Pale paint on that sloping plane helps the light to travel, and a white reveal does the same at the window itself.