Hoyland skylights and rooflights for chalet bungalows and converted garages

Why a bungalow loft qualifies

Escape windows are meant for rooms close to the ground. The floor of a bungalow's roof room lies within 4.5m of it, so a roof window is allowed to serve. A two-storey house has its loft higher up, and there a protected stair takes over.

What Approved Document B asks

The document gives the smallest clear opening and the highest sill allowed for an escape window. Your room is measured against both, with the bed and the wardrobe marked where they will stand. We take the figures from the document itself each time.

Choosing the hinge

A top-hung window hinges near the head and swings its bottom edge out and up, which gives clear headroom at the opening. Pivot hinges sit halfway up the sash instead, so the bottom edge swings out as the top swings in, and the gap is shaped by that movement. Either can be right, and the model is checked against the escape size before it is ordered. Roof window installation compares the two types.

Where the sill lands

On a short slope, a window big enough to climb through can end up with its lower edge too high or its top touching the ridge. We draw the section of the roof, with the floor and the slope marked, before a size is chosen.

The council side

Hoyland falls under Barnsley Council for planning, and a rooflight on the rear slope of a bungalow normally sits within permitted development; the full rules on planning and Building Regulations list the conditions. We notify Building Control whenever the job calls for it.

The stair up to the room

The stair to a chalet bedroom is often boxed in between walls, and it stays gloomy while the room above is bright. A door at the head of the stair that stays open, or one with a glazed panel, lets some of the new daylight run down the flight to the hall.

Sleeping under the glass

A bed beneath a sloping window gets the afternoon sun, and a roof under tiles holds the heat. A blind made for roof windows and a sash that opens give the room some control, and both are worth settling at the same time as the escape size.

Finding the size

A label on the sash edge or the frame carries a two-part code. In the code the letter at the front names the width and the digits after it name the height, so the new window is picked from the same pair. The guide to VELUX window sizes and codes shows how to read them.

Out with the old

The sash is lifted off, the frame is unscrewed and the tiles or slates beside it are set aside for relaying. The timber round the opening is prodded for softness, since a window that let water in for a while can leave rot behind it. Any soft timber is cut out and renewed first.

A fresh flashing every time

The flashing goes in new with the window. A kit made for the tile or slate on your roof restores the water path, and the covering is laid back over it.

Figures for the new glass

Under Part L a replacement roof window must reach a U-value of 1.4 W/m²K or Window Energy Rating band B. Old single glazing is far from both figures, so the bedroom stops losing heat through the glass at the rate it did.

Condensation after the swap

New glazing keeps the inside face of the glass warmer, which cuts the water that forms on it in winter. Some moisture still collects on a cold morning if the room is shut up, and the guide on why condensation forms on rooflights explains what helps.

Bigger or different

A new window can match the old one or change. A larger window cuts into the rafters, and cut rafters mean new framing round the opening. A change from pivot to top-hung alters how the sash moves, and the guide to replacing a roof window with the same model lists what stays unchanged.

How the work runs

The old window comes out, the new frame goes in with its flashing, the lining is checked and finished.

A deep room and one window

The side walls of a garage may be shared with the house or sit on a boundary, so there can be nowhere to put another window. The roof is the one surface left free. A flat rooflight over the middle of the room gives it a second source of daylight.

Where the rooflight goes

The best spot is the middle of the room, away from the door end. The joists run one way across the roof, and the opening is framed between two of them with a trimmer at each end. We look at the direction of the joists from inside before choosing the position.

The roof and the conversion

A conversion has its own requirements under the Building Regulations for insulation and the floor, and the rooflight is planned to suit them. If the roof is being re-insulated, the upstand has to be tall enough to clear the thicker build-up, which is easier to set before the new covering goes on.

Fixed or opening

A fixed rooflight gives light and no more. An opening one also gives the room air, and in a converted garage with no window on its long side that is welcome. The steps are set out in the work involved in a rooflight for a flat roof that already exists.

Summer heat in the room

A flat roof takes the sun for most of the day, and a garage conversion has little else to shade it. Glazing with a solar-control coat cuts the heat that comes through, and an opening unit gives the evening's warm air a way out of the room. Both choices are easier to settle at the start than to add later.

Is the roof strong enough

A garage roof is lighter than a house roof, so the framing round the opening is made up to carry the rooflight and the load from the roof around it. That is worked out before the opening is cut, and the joists are checked for condition at the same time.