Skylight and rooflight installation for homes old and new in Menston

If the building is listed

Anyone adding a rooflight to a listed building needs listed building consent first, and permitted development makes no difference. The former hospital's main building is Grade II listed, and we ask the council about your address before a unit is chosen. A slim, black-framed conservation rooflight is the type that sits closest to an old slate roof.

Which room, which unit

• A roof window cut into the slope over a bedroom or sitting room in the roof space.
• A sun tunnel for a hall or bathroom directly under the slope, with a tube that drops without a bend.

Rooms with a home above them

A flat on a lower floor has other flats above it, and a tube cannot pass through someone else's home. Then the question is whether roof daylight can get to that room by any route. We work that out on the visit, and where daylight cannot reach the room you hear it before an order is placed.

Fresh air as well as light

A converted flat with a bathroom or hall far from any window can also feel close and stuffy. A roof window that opens lets air in as well as light, and a top-hung one gives clear headroom at the opening where the ceiling slopes steeply. A sun tunnel carries daylight only, so it suits a room that has its own extractor.

Talking to the other owners

A rooflight that is seen from the grounds or from a neighbouring window is a matter for the building as a whole. Raising it with the other owners early saves time, and the written quote gives them one definite unit and one definite size to look at.

How a sun tunnel reaches the landing

A sun tunnel has three parts: a small dome outside, a reflective tube and a diffuser set into the ceiling. Over a long drop from slope to landing ceiling a rigid tube works best, since it carries more light than a flexible one. Two rafters usually leave room for a tube to slip between them. A rafter or joist that has to be cut turns the job into structural work, with timbers trimmed round the opening.

How a roof window reaches it

A roof window needs a light well, a lined shaft that takes the daylight from the glass down to the ceiling over the stair. The well uses up floor space in the loft, so a boarded or full loft changes the answer. If the loft is already a bedroom, the window lights that room directly and the stair gets light through an opening or a glazed panel. The roof window installation page sets the options out.

Hipped slopes over a landing

Semis often have hipped roofs, with a slope that falls away at each end. Over a landing the slope can be short, which leaves room for a tube or a small window but not a large one. We measure it on the visit and set the unit between the rafters you have.

A loft that is full

Boxes and old suitcases on a loft floor are a normal sight over a landing. A tube or a light well takes only a narrow strip of floor, and we ask for that strip to be cleared on the day. Anything stored round it can be put back when the work is finished.

Dome and diffuser

The outside dome and the ceiling diffuser are the two visible parts, and the diffuser can be a plain white disc or a frosted panel. The landing ceiling is cut and finished round it so the edge looks like the rest of the ceiling.

Measuring from the kerb

The new rooflight sits on the kerb, the raised upstand that the old unit was fixed to. We measure the kerb itself and not the old frame, because the old frame may have been trimmed or packed to fit. The maker's number then determines which size of unit goes on the kerb.

What the new glass has to do

For a new rooflight in an existing home, Part L sets a U-value limit of 2.2 W/m²K, and a lower figure loses less heat. An old single-glazed unit falls well short. A gas fill between the panes, along with double or triple glazing and warm-edge spacers, helps a new unit meet the limit.

The roof covering round it

On a felt, EPDM rubber or GRP fibreglass roof, the covering climbs the side of the kerb and is sealed against it. If the old covering is worn at the upstand, the cure is to renew it round the kerb, so water cannot get under the new unit from the edge.

Choosing the same size or a larger one

A like-for-like swap leaves the opening as it was. A larger unit means cutting the opening wider, which alters the roof structure and brings back the planning questions that a swap avoids. On a house the same rule applies to a replacement: it is usually permitted development when it stands no more than 150mm proud of the roof plane, and the full list of conditions is on the skylight planning and Building Regulations page.

The paperwork for a replacement

A swap of this kind is notifiable work. Our written quote names the room served, the unit chosen and its dimensions. We make the Building Control notification for this swap.

Inside the room

The reveal is the plastered lining between the ceiling and the frame. Where years of damp have marked or flaked it, the plaster is renewed to the agreed standard, and the floor below is sheeted before the old unit comes out.