Skylights and rooflights for brick terraces in Methley's older streets

Choosing between a rooflight and a lantern

Width and height decide it. A lantern needs a ceiling that can lose some height to a deeper opening, and a roof that has room around the opening for the upstand. A flat rooflight asks for less of both. Flat rooflight or roof lantern lays the two out together.

The covering under the kerb

An extension roof may be covered in felt, EPDM or GRP, and each one wants a different upstand and edge, so we identify the covering before a kerb is built. If the covering is tired, it can be renewed around the kerb in the same visit, which saves opening the roof twice.

Does the lantern need the council's say-so

A lantern stands a long way above the roof, well past the 150mm that permitted development allows for a roof alteration. Ask Leeds City Council, or look at the drawings approved for the extension, which may already show a lantern. A flat rooflight that stays low is treated differently, and the full conditions are in our planning rules guide.

Where on the roof the unit goes

The best position is usually above the stretch of the room the doors light least, which is often the middle of the cooking and worktop run. We mark it out from inside, then check it against the joists and any steel above the bi-fold or patio doors, because the opening cannot cross a structural member. A unit set too near the house wall can also collect shade from the old roof, so we weigh up the position against the height of the rear wall.

Glass for a kitchen

A kitchen gets warm and steamy, and a south-facing flat rooflight can add heat on a bright afternoon. A solar-control coating cuts that gain, while two panes with a gas fill and a warm-edge spacer hold winter heat in. Our energy efficient rooflights section compares the glazing.

When you have chosen, the written quote names the kitchen and gives the size of the unit, at a fixed price.

Getting the daylight down to the stair

Above the landing ceiling lies a gap of loft and insulation. The window opening has to be joined to a hole in the ceiling by a lined shaft, called a light well. A well that flares outwards towards the ceiling spreads light across more of the landing than a straight one. The guide to light wells and reveals explains the shapes.

Fitting it to concrete tile

Concrete tiles are heavier and thicker than slate, and a flashing kit is made for the tile profile. We use a kit that suits the tile on your roof, and lap it so the water runs onto the tiles below the frame. We take the tiles beside the opening off by hand and put them back after, and a broken one is replaced with the closest match.

Planning for a semi

An ordinary semi usually falls under permitted development for a roof window on a slope: the frame has to stay within 150mm of the roof plane and below the ridge. If you want to check, ask Leeds City Council, or read the whole list of conditions in our planning rules guide.

Which way the sash opens

A centre-pivot sash turns on a bar through its middle, which suits a spot with furniture below. A top-hung sash hinges along its top edge and swings out, leaving clear headroom. Over a landing, where people walk straight beneath the sash, headroom counts for more.

Reaching the box room too

Where the landing opens onto a small box room, a single window over the stairs lights both when the doors are left ajar. If the box room sits under its own slope, a second, smaller unit above the bed or desk is an option. Whether that is worth it depends on how the roof and the bedroom line up, and it is a question for the visit.

For the full account of sizes and codes, the VELUX sizes and codes guide shows how the letter and the digits in a code relate to the opening.

The short route works best

A bathroom directly under a flat or lean-to roof can take a tube that runs only a short way. Along the same run, rigid tubing passes on more daylight than corrugated tubing, so a straight line takes rigid tube and only a bend takes flexible.

When the bathroom sits under another room

If a bedroom sits above the bathroom, the tube must pass through that bedroom's floor or wall space, or the roof above has to line up with the room. That is a harder case, and a roof window or a rooflight elsewhere may serve better. The comparison of sun tunnels and roof windows weighs the choice.

Cutting a rafter or joist

The tube is narrow enough to sit between two neighbouring rafters, so no timber is cut. If a rafter or joist does need cutting, that is structural work and we notify it, and it changes the order of jobs on site.

What goes on the ceiling

The diffuser is a frosted disc that spreads the daylight across the bathroom, and it sits flush with the ceiling. Bathrooms already have an extractor fan and a light fitting, so we plan the position of the diffuser around them. Moisture is the other point: the tube is sealed at the diffuser so steam stays in the room.

The installation walk-through for sun tunnels follows the job from dome to diffuser, and the rigid and flexible tube routes page covers a bathroom that sits some way below the roof.