Ossett skylights and rooflights for halls, box rooms and attic bedrooms
11.4 road miles south of Leeds city centre
Skylight installation in Ossett means finding the room the street windows never reach and opening the roof above it, whether that is a semi's hall or an attic under slate.
The rooms an Ossett house tucks away from its windows
Terraces here are narrow and semis are deep, and each leaves a few rooms with nothing but doors facing the rest of the house.
Interwar hallBetween two rooms, the hall has no glass but the panel in the front door.
Room over the stairThe small room above the stairs in a terrace gets what a narrow side window passes.
Gable-lit atticAn attic under the slates may rely on one gable window, with nothing on the long walls.
Which roof unit suits which Ossett house
Each unit below is picked for the room it lights, then checked against the covering and the pitch on that house.
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Sun Tunnels
A tube down through the loft gives a windowless semi hall its own daylight without opening up the whole ceiling.
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Roof Windows
An attic bedroom or a room over the stair takes a roof window sized to the gap between rafters.
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VELUX Windows
VELUX and other makes are ordered on a size code taken from the opening, so a replacement lands in the old gap.
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Flat Roof Rooflights
A flat rooflight set in the roof of a back kitchen or porch lights the room beneath it.
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Conservation Rooflights
A slim, low-profile frame suits a street where the roof is expected to keep its original look.
Ossett questions on windowless halls and flat kitchen roofs
Each question comes from a room found in Ossett houses, followed from the ceiling up through the roof.
How do you bring daylight into the hall of an Ossett semi?
A hall is the room in an Ossett semi that people notice least and grumble about most. It runs from the front door to the foot of the stairs, with the lounge on one side and the dining room on the other, and the only glass is whatever sits in the front door. On a grey afternoon the ceiling light has to be switched on, and the landing above is no better. This is where skylight installation in Ossett often starts.
The hall ceiling is usually just below the loft floor, which puts the roof a short run away. A sun tunnel is built for exactly that gap: a sealed dome set into the slope, a mirrored tube, and a flat diffuser in the plaster.
Reading the space above a hall
Before a route is chosen, we look at what lives in the loft over the hall. A cold water tank, a chimney breast, a run of cable or a boarded storage area can each sit in the way. The tube follows the clearest line between the dome and the ceiling, and a short angled section is used where it must step around something.
Cut rafters and trussed roofs
Semis built between the wars usually have rafters laid one by one with timber purlins across them, while newer houses have factory trusses with diagonal braces. Rafters leave generous gaps for a tube. Trusses are closer to a lattice, so the route has to thread between the braces. A new opening that alters the roof structure is structural work, and it is dealt with as such.
The finish in the hall
The diffuser is a flat disc flush with the ceiling, so nothing hangs down into a narrow hall. We tidy the plaster around it and leave the paint ready for you. The floor is covered from the front door to the foot of the stair before we begin.
The landing as well
Where the stair and landing sit under the same stretch of roof, a roof window over the stairwell can serve both. Our roof window page goes through when a window is the better answer than a tube.
- Myth: A hall with no window has to rely on a bulb.
- Fact: A tube from the roof carries daylight into the hall for as long as the dome has any, with no switch involved.
- Myth: A tube from the roof means opening up the whole ceiling.
- Fact: Only the small disc of ceiling under the diffuser is cut, and the tube runs through the loft above it.
Can the small room over the stairs in an Ossett terrace take a roof window?
The room over the stairs is often the smallest bedroom in a terrace. A single bed fits, or a desk, or a cot. It has one narrow window at best, and it goes grey before the rest of the house does.
Where the room sits under the roof slope, a roof window solves the problem from above and takes up no floor space at all.
Choosing the way the sash moves
A sash that pivots near its midpoint tips so that the lower half comes into the room, which suits a bed or desk set beneath the glass because you can reach the outside pane from where you stand. A sash hinged along the top swings outward and away, and leaves the headroom clear. The slope and the ceiling height point towards one or the other, and the choice is explained before you commit to it.
Fitting the gap
A roof window is made to a size code, and the opening is cut to match. In a terrace the rafters over this room are spaced to the original build, so a unit is chosen to sit between two of them where it can. Where it cannot, the framing round the opening carries the load of any timber that is cut, and the job becomes structural.
Slate and the pitch
Older terrace roofs are often slate, and slate is thin, so a flashing kit cut for a flat profile is used. A shallow pitch limits which windows suit, and a steeper one gives more headroom under the glass.
On fitting day
We strip the slates from the marked area, frame and flash the opening, glaze it and plaster the reveal inside. We also send the Building Control notification. The room is emptied beforehand, so the bed and any shelves are out of the way before the ceiling is touched, and the stair carpet is covered for the length of the flight.
Words for a roof window in a small room
- Pivot sash
- A sash that swings on pins at its middle, so the lower half moves into the room.
- Top-hung sash
- A sash hinged along its upper edge that opens outward and leaves clear headroom.
- Size code
- The maker's reference for a unit, where the letter stands for width and the digits for height.
- Purlin
- A horizontal timber running across the rafters to carry them partway up the slope.
Our Ossett back kitchen has a flat roof. What are the options for a rooflight over it?
Some Ossett houses have a flat-roofed addition at the back: a kitchen, a utility room or a porch built out from the original wall. Its single window looks onto the yard, and the middle of the floor gets little else. A flat rooflight changes that, because it sits in the very roof overhead.
Two broad choices exist. A low rooflight on a kerb gives a flat pane of glass, and a roof lantern gives a taller pitched structure. A shallow addition suits the first, and a wide kitchen can carry the second. Our flat roof rooflights page compares them in detail.
What is on top of the roof
Flat roofs are usually finished in one of three skins: layered felt, a single sheet of EPDM rubber, or GRP fibreglass laid as a liquid. Each asks for a different upstand and edge detail. A rooflight cannot be set on a kerb until that edge is formed in the same material, so the skin is identified before a unit is chosen.
Permission for a flat rooflight
A low rooflight that stays within the roof's allowance is often permitted development, while a lantern, which rises well above it, may not be. Ask Wakefield Council whether a particular unit needs an application. The conditions are in our planning guide.
Getting up to the roof
A single-storey addition is reached from the garden with a ladder and edge protection, and the unit and kerb are lifted up by hand. The yard is cleared first, and the old rooflight, if there is one, comes down in a controlled way instead of dropping into the room below. Neighbouring windows and gutters are kept clear of the work.
Opening in the old ceiling
Flat roofs are framed with joists rather than rafters. We find which way they run, and an opening is cut between two. Where a joist is lost, a pair of timbers takes the load and a new kerb sits on top.
Glass choice
A kitchen below a flat rooflight can warm up fast in the afternoon. A solar-control coating on the outer pane reduces the heat that enters, and a vented model lets the warm air out. The winter side matters too, so the coating is chosen to leave the room with its daylight.
Flat roof skins and what happens at the kerb
| Roof skin | How the kerb is dressed | Point to check |
|---|---|---|
| Felt | Layers are turned up the kerb sides | Age of the felt |
| EPDM rubber | One sheet is wrapped up and bonded | Where the sheet is lapped |
| GRP fibreglass | The upstand is laminated in place | Cracks near the edge |
Around Ossett, from Horbury to Batley
Alongside Ossett we work in Horbury, Dewsbury, Crigglestone, Wakefield, East Ardsley and Batley. Our workmanship guarantee runs for ten years on every job, and WhatsApp on 07880 284133 reaches us directly.
Ossett points about slates and conservation streets
Can I add a rooflight if my Ossett street is in a conservation area?
A conservation area can carry an Article 4 direction that removes permitted development rights, so the first step is to ask Wakefield Council what applies to your street. A slim conservation rooflight, usually black and set low to the roof line, is the type officers often ask for on slate.
Does a rooflight in an Ossett attic let the heat out in winter?
A current unit loses far less through the glass than an old single pane, because it is double or triple glazed, fitted with warm-edge spacers and a coating on the inner glass. How much escapes depends on the unit's U-value, and a low figure means less heat reaching the roof.
What happens if the slates around the new opening are brittle?
Old slate can crack as it is lifted, so we take it off by hand and keep the sound pieces to relay round the frame. Where one breaks, we match the replacement to the slates already on the roof as closely as we can.
Can one Ossett house take both a tunnel and a roof window?
The two can share a roof, each serving a different room, and the layout governs how they sit. One might light the hall while a roof window lights the attic bedroom above it, with the two openings kept apart so the framing of one does not crowd the other.
Will a rooflight in my kitchen roof leave a stain on the ceiling below?
A correctly flashed unit sheds water off the kerb and on to the roof, so the ceiling stays clean. A stain would point to a failed seal, a split in the roof skin or condensation, and each of those has its own remedy. The plaster reveal inside is formed with a drip-free edge and painted to match.
Get a free survey
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- We survey before we price
- WhatsApp or phone, whichever suits
We arrange a survey, then send a fixed written quote. Nothing is booked until you say yes.