Skylights and rooflights for village homes and terraces in Skelmanthorpe

Position on the slope

The window is set high enough to clear the floor below and low enough that you can stand next to it. We mark the position with the bed, desk or wardrobe in mind, and check the rafters in the loft against it, because a chimney breast or a purlin may sit in the line.

Why an escape window does not solve a two-storey loft

Escape windows serve rooms within a limited height of the ground. Adding a loft room to a house of two storeys brings in the need for a protected stair, which keeps the route clear of fire, so the roof window is there for light and air only. Approved Document B sets the requirements, and the person drawing the conversion works to it.

Lighting the stair as well

A loft stair often stands in a closed shaft. A second roof window above the shaft, or a small one over the landing, sends light down it from above. The stair then stops being a dim passage to the room at the top.

Before work begins our fixed written quote sets down the room, the model and the opening size, and we notify Building Control since the cut alters the way the rafters carry the roof.

Choosing a flashing for the slope

Houses around the village carry slate, stone slate or concrete tile, depending on their age. A flashing is chosen for the one on your roof. A flashing for the wrong covering leaves gaps along the sides, so the covering is checked from the loft side as well as outside.

After the unit is in

The sloping ceiling is lined back to the frame, and a short light well forms the reveal. It is plastered and left ready for paint. Insulation packs round the frame so the new opening does not let warm air reach the glass.

Three coverings, three details

Felt is laid in layers and bonded or torched on, and at the upstand it is turned up in a staggered layout so the seams do not line up. A rubber membrane is one large sheet, bonded to the deck and folded up the upstand with a formed corner. Fibreglass is laid wet and cures into a single skin that runs up the upstand without joints. Each one gets its own treatment at the corners and at the top edge, so the rooflight and the covering are matched.

Rainwater running off the glass

A rooflight sheds rain onto the roof around it, so the covering below the glass takes a little more water than before. We check where that water runs to, and whether the outlet or gutter at the edge has room for it.

Falls and standing water

A flat roof is laid with a gentle fall toward the gutter. Water that stands at the foot of an upstand leaves a tide mark and, over time, tests the seal. We look at where the water runs and set the rooflight so it does not sit in the lowest spot.

Replacing a small old rooflight with a bigger one

A bigger opening means more framing in the deck. The joists are trimmed round it, and the upstand is built new. The work alters the roof's structure, and we handle the Building Control notification. Our skylight planning guide sets out when permission comes into it.

Glass choices in a small room

A garage conversion or a utility room has a small floor and a large pane above it, so the glazing counts. Two or three panes with a gas fill between them hold in warmth. A solar-control coating lowers the heat gain from the afternoon, which suits a rooflight facing west.

Walk-on versions

A flat roof over a basement room or a terrace can carry a glass panel that people may stand on. That is a separate product, laminated and toughened, and its maker rates it for walking on.

What opens, and how

A roof window opens by hand with a bar, or by a pole when it is high. An electric rooflight works from a switch by the door or a pocket remote, and some include a sensor that shuts the sash when the first drops land. A rooflight in the roof over a stairwell can pull warm air up and out of the house, which is useful in summer.

The cost of reaching it

A hand-operated window above a tall stair is awkward to open without a pole. An electric motor replaces the pole, and a switch on the landing does the work. The cable runs through the roof space from the nearest supply to the motor.

Light and fresh air from one place

A bathroom with no window and a loft above it can take an opening rooflight in the slope, with a short light well to the ceiling. Steam leaves through the roof and daylight comes in the same way. The approach asks for a clear run, so we look in the loft first.

Rain and wind

On an exposed village roof the weathering counts. An opening unit has gaskets round the sash, and a rain sensor, where the model has one, closes it. Whether you choose manual or electric, the frame is flashed to suit the slate or tile around it.

Switches and remotes

A wall switch is the simplest control, and a handheld remote is handy when the rooflight sits above a stair. Either way the motor has a limit on its travel, so the sash stops at fully open and fully shut without anyone watching it.

Roof access

A separate product, an access hatch, gives you a way onto a flat roof for maintenance. It opens like a rooflight but is built to take the weight of someone climbing through, so it is a different job from a rooflight.

Where a ceiling is too high or the loft is too shallow to pass a tube down, we look at the other options for the room before settling on one.