Skylights and rooflights for brick and pantile houses in Snaith, from landing to converted outbuilding

Why the flashing is different

On a flat slate or tile, the flashing lies down and the next course covers it. On a pantile roof the troughs let water run down in channels, and the gaps beside the frame have to be filled so that those channels meet the frame cleanly. Roof-window makers supply flashing kits designed for profiled tiles, with soft apron pieces that mould to the curve. The kit and the frame come as a pair, and we pick the right one by looking at the tiles.

Cutting and relaying

Pantiles are lifted around the opening and set aside. The ones that need cutting to meet the frame are cut cleanly, and spare tiles from elsewhere on the roof can make up any shortfall. Matching old clay is not always easy, as the colour weathers over the years. Moving a tile from the back of the roof to the front can leave a visible difference, so we ask where matching spares can come from.

Colour and age

Clay pantiles weather from a bright orange-red to a deeper, mottled brown. New tiles cut for the frame look different from the old ones around them for a while, but the contrast fades. A dark frame draws the eye less than a pale one on an old roof, and the survey is a good moment to choose the finish.

Sizes and positions

A roof window is sized to fit between rafters, and the pantile courses decide where its edges meet the tiles. That is one reason we look at the roof before settling the unit's size.

The room under the tiles

What lies under the tiles varies from house to house: battens alone on some older roofs, a felt layer or boarding on others. We look at that layer, because it affects how the frame is sealed and how the light well is lined.

Once the frame is in, the reveal inside is plastered and finished to the standard in the quote.

What to find out first

• Listing. A listed building needs consent for a new rooflight on any slope.
• Designation of the street, including any Article 4 direction that removes the usual rights.
• Use of the building. A flat sits outside the permitted rights for roof work, and the council is the one to ask.

The kind of unit that fits an old roof

On a traditional roof, a conservation rooflight is the sensible choice: a slim frame, usually black, set low and often with a central bar. Against clay pantiles a dark frame blends well, and the glass sits close to the tile line. A rear slope hidden from the street makes the conversation with the council easier.

Streets near the priory church

Whether a street near the priory church sits inside a conservation area is something East Riding of Yorkshire Council can confirm, and we ask it first. Units that sit low and are finished in dark tones read as part of the roof. A rear slope facing a back garden is usually less conspicuous for a rooflight than a slope facing the churchyard.

Older houses and their roofs

An old house may have been re-roofed in parts over the years. Timbers may be irregular, and the tiles may differ from one slope to the next. On the survey we go into the loft to see where the rafters run and how sound they are, and a position is picked from there. A loft visit tells us whether an old rafter can take a new frame or needs a new trimmer alongside it.

Where an application is required, it comes before any order, and it describes the same unit that the quote names.

What the roof is made of

Outbuilding roofs vary widely. Pantiles or slate on a pitch suit a roof window, with a sun tunnel as the choice for a small room. A lean-to or flat roof in felt, rubber or fibreglass takes a flat rooflight set on a kerb. Corrugated sheet is a third case, where the frame has to follow the wave. We look at the roof before we say what suits.

Weight and frames

Old outbuilding roofs were built to carry the covering and little more. The timbers may be thinner than in a house, and the opening has to be framed with this in mind. We check what is there and where the load goes round the opening. A rooflight does not weigh a great deal, but a framed opening needs sound timber.

Light across the whole floor

A single rooflight above the middle of a square room lights every corner, while a window in one wall serves only the side it sits in. For a long narrow building, two smaller units spaced along the ridge or the flat can even out the light better than one large one. We stand in the room and work out how far the light needs to travel.

Holding the heat in

A converted room has to keep its heat. A glazed unit that meets today's limit, 2.2 W/m²K for a rooflight, keeps heat in far better than a plain sheet. With the kerb insulated, the roof stays tight round the opening.

Planning and use

Permitted development covers houses and the buildings that serve them in particular ways, so we establish how the building is used. A converted outbuilding that is now a separate dwelling follows different rules from one used as part of a house, and East Riding of Yorkshire Council can say which applies.