Skylight and rooflight installation for the market-town houses of Wetherby

Front slope and back slope

A deep town house has a roof that shows to the street on one side and to the garden on the other. The back slope cannot be seen from the pavement, so it is the first slope we consider for a stair or landing, as long as the room below can be lit from there. A front slope is possible, but it calls for the closest attention to the unit chosen.

The unit that sits low

A conservation rooflight is slim-framed, usually in black, with a single glazing bar down the centre in many designs. It hugs the slope and so looks like part of the roof. Our conservation rooflights page covers the range.

Listed town houses

Wetherby has listed buildings among its older houses. On a listed town house, a new rooflight depends on listed building consent however permitted development reads, and even a straight replacement in the same opening should be checked.

What an application would name

If an application is needed for a house in the conservation area, it names the unit and where it sits on the roof. The council is then asked about one definite rooflight, with its size and frame colour, instead of a general idea of where light might go.

An old unit coming out

Putting a new unit in the old opening affects the roof less than cutting afresh does, and a replacement that looks unchanged from the street raises fewer queries. The house is reviewed first, as a listed one can need consent even here.

Light for the stair

Where the stair of a town house climbs through the middle, the choice is between a roof window over the stairwell and a sun tunnel to the landing. A roof window needs a light well down to the ceiling, and a tube needs only a narrow run between the rafters, so the loft above the stair settles which one fits.

Old roofs and new frames

Whatever covering the roof carries, the frame needs a flashing made for it. On slate, we lift the slates by hand around the opening and lay the sound ones back. On tile, the flashing takes the deeper profile, and the tiles above are trimmed to overlap its head.

Planning for a commercial building

The permitted development rule for rooflights is written for houses. A shop, an office or a cafe is not a house, so the council is asked whether a new rooflight needs an application. Leeds City Council is the authority for planning in Wetherby, and the planning and Building Regulations page shows where the line falls between a house and other buildings.

Flat roofs behind the shop

The rear of a town-centre building is often a flat roof over a single-storey back room. Either a flat roof rooflight or a roof lantern suits it, and the covering, felt, EPDM rubber or GRP fibreglass, is sealed into the kerb. Our flat roof rooflights page covers those units.

Daylight for people at work

A rooflight lights a room evenly from above, so a desk, a bench or a till can stand anywhere on the floor instead of beside a wall. Where a room has no window to open, an electric opening rooflight that runs from a switch or remote adds ventilation as well as light.

Getting up to the roof

A building in the middle of town does not always have a side lane or a garden to bring a unit through. We look at how the frame will reach the roof when we measure, and we plan the access round the building, with the loading and the street kept in mind.

The paperwork

For the commercial job, the written quote states the unit and its size along with the room it lights, and wherever it applies we notify Building Control. Cutting the roof means altering its structure, so that notification is part of the work.

Whose roof it is

The roof covers the whole building, so the lease says who must agree to any work on it. That is usually a freeholder or a management company, and the written quote gives them one named unit and one size to consider.

Which room, which unit

• A roof window over a bedroom or living room under the slope.
• A sun tunnel for a bathroom or hall that sits directly below the roof.

A room with a flat over it

Because a tube needs a straight run from roof to ceiling, it cannot be threaded through another household's flat. A room with a home above it needs a different route, if the daylight can reach it at all.

A bedroom under the slope

The bedroom of a top-floor flat often sits right under the roof with a small window at one end. A roof window in the slope lights the far end of it, and a centre-pivot model suits a room where a bed sits beneath the glass. Our VELUX window installation page covers the makes we fit.

A flat roof over the shop

Some of these buildings have a flat roof at the back, over a single-storey part. A rooflight in it lights the room below, and the covering is weathered into the kerb as it is on any flat roof.