Yeadon skylights and rooflights for bungalow halls, semi landings and older stone houses

The short run between ceiling and roof

The gap from ceiling to roof slope is shallower in a bungalow, so a sun tunnel's tube stays brief and straight. A rigid tube is the better carrier of light on any given run. The dome goes on the slope, the diffuser goes into the hall ceiling, and the tube links them between the rafters. A timber that has to be cut on the way turns the job into structural work, which we notify. Both kinds of tube are compared in choosing a rigid or flexible tube.

Insulation and the dome

The tube runs through whatever insulation lies over the hall ceiling, so that layer is closed up round it and stays continuous. On the roof the dome sits on a flashing cut for the covering, whether that is concrete tile or slate, and the tube is sealed where it leaves the slope. The diffuser underneath is the only part of the job you see from the hall.

When the roof space holds a room

Some bungalows have a bedroom or study built into the roof. A roof window lights that room directly, and a bungalow's roof-space bedroom can use it as its way out too, as long as the opening meets the sizes set in Approved Document B. The light well that links the window to the ceiling is lined and plastered, and its depth follows the rafters and the insulation fitted between them.

The bathroom between the bedrooms

A bathroom wedged between two bedrooms has the same lack of outside wall as the hall. A small diffuser in its ceiling gives it daylight without a window, and the roof above is usually straightforward to reach. A roof window is bigger than a tunnel, so it is the choice for a hall wide enough to take one. Both are covered on our roof window page and our sun tunnel page.

Leeds City Council receives any planning application for Yeadon, and the rules for a rooflight on a house are summarised in the guide to planning rules for roof alterations.

Finding out what covers the roof

Older roofs here may carry slate or, on some buildings, stone slate, and later work may have mixed other tiles into the slope. Each covering takes its own flashing. A slate kit lies flat under the slates, a tile kit is built for a deeper profile, and stone slate is thicker and heavier, so the sound stones are lifted by hand and laid back round the frame. Any slate that breaks is matched to what is on the roof already.

Attic rooms in older houses

An old house with a bedroom in the roof often has a ceiling that slopes down to the floor and one small window at the gable. A roof window set into the slope puts daylight over the bed and the floor space, with the choice between centre-pivot and top-hung made on where the furniture sits. How the lining of the opening is formed is described on the roof window light well page.

The planning question on an older street

A house usually has permitted development rights for a rooflight on a roof slope. Three things can take that right away: an Article 4 direction on the street, a listing on the house, or the house being a flat. The planning and Building Regulations guide has the detail. Leeds City Council keeps the map of its conservation areas, which here include Yeadon's town centre, with its town hall and stone terraces, and Nether Yeadon, so check your street against it before you plan the roof. Where the street is protected, a conservation rooflight keeps the frame slim and low against the covering.

Fitting day and the room below

On fitting day the covering is lifted, the rafters are trimmed to frame the opening, the unit is flashed in, and the lining is plastered and finished indoors as quoted.

Thick stone walls also mean the roof is the easier side of the house to open up. The rooms below are cut as little as the opening needs, with sheets laid over the floor and the stair before any ceiling is touched.

A hipped end gives a short slope

The sloping end of a hipped roof is shorter than a main slope, so there is less room for a frame between the ridge and the eaves, and the rafters either side steer where the opening can go. On a roof like that, a narrow roof window is often the right size, and where it will not fit, a sun tunnel can be set lower on the slope. The guide to a roof window above a stairwell covers the layout in more detail.

Hinged at the head, or turning in the middle

Top-hung units hinge at the head, so the sash swings out and leaves headroom at the stair. Centre-pivot units rotate on a middle axis, which is better where a bed or desk stands beneath, so they belong in a bedroom more than over a stair.

Which side of the roof takes the window

Light for a landing can come off the front slope or the back one, so two slopes need weighing. The back slope is out of sight from the road, which keeps the planning side simpler on a street where the front of every house is part of the picture. The front slope is the one to consider where the rear of the house is shaded by an extension or a neighbour's gable.

Dust sheets and the stair

The stair is the only way up and down, so the treads are sheeted before any ceiling is cut and the hall is cleaned once the lining is finished. A stair with a turn at the top gives the roof opening a short drop to the landing, which keeps the plastered light well compact.

Glass for the current standard

A new roof window needs a U-value of 1.4 W/m²K or Window Energy Rating band B, and an older single-glazed unit on a semi is well short of it. Our energy efficient rooflights page explains the glazing choices.