Electric and opening rooflight installation in Birmingham

An opening skylight is a rooflight with a hinged or sliding sash, so the glass lifts clear of the frame and the room can breathe through the roof. Warm air collects under the ceiling, and a vent at the top lets it leave while cooler air comes in lower down at a window or door.

Some are made only for ventilation. Others are made for access, with a sash big enough to climb through to a flat roof. Whichever you need, the sash can be turned by hand or driven by a motor.

Which one suits you depends on the room below, the height of the ceiling and whether anyone needs to reach the roof.

How the three differ in daily use

A manual rooflight is the one you can understand at a glance: you turn a handle or lift it with a pole, and it stays where you leave it. There is nothing to wire and nothing to run flat.

A mains unit opens at the press of a switch, so it suits a roof high above a stair, a double-height kitchen or a bathroom where wet hands and a pole do not mix. A solar unit does the same job with a small panel in the frame feeding a battery, which makes it a strong candidate in an existing room with a finished ceiling.

A wall switch is the most familiar option and the easiest to explain to a visitor. It sits at the door or by the stair and does one job. A handheld remote avoids chasing a cable into a finished wall, which matters in a room that has just been decorated.

A smart home link adds scheduling, so a rooflight can open at the warmest part of the afternoon and close at night. Control kits differ by maker, and not every unit pairs with every hub, so we confirm the pairing in writing before you order.

Power cuts, plainly

A mains rooflight without a back-up battery stays where it was when the power drops. If it was open, you close it by hand where the maker supplies a manual release. Our answer on an electric rooflight in a power cut explains the release for each type, so you can choose a unit with the behaviour you want.

Safety around a motor

Many electric openers are designed to stop when they meet resistance, so a hand or a branch in the gap is not trapped. We check whether the maker's data sheet states it for each unit on the quote. We also look at where a person might stand under the sash when it closes, which matters most over a stair or a bath.

Wind is the other thing a roof sees. An open sash catches the breeze, so makers limit how far a vent opens on some models and build the hinge and the actuator to hold it. On a roof that sits high and exposed, we check the maker's guidance on wind before suggesting a large sash, and a wind sensor is available as a control option on some systems.

Planning the cable before the ceiling is finished

The easiest moment to run a cable to a rooflight is while the ceiling is open. A new extension or a re-roof gives us a clear view of the joists, so the cable can be threaded to the opening and left ready. In a finished room, the route is harder, and a solar unit or a remote-controlled one can save a lot of disruption.

Our guide to wiring an electric rooflight goes through the power supply, the switch or remote and the sensor, and what to agree before the plasterer comes. At the survey we mark the route and note any joists, pipes or insulation in the way.

The final connection to your supply is made by a qualified electrician, and we agree at the survey who arranges it, so nothing is left to chance on the day.

Frame material and the opener

The frame carries the hinge and the motor, so strength matters. Aluminium sashes are rigid enough for wide panes and stay true over many openings. uPVC costs less and suits smaller vents, where its lower stiffness matters less.

Colour is worth settling early. A grey outside face matches modern windows, and a white inside face reads as a lighter edge against the ceiling. Makers often offer both on one frame.

Sizing for the room and the sash

An opening rooflight is sized from the room first, then from the opener. A very wide sash needs a longer or twin actuator, and there are limits on how heavy a glass sash a motor will lift. We take the room dimensions, the kerb size and the weight of the glazed sash into account when we compare units, and the maker's stated range goes on the quote.

Ceiling height matters too. The higher the ceiling, the more you gain from a motor and the less you can reach by hand.

Where several rooflights share a long roof, the question becomes whether they open together. Two or three units on one control can ventilate a large kitchen extension evenly, while a single large unit is simpler to wire and has fewer moving parts. Both arrangements go on the quote when the room could take either, with the controls priced for each.

Permission and Building Regulations

Many rooflights on a house are covered by permitted development, with the applicable conditions listed in our rooflight planning guide. An opening unit on a listed building, a roof under a planning condition or a property caught by an Article 4 direction may be treated differently, so we look into the address first, and the final word belongs to the council.

Changing the whole rooflight, glass and frame, is work on a controlled fitting, so it has to be notified, whereas a new opening cut into a roof is building work that falls under the Building Regulations. Notifying Building Control falls to us whenever the job requires it.

What drives the price

The price of an electric rooflight comes from the unit, the motor and controls, any rain sensor, the wiring and the roof work around it. Our answer on what an electric rooflight costs explains each part in turn.

Manual units usually cost less than electric ones, and a solar unit usually costs more to buy than a mains one. The wiring is where a finished ceiling can add to a mains quote.