Bromsgrove homes with new skylights and rooflights
Aston Fields terraces to Lickey End semis.
Lofts take roof windows, kitchen extensions take lanterns, tighter roofs take flat rooflights, and a single written quote lines every option up together for you. Free survey.
- Distance
- About 16 road miles south-west of central Birmingham
- Planning
- Bromsgrove District Council
- Housing
- Victorian and Edwardian terraces close to the centre, with interwar and post-war estates around them and newer cul-de-sacs on the outskirts
- Roofs
- Clay and concrete tile pitches, plus flat-roofed kitchen and garage extensions at the back
Three Bromsgrove roofs, three different rooflight questions
A tiled terrace near Aston Fields with a spare loft?
A roof window fitted between the rafters, with the size settled after we have seen the rafter spacing.
A post-war semi in Sidemoor where the kitchen at the back sits under a flat roof?
A lantern or a flat rooflight, priced together so you can compare height against cost.
A detached house at Lickey End with a long rear roof?
Several roof windows in a row, or one large unit, depending on how the room beneath is used.
Which unit suits which roof
- Lantern
- Roof window
- Flat rooflight
Rooflight work on a Bromsgrove house usually falls into two kinds. A flat-roofed kitchen or garden room wants light from above, and a loft wants light through the slope. Those are different products with different strengths.
Your written quote sets the suitable ones beside one another and spells out the glass, the frame and the opening type of each before leaving the decision with you.
Roof lantern
- Sits in
- A flat roof opening
- Light
- From above and the sides
- Ceiling
- Gives extra height
Roof window
- Sits in
- A pitched roof slope
- Light
- Angled, one direction
- Ceiling
- Follows the rafters
Flat roofs behind the semis
Around Sidemoor and Charford you will find houses with a pitched main roof and a garage or kitchen added later under a flat one. That flat section is usually the best place for a rooflight, because the room below is often the darkest in the house, with a window on one side only.
Before we suggest a lantern we look at what the flat roof is made of and how old it is. When a felt roof is close to worn out, it is better re-covered in the same visit as the rooflight, because the kerb and the covering have to meet properly. A newer single-ply or GRP roof can usually take a rooflight without being lifted.
A lantern needs enough ceiling height and enough room beneath it to look right. In a narrow galley kitchen a long flat rooflight can light the whole run of worktop evenly, where a single lantern would light only the middle. We size each option to the room you have and show them on the quote together.
Put to us at the survey
Can the old plastic dome on my garage roof be replaced with something better?
Yes, and the opening is often reusable. The kerb and the roof covering get checked first, and then we quote either a small glass lantern or a flat rooflight, with the Building Control notification handled for you.
Glass, side by side
| Item | Standard double | Solar control | Self-cleaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Rooms with a mixed aspect | South-facing extensions | Hard-to-reach roofs |
| Heat in summer | Moderate | Reduced | Moderate |
| Upkeep | Wash as usual | Wash as usual | Rain carries dust off |
| Cost | Lowest of the three | Middle | Middle |
A rooflight over a south-facing kitchen collects more sun than a north-facing one, so the glass is the first thing we revisit. Our page on solar control rooflight glass explains the coating, and the one on self-cleaning skylight glass covers the other.
Part L 2021 sets the thermal limits for an existing home: a rooflight is limited to 2.2 W/m²K. A roof window is held to either 1.4 W/m²K or else Window Energy Rating Band B, whichever unit you pick for your Bromsgrove roof.
- Roof covering identified before sizing
- Kerb or flashing matched to the roof
- Glass and opening compared on one quote
Newer estates, tighter plots
On the newer estates at the edges of Bromsgrove the rear gardens are often short and the extensions modest. A small conservatory-style roof or a single-storey kitchen bump-out leaves little room for a large lantern, and a neighbour's fence may sit close to the wall.
Here a pair of compact flat rooflights, or one wide rectangular unit, can bring in as much daylight as a lantern without crowding the room. Each option is drawn to scale on the quote, which shows you what the ceiling will look like before you choose.
Opening or fixed
A fixed rooflight is the simplest and usually the least expensive. An opening one lets warm air out of a kitchen or a bathroom, and an electric opening unit with a rain sensor closes itself when the weather turns. Our page on manual and electric rooflights compares the two.
Where the room is cooked in or steamed in, an opening rooflight earns its place more clearly than in a landing or a study. Ventilation helps with moisture, though an extractor fan over a hob is still the right tool there. We say plainly at the survey which rooms are worth the extra for an opening unit.
Lofts, permission and sign-off
- Lofts
- Permission
- Sign-off
Roof windows for loft rooms
Terraces and semis around the centre of Bromsgrove often have roof spaces deep enough for a bedroom or a study. A roof window brings light and a view into that room, and a pair set side by side can make a small gabled slope feel considerably larger.
The practical limit is the rafters. A window has to fit between them, or the rafters have to be trimmed and doubled, which adds to the work and should be agreed before the tiles come off. We measure the rafter spacing during the survey, then quote the sizes that fit.
Where the loft is being converted, the layout of the room below matters as much as the roof. We prefer to see the plans so the windows land where the bed, the desk or the stair will be. Our loft conversion roof window guide sets out the heights and positions we usually discuss.
Opening style for a loft room
Centre-pivot
- Handle
- At the top
- View
- Looking up and out
Top-hung
- Handle
- At the bottom
- View
- Looking straight out
Put to us on site
Would a Bromsgrove roof window on the back slope need permission?
Permitted development takes in many roof windows, and our planning guide for rooflights covers the conditions. Bromsgrove District Council is the planning authority, so we look at your address first, and the council gives the final answer.
Who decides what
Bromsgrove District Council makes the planning decisions for the whole town. Listed building consent has to come first on a listed house in the Bromsgrove area, whatever permitted development allows, and on other houses the right may be withdrawn by a condition on the planning permission, which we look for at the address, or by an Article 4 direction. Parts of the town centre may sit in a conservation area, which is why we look at the address before we recommend a unit.
Building work is a separate matter. A Bromsgrove roof opened up for a new rooflight is building work, and swapping an old rooflight for a whole new one is notifiable under the Building Regulations. Building Control hears from us whenever a job is notifiable, and at the end you receive the certificate. A misted glass unit alone, in a frame that is still sound, can be replaced without notification, and our guide to replacing a misted sealed unit explains the difference.
Thinking about the aspect
Which way the roof faces changes what you should buy. A slope facing south collects strong light for most of the day, and in a loft room it can feel bright and warm by afternoon. A north slope gives steady, cooler light with little glare, which suits a study or an artist's room.
East-facing roofs catch the morning and are popular over kitchens and breakfast rooms, while west-facing ones give evening sun and can overheat a bedroom in summer. On any of these slopes in Bromsgrove, fitting the blind along with the window in one visit is usually easier than adding one later, and our page on blinds fitted with a roof window shows the options.
Put to us on a visit
Which blind suits a bedroom skylight?
A blackout blind in a side channel keeps the room dark for sleep, and a pleated one gives softer light by day. The quote can price either with the window.
Guarantee and what follows the visit
Our 10-year workmanship guarantee applies to every installation, and the maker adds its own warranty on the unit itself. After your Bromsgrove survey the written quote compares suitable units, frequently across several makers, so the whole choice is in front of you before you commit. Ask for a free survey and the written quote follows.
Covering Bromsgrove: Aston Fields and Sidemoor
We survey across Bromsgrove, from the terraces of Aston Fields and the post-war streets of Sidemoor and Charford out to Lickey End.
Nearby places we cover
Help with a Bromsgrove rooflight
Which authority handles a rooflight application in Bromsgrove?
Bromsgrove District Council. Many Bromsgrove rooflights fall within permitted development, and our planning guide for rooflights gives the conditions, though a listed building changes things, as does a planning permission that carries a condition or a street covered by an Article 4 direction. Your own address is looked up during the survey, and the council decides.
Do you cover Lickey End and Sidemoor, or only central Bromsgrove?
Lickey End, Sidemoor and the rest of Bromsgrove sit about 16 road miles to the south-west of Birmingham city centre, all within the 30 road miles of Birmingham that we work in. We do the survey at your house, so the distance changes nothing about the quote.
We have an old felt flat roof on the extension. Should the roof come first?
Re-covering the roof and fitting the rooflight in the same job is the cleanest route when the felt on your extension is close to worn out, because the new covering then meets the kerb properly and without a gap. We can quote around your roofer's work, or price the rooflight on its own.
How does a lantern differ from a flat rooflight in a kitchen extension?
A lantern rises above the roof and gives the ceiling extra height. A flat rooflight sits close to the roof surface, lights a narrow room evenly and usually costs less. Our guide to choosing between a lantern and a flat rooflight has the full comparison.
Can you fit roof windows without taking the whole loft apart?
Mostly we can, since the window sits in the slope between the rafters, framed by a flashing kit that matches your tile, and much of the work is done from inside. See our page on fitting roof windows from inside.
Will a skylight make my south-facing room too hot?
It can, which is why the glass choice matters. Solar control glass reduces the heat coming in, and either a blind or an opening unit adds to that. We raise this when we survey, and the quote lists the glass options for the room. In a Bromsgrove loft, hot air gathers high and can leave through an opening unit, while an inside blind takes the edge off the afternoon sun, so the three together do more than any one of them alone.
Is a rooflight cold in winter?
A modern double-glazed unit holds heat far better than the plastic domes and single-glazed lights it replaces. Glass is only half of it, since the frame matters equally, so the quote compares the thermal figures of each option and explains how they sit against the Part L limits that apply to an existing home.
Do you handle Building Control for a new rooflight?
Fitting a whole replacement unit, or forming a new opening in a roof like yours, counts as notifiable work. We make the Building Control notification, and once the job is signed off the certificate comes to you. Put the certificate with your house papers: a solicitor acting for a buyer may want to see it when you sell. A registered building control approver can also be used where you would rather not go through the council's own team.
What is listed on a quote for a Bromsgrove rooflight job?
Each suitable unit for your Bromsgrove roof listed together, giving its glass, frame and opening type, plus the maker's typical lead time range and its price. Our page on comparing your options shows how it is laid out.
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