Rooflights and skylights in and around Bulkington

People who choose a village like Bulkington often want more light inside the house they have, not a bigger one. That points to two units more than any other: a roof window for a room in the slope, and a flat rooflight for a roof that lies almost level.

A written quote from us puts the suitable versions of each beside one another, so you can weigh daylight, opening, price and lead time on the same page.

Flat roofs at the back

Plenty of village houses have gained a single-storey kitchen or utility room over the years, and the roof on it is often flat. A rooflight in that roof lights the middle of a deep room, where side windows give out.

With a flat roof, the quality of the weatherproof covering is as important as the glazing itself. A rooflight sits on a kerb, and the covering turns up the kerb to keep the water out. On an ageing roof, the sensible time to fit a rooflight is when the covering is next due for renewal, since the opening, the kerb and the new covering then become a single piece of work.

A small lantern can stand in for a flat rooflight where there is height to spare. It lifts light into the room from a raised roof, but it costs more than a flat unit of similar footprint.

Glass for a south or west slope

A bungalow loft under a roof that faces south or west collects sun for much of the afternoon, and a bedroom in the roof can run warm. Glass is the first lever. A solar control coating on the glass lets less heat through the pane, while a blind on the outside of the roof, whether external or awning, stops the sun at the glazing and keeps it out of the room. An internal blind helps with glare but lets the heat in.

A slope that faces north needs the opposite. There the coating that gives the best winter insulation figure is the one to compare, because the room never takes much sun. At the survey we note the direction the slope faces, then the glass on your quote is priced to match.

New roof windows must meet the Part L limit for roof windows of 1.4 W/m²K, or sit in WER Band B, and a replacement rooflight on an existing home takes 2.2 W/m²K. Each unit on the quote carries its own U-value, so you can check the figure yourself.

Old tiles need matching flashings

Older roofs covered in clay plain tiles sit differently from the larger concrete tiles found on later houses, so every covering calls for a flashing kit designed to match it. A kit made for the wrong covering lets water behind it, so we note the tile type at the survey and quote the right kit with the window.

On an older cottage the slope that faces the street is the one people notice. A slim conservation rooflight there keeps the roofline calm, while a standard window on the slope at the back is often perfectly good. Our page on conservation rooflight installation compares the finishes and the makers.

Converted farm buildings and outbuildings

Where a barn, stable or workshop has been turned into a home or an office, it often keeps long roof slopes and heavy timbers. Those roofs can take a row of roof windows or a long rooflight along the ridge, which brings in light without cutting into the character of the walls.

The timbers set the layout. We locate the purlins and trusses from inside, because a window that lands on a structural timber has to be moved along, and the quote shows the position that avoids it.

Replacing an old plastic rooflight

Older rear extensions often carry a rooflight with plastic sheets that have yellowed and crazed with age. The usual replacement is a glass rooflight cut to fit the existing opening, which lifts the look of the room as well as the roof above it.

We examine the kerb under it first. If it has rotted or settled, the quote says what the kerb needs, so that the new rooflight sits on something sound. Because a complete rooflight replacement is notifiable work, the Building Control notification is something we take care of.