Skylights and rooflights for Coleshill kitchens and lofts
Old centre rooflines and newer family homes.
Whether the roof is an older market-town building or a newer estate house, we compare the roof windows, lanterns and flat rooflights that suit it, measure for measure, in a single written quote. Free survey.
- Distance
- About 14 road miles east of central Birmingham
- Planning
- North Warwickshire Borough Council
- Conservation
- An old town centre where listed buildings and conservation areas are possible, so the address gets checked first
- Housing
- Older terraces and cottages near the centre, later family housing further out
What a Coleshill roof can take
A tiled cottage close to the high street?
The listing and conservation position comes first, then the rafters and the covering.
A newer family house away from the High Street?
Usually a straightforward roof window, with the opening type and blind chosen for the room.
A kitchen under a flat roof behind a Coleshill terrace?
A flat rooflight is the compact choice, with a lantern priced beside it where the room is wide enough.
Fitting daylight into a market-town roof
- Opening
- Fixed
- Flat
Coleshill is a town of mixed ages, so the first job at a survey is reading the roof: what covers it, how the timbers are laid and whether anything about the building restricts what can go in.
For a pitched roof the choice often comes down to a window that opens against one that stays shut. The quote sets both out and leaves the decision with you.
Opening roof window
- Ventilation
- Opens to let air through
- Cleaning
- Reached from inside
- Best in
- Bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms
Fixed rooflight
- Ventilation
- None
- Cleaning
- Harder to reach
- Best in
- Stairwells and hallways
| Item | What to expect | What we check |
|---|---|---|
| Clay plain tile | Small tiles, cut around the window with a flashing kit | Condition of the tiles around the opening |
| Slate | Brittle, so the matching flashing kit needs careful fitting | Whether the slates lift without cracking |
| Concrete interlocking tile | Larger tiles that a standard kit suits | Batten spacing and the lap of the tiles |
| Flat felt or single-ply | A kerb is built, and the covering turns up it | Age of the covering and the deck beneath |
Reading the roof
The covering decides how the window is flashed, and a tile or slate that is tired near the opening is better dealt with while the roof is open than later. Should a few turn out to be cracked, the quote records it and you choose whether they are replaced during our visit.
Fixing a new window into a roof is also a good moment to look at the felt and the battens around it. We tell you what we find, with the photographs we took from inside the loft.
Newer streets away from the old centre
Away from the old centre, the houses are later, and a loft in one of them is often used for storage. A roof window turns that space into a room with a view, and in a modern roof with trussed rafters the position of the opening has to respect the timber that holds the roof together. Trussed rafters are designed as a set, and cutting one is a structural matter, so we show on the quote where the window can sit without disturbing them, or what a structural engineer would need to look at.
A newer family house may also have a conservatory or a flat-roofed garage conversion at the back. A solid flat roof, or a roof of a different kind, can be replaced by a lantern or a flat rooflight in a refit, and a glazed roof can be swapped for a solid one with rooflights set into it. That choice is about heat as much as light: a glass roof loses heat in winter and gathers it in summer, whereas a solid roof with rooflights holds more of the warmth and gives you control of where the light falls.
The opening types are listed on our roof window installation page, and our roof lantern installation page covers the shapes and finishes.
Bathrooms, landings and rooms without a window
Some rooms in a house have no outside wall at all, such as an inner landing, a first-floor bathroom set deep in the house or a hall that has never been bright. A rooflight above them can change the feel of the whole house. A fixed unit is the plain choice for a landing, because nobody needs to open it and there is no handle to reach.
In a bathroom the picture shifts. Steam rises, so an opening roof window lets it out, and the glass can be frosted or fitted with a blind for privacy. We check that the window can be reached for cleaning and that a blind can be fitted on the inside, because a blind that cannot be pulled down is a window you will stop using.
Where the room sits below a loft rather than under the roof itself, a light tunnel can carry daylight down through the space between. It is a small round or square opening in the roof with a reflective tube below it, and it suits a narrow shaft where a full window cannot go. We measure the drop and tell you whether a tunnel or a window will give the better light.
Often asked at a first visit
Can you swap a conservatory roof for something warmer?
A glazed conservatory roof can sometimes give way to a solid insulated roof with a lantern or flat rooflights set into it for daylight. The existing walls and base have to carry the extra weight, so that is checked first, and we price the rooflights for the new roof side by side.
The old centre, permission and sign-off
- Listed
- Planning
- Notified
- Listing status checked first
- Conservation area looked up
- Plans drawn if consent is needed
Before we recommend anything
Coleshill is a town with a long history, and the streets around its centre have older buildings, some of which may be listed. Listed building consent is required for a rooflight in any listed property in the old centre, however permitted development reads, and a house outside the listing can still see the right withdrawn by a condition set when the house was first approved, or by an Article 4 direction. The address is the first thing we look up, and a building that proves to be listed needs the council's listed building consent for any new opening in its roof before a single tile is cut.
North Warwickshire Borough Council decides planning for Coleshill, and it is the council to ask about listing, conservation areas and Article 4 directions. Those decisions belong to the council, and the quote says so plainly. The address gets checked by us, while the decision stays with the council.
Where permitted development applies
A house that is not listed, with no condition or Article 4 direction withdrawing the right, can often take a rooflight or roof window without an application. Our rooflight planning guide sets out the conditions, and at the survey we hold them up against your own roof.
If an application has to be made, the drawings and the unit specification that the council asks for can come from us. A slim conservation rooflight is often the unit we put forward for an older roof, because it sits low in the slope and looks like the iron rooflights it echoes. Our page on conservation rooflight installation sets out the options.
For a roof in or beside the old centre
Conservation rooflight
- Frame
- Slim, dark, with a glazing bar
- Position
- Low in the slope
- Council view
- Often the easier case
Standard roof window
- Frame
- Wider, modern, in a range of finishes
- Position
- Sits a little proud of the covering
- Council view
- Judged on the roof it sits in
Which slope faces the street
A rear slope that nobody sees from the road is a different matter from a front slope that does. Councils tend to be more relaxed about the first, and a conservation area usually cares most about what the street sees. If your plan can use the back of the roof, that may be the quickest route, and the quote shows what each slope would give you in light so you can weigh the two.
Side slopes are the grey area. They can be visible from a lane, a footpath or a neighbour's garden even when the front of the house faces away, and we look at the actual sightlines on the day.
Notification and certificate
A rooflight in a roof that has no opening yet is building work, and a whole unit swapped, frame and glass at once, is a notifiable controlled fitting. A sealed glass unit changed alone is not notifiable. Notifiable work goes to Building Control through the local authority or a registered building control approver, which we arrange, and the certificate reaches you at completion.
The 10-year workmanship guarantee we give applies to every fitting here, with the maker's own warranty on glass and frame on top.
| Item | Who | What we do |
|---|---|---|
| Planning | North Warwickshire Borough Council | Look up the address and draw up plans when needed |
| Building Regulations | Building Control | Handle the notification where notifiable |
Gilson, Cole End and the rest of Coleshill
Our surveys cover the whole town, from the old centre and its High Street to the newer residential streets around it.
Nearby places we cover
Questions before a Coleshill quote
Is my Coleshill house listed or in a conservation area?
Before the survey we research the address and report back to you with whatever turns up. North Warwickshire Borough Council holds the records and makes the decision, so on anything unclear we advise you to ask it as well.
Does a rooflight need planning permission in Coleshill?
Many do not, since permitted development covers them, with the conditions explained in our rooflight planning guide. The answer changes for a listed building, and also where an Article 4 direction or an earlier condition turns out to apply, with the council deciding.
What if my roof is very old and uneven?
We look at the roof in person before suggesting anything, because an old frame and an unusual covering can limit the options. On an older roof we often compare a conservation rooflight, and the quote states plainly when a position is a poor one.
Can a rooflight light a dark stairwell or landing?
A fixed roof window or a light tunnel above the stairs can bring daylight down through the house. We measure the shaft between the roof and the ceiling and compare what fits, since a long drop calls for a different unit than a short one.
Will a roof window make my bedroom too bright in the morning?
A blind takes care of it. We show a black-out blind and a lighter filtering blind beside each window on the quote, with the colour and the control type, so the room stays dark when you want it to be.
Can a roof window go into trussed rafters?
Sometimes, if it fits between the trusses. Cutting a truss is a structural matter, so where a window would need that, the quote says so and an engineer's view may be needed before work starts.
How fast is a Building Control certificate issued?
When the job is signed off. On notifiable work the notification is ours to make, and the building control body issues the certificate once it is satisfied.
Does your survey area take in Coleshill and the streets around Gilson?
Coleshill lies about 14 road miles east of the centre of Birmingham, comfortably within the 30-mile area we cover. Every survey is at your home.
Should I choose a bigger window than I first thought?
A larger window gives more light, and also more heat in summer and a higher cost, so the quote shows a size up and a size down beside your first choice. The room usually settles the question.
What happens at the free survey of a Coleshill roof?
We inspect the roof from inside and outside wherever that is safe, take measurements, talk through what you want from the light, and then give you a written quote in which the suitable units appear in comparison. Book a free survey and we will arrange the visit.
Book your free survey
It starts with a free survey and plain advice. No pressure, just clear options for your home.
Fill in the form and we will be in touch to arrange a convenient time.