Coseley skylights and rooflights, fitted properly
Woodsetton, Hurst Hill and Roseville.
Garage conversions, side extensions, loft rooms and ageing roof windows: the common Coseley jobs are set out here, each with the units that could do the work.
- Distance
- About 13 road miles north-west of central Birmingham
- Planning
- Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
- Housing
- Interwar and post-war semis, bungalows, terraces and cul-de-sac estates
- Roofs
- Single-storey extensions and garage conversions often leave a dark room in the middle of the house
Three Coseley roof questions we hear
A converted garage at the side of a semi?
A flat rooflight brings light into the middle of a room that has only a front window.
A bungalow in Woodsetton with a dark hallway?
A sun tunnel or a small roof window can light a hall without a new room above it.
An old roof window in Hurst Hill that has misted?
The sealed unit may be replaceable on its own, or the whole window may need to go.
Lighting the dark middle of a house
- Flat rooflight
- Lantern
- Sun tunnel
Side extensions and garage conversions give a Coseley house more floor, but the new room often has a single window at one end and a dim middle. A flat rooflight over the middle of the room does what a second window would do, without taking any wall.
When the roof is high enough and the room wide enough, a lantern does the same job with more height, and the quote shows the two beside each other.
Flat rooflight
- Headroom needed
- Very little
- Daylight
- Soft and even
- Fit to a small room
- Good
Lantern
- Headroom needed
- More, for the kerb and frame
- Daylight
- Bright, from several angles
- Fit to a small room
- Works when the ceiling can rise
- Room measured from inside as well as out
- Roof covering and fall noted
- Opening, glass and frame priced as separate lines
A garage that has become a room
A garage roof is usually low, flat or shallow, and the ceiling inside may already have been lowered during the conversion. That makes a rooflight work harder, because there is little height to spare for a kerb. A flat rooflight with a slim upstand often fits where a lantern would not, and a frameless style looks neater from inside, since the glass sits close to the ceiling.
Converted garages also tend to have a run of new plasterboard, insulation and sometimes a new covering on the roof. We look at what is already there so the rooflight is fitted into a roof that has been built properly, and we say so on the quote if the existing covering is poor. Our page on flat roof rooflight installation sets out upstands and coverings in more detail.
Heard by a homeowner
Can I put a rooflight into a garage roof that is only just high enough to stand in?
Usually yes. A flat rooflight needs far less depth than a lantern, and the roof is opened only as far as the unit needs. We note the ceiling height on the survey and quote the units that still leave you comfortable headroom.
Bungalows and halls without a window
A hallway or landing in the middle of a bungalow can have no outside wall at all. A sun tunnel is a short tube topped by a small dome on the slope, with a diffuser on the ceiling below, and it carries daylight down through only a small opening into the hall; a fixed roof window suits a hall that has a pitched roof above and a loft cavity that is wide enough to build a light shaft.
A loft bedroom in a bungalow or chalet bungalow can rely on a roof window within escape height as its way out of the room, provided the size and position rules of Approved Document B are satisfied. At the survey we measure the sill height and how big the clear opening is. Our pages on sun tunnels and sun tunnels for a hallway explain the options.
| Item | First choice | Other options to compare |
|---|---|---|
| Hallway in a bungalow | Rigid sun tunnel | Fixed roof window with a light shaft |
| Converted garage | Flat rooflight | Slim lantern, if the ceiling can rise |
| Side extension with a pitched roof | Roof window between the rafters | A pair of smaller roof windows |
| Rear kitchen with a flat roof | Long flat rooflight | Lantern over the table |
Glass for a room that gets the afternoon sun
A south or west facing extension collects strong sun through the middle of the day and into the evening, and a rooflight directly above the sofa or the dining table sends that sun straight down. Solar control glass has a coating that turns away a share of the heat, and it is the usual answer for a room that already feels warm. The trade-off is a slightly tinted look and a little less light on a dull day.
A room that faces north, or one shaded by a neighbour's roof, may suit clear high-performance glass better, since heat is not the problem there and the coating would only dim the room. We note the aspect at the survey and quote both glasses where the choice is open. What the coating does is covered on our solar control rooflight glass page, and the second coating people ask about is explained under self-cleaning glass.
Heard over the kitchen table
Do I need blinds as well as solar control glass?
Many people choose one or the other. Glass works all day without being touched, and a blind gives you control when you want the room dark. A rooflight that opens also lets hot air leave, so we price the glass, the blind and the opening as separate lines.
Which maker, and how the quote compares them
We are not tied to a single manufacturer. For a flat roof the choice of rooflight and lantern makers is wide, and for a pitched roof there are several roof window makers whose units differ in frame material, glass options and the range of flashing kits. On a roof that suits more than one make, the written quote lines up the units in matching rows, giving price and lead time alongside glass, frame and opening type for each maker's option.
Each lead time on the quote is the maker's typical range, and a rooflight made to a special size usually takes longer than one cut from a standard size. If a standard size would let the job start sooner and the room would look equally good, we say so, and you decide whether the made-to-measure unit is worth the wait.
Older windows, permission and Building Control
- Replace
- Permission
An ageing roof window
Coseley has houses whose roof windows were fitted years ago and now show their age: misting between the panes, a blind that no longer runs, a frame that has swollen or a seal that lets in a draught. Before anything else, the question is whether the sealed glass unit can be changed by itself or the whole window has to come out.
If the frame and the flashing are in good order, a new sealed unit is usually enough, and it is not notifiable. A frame that has failed means a new roof window on the quote, and that is notifiable work, with the notification handled by us. Our page on replacing an old VELUX window covers the steps, and the sizes are explained in our VELUX size guide.
When an older roof window is showing its age
New glass unit
- Frame
- Sound
- Notifiable
- No
- Disruption
- Less
Whole new window
- Frame
- Worn or failed
- Notifiable
- Yes, and we handle it
- Disruption
- More, with a new flashing
Living in the house while the work goes on
A rooflight job usually leaves the family at home, and the work can be planned around that. We lay protection over floors and furniture in the room below, lift the covering only as far as the opening needs, and weatherproof the roof before we leave each day. A scaffold or a roof ladder is set up outside, and we agree where it stands, and where the skip or the waste goes, before the first day.
Inside, the new opening has a lining that needs plastering and painting. We can leave the reveals ready for your decorator, or leave the finishing to you, and the quote says which parts are included so there are no surprises about who does what.
Who decides, and what we do
Planning in Coseley rests with Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. Permitted development can allow a rooflight or roof window, within the conditions in our rooflight planning guide; on a listed house the work also calls for listed building consent, and a planning condition can remove those rights from an ordinary house, as can an Article 4 direction, so the address is looked up. Your address gets checked for the planning position, we report what turns up, and if an application is required we supply the drawings it needs. The council decides.
Cutting a fresh opening for a rooflight counts as building work, while changing a whole rooflight is notifiable as a controlled fitting. Building Control is notified by us, and the certificate is sent on to you once the work reaches sign-off. In an existing home, Part L 2021 requires a rooflight to meet 2.2 W/m²K; a roof window instead follows the rules for windows, which allow 1.4 W/m²K across the whole window or Window Energy Rating Band B.
We give a 10-year workmanship guarantee on every installation, while the unit's own warranty comes from its maker. If you want the opening to be a window you can open from a switch, our page on electric opening rooflights compares them with manual ones.
Around Woodsetton, Hurst Hill and Coseley
We work across Coseley, from Woodsetton and Hurst Hill to Roseville and Deepfields.
Nearby places we cover
Before you book in Coseley
What happens at the survey of a garage conversion?
We measure the room inside and the roof outside, note the ceiling height and the covering, and look for any existing services in the roof. The written quote then sets out the rooflights that fit that space, with the glass, frame and opening type for each.
Which council covers a rooflight application in Coseley?
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. A fair number of rooflights come under permitted development, which often removes the need for an application, and your address is checked before we quote.
Could a sun tunnel replace a window in my hall?
It can bring daylight into a hall that has no outside wall, though it gives light only and no view. A fixed roof window with a light shaft gives a view of the sky and costs more to build, so both go on the quote.
Is a bungalow roof strong enough for a lantern?
Because a lantern usually weighs more than a flat rooflight, we examine the structure around the opening and size the kerb to carry the load. If the roof needs strengthening the quote says so, and what is involved is explained on our page about fitting a lantern to an existing flat roof.
I have an old VELUX window with a blind that has stopped working. What are my options?
Blinds are made to fit a particular window size, and a blind for an older window may no longer be sold. A new blind of the right size can often be fitted, or the window can be replaced and the blind chosen with it. See VELUX blinds at fitting.
Will a new rooflight make my room colder in winter?
Modern double glazing in a rooflight keeps heat in far better than an old single pane, and the frame is built to limit heat loss. We quote the glass options with their performance so you can compare how each holds warmth, and our page on whether skylights lose heat explains the figures.
Do you work on terraced houses as well as semis?
We do. A terrace needs a little more planning for access and for the party wall, but the rooflight choices are the same.
How does a written quote compare units?
It puts two or three suitable units next to one another, drawing on different makers where the roof permits, and lists price and lead time with the glass, frame and opening type of each. Book a free survey to get one for your house.
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