Skylights and rooflights, measured and fitted in Coventry
Earlsdon terraces to Finham semis.
Roof windows, flat rooflights and roof lanterns for Coventry homes, from Victorian terraces to post-war estates. Your written quote for a Coventry roof sets the units that suit it in a row, so you can compare them directly.
- Distance
- About 24 road miles east of central Birmingham
- Planning
- Coventry City Council
- Housing
- Victorian terraces, interwar semis, post-war estates and newer cul-de-sacs
- Roofs
- Tile and slate pitches, rear flat roofs, and loft rooms in older terraces
Coventry roofs and the rooflights that suit them
A Victorian terrace in Earlsdon or Chapelfields?
A roof window sized to the rafters, with a flashing to match the covering.
A 1930s semi in Cheylesmore or Finham?
A loft roof window at the back, or a lantern over a rear extension.
A post-war house in Tile Hill or Canley?
A flat rooflight on a porch or kitchen roof is often the neat answer.
Three ways to bring light into a Coventry house
- Roof window
- Flat rooflight
A rooflight in a Coventry house usually goes in one of two places. The first is the pitched roof over a loft or landing, where a roof window sits in the slope. The second is a flat roof, usually on a rear extension, a garage conversion or a porch, where a flat rooflight or a lantern sits on a kerb.
We put the suitable versions of each on one written quote, so you can see what you gain and what you give up before you decide.
Roof window
- Sits in
- A pitched slope
- Gives
- Light, air and a view
- Suits
- Lofts and landings
Flat rooflight
- Sits in
- A flat roof
- Gives
- Even overhead light
- Suits
- Kitchens and utility rooms
Terraces and the loft above them
Earlsdon and Chapelfields are streets of Victorian and Edwardian terraces, some with a back addition and a loft that has never had proper daylight. The roofs are usually clay tile or natural slate on a steep pitch, and the rafters are old, so the width of a roof window is set by the timbers that are actually there. A narrow window that fits between two rafters is simpler than a wide one that needs a trimmed opening, and the quote shows each size beside the work it involves.
A terraced roof is shared with the neighbours at the party wall, and a roof window close to it needs thought about where the flashing and the soakers finish. We look at this from inside the loft at the survey. If the covering is old and brittle, we say so before a single tile is lifted, so that the opening is planned with the condition of the roof in mind.
Where the roof faces the street, the look of the front slope matters. A rear slope is usually the easier place for a larger roof window, and a smaller unit or a conservation rooflight can be compared for the front. Our page on roof window installation explains the opening types, and roof windows for loft conversions covers what a converted room needs.
Asked while measuring up
My loft is already boarded. Does a roof window mean a full conversion?
A roof window can go into a loft that stays a store. Turning the loft into a habitable room is a separate project with its own rules for the stair and the floor, and if that is your plan we go through the drawings alongside your builder.
Post-war estates and the flat porch roof
Post-war estates such as Tile Hill and Canley often show a simple pattern of roofs: concrete tile on the main house, and a flat or shallow roof over a porch, a garage or a single-storey back kitchen. These small flat roofs are a good place for a modest flat rooflight, because a hallway or a galley kitchen that has one dark corner gains daylight without any change to the walls.
Where the main roof has a low pitch, that matters for a roof window. Below a certain pitch the standard flashing kit and opening type are not suitable, and a different window or a different arrangement is needed. The pitch gets measured during the visit, and the quote lists only units that work at that angle, with the detail in our page on roof windows on low pitches.
A loft in one of these houses is often boarded for storage, and a roof window can turn that space into a bright room for hobbies, a desk or a spare bed. If you plan a full conversion, the stair and the escape route come first and the window follows.
Asked at the quote stage
Can one rooflight light a dark hallway on the ground floor?
Either a sun tunnel or a compact flat rooflight above the landing void will do it. Which one fits depends on the roof above, and our page on sun tunnels for a hallway compares the two.
Semis with a rear extension
The interwar semis in Cheylesmore, Styvechale and Finham often have a good back garden, with room at the back for a kitchen extension. Over that rear extension, the real choice for the roof is between a lantern and a flat rooflight. Over a dining table a lantern adds ceiling height and brightens the middle of the room, while a flat rooflight keeps a low profile where a neighbour's window overlooks the roof.
Whatever the shape, the roof around the rooflight needs to be in good order. An old flat roof can be re-covered during the same visit as the rooflight, which saves a second round of scaffolding and a second round of kerb work, and leaves a single weatherproof finish that turns up the kerb properly.
The size is worked out from the room below, so we measure inside as well as on the roof. A long, thin kitchen is lit well by a single elongated flat rooflight or by two compact ones side by side, and a square garden room can take a pyramid lantern.
| Item | Typical roof | Often compared |
|---|---|---|
| Victorian terrace | Steep clay tile or slate | Roof window and conservation rooflight |
| Interwar semi, rear | Pitched, with a flat extension | Roof window and lantern |
| Post-war estate house | Concrete tile or flat porch | Roof window and flat rooflight |
| Garage conversion | Flat felt or EPDM | Flat rooflight and small lantern |
Permission and Building Control in the city
- Permission
- Regulations
- Address checked against conservation areas
- Listed status confirmed before we quote
- Building Control notification handled
Coventry City Council decides planning in the city. Within Coventry, permitted development reaches plenty of rooflight and roof window jobs on the city's houses, and our rooflight planning guide lays out in plain terms what qualifies. Permitted development does not settle a rooflight on a listed house, because listed building consent is a separate step, and the right to fit one can also be withdrawn if the house was approved with a condition that removes it, or where an Article 4 direction covers the street.
Coventry has conservation areas and listed buildings in several parts of the city, so we check your address rather than assume. If your house is affected, the council decides, and we can supply drawings with an application.
Older roofs and the conservation option
A conservation rooflight is a slim, low-profile roof window with a dark frame, often with a single glazing bar, made to sit close to the line of the slates or tiles. It has modern double glazing and seals, and meets the Part L limit for its type, which the maker's data sheet confirms. Expect a higher price and a longer typical lead time from the maker, and both are written on the quote next to a standard unit, which lets you weigh one against the other.
On a street of period terraces a unit like this can keep the front slope looking right. The finishes on offer and the makers we compare are covered in our page on conservation rooflight installation.
Surveying a Coventry roof
A survey begins outside, where we look at the covering, the pitch, the gutters and the point where a new opening would sit. Then we go into the loft or under the flat roof and look at the structure: rafter spacing and size, any purlins or struts in the way, and the insulation that will have to be worked around. Whatever the roof is, the room below is measured too, because the light a rooflight gives depends on where it falls in the room.
Back at your kitchen table we talk about what you want from the new light. Some people want a view of the sky from a landing. Others want a single bright spot over a worktop, or fresh air in a loft room that gets stuffy. The quote then sets the suitable units out on the same measures: the glass and the frame, how it opens, the price, and the lead time that the maker usually quotes for each one. You choose, and nothing is decided on the day.
Blinds are worth discussing at the same time. A roof window in a bedroom usually wants a blackout blind, and a flat rooflight over a south-facing kitchen may want a solar control glass in preference to a blind. Fitting both together is simpler than adding one later.
What counts as notifiable work
Building Regulations apply to any fresh opening made in a Coventry roof, and also to a job that removes a whole rooflight and puts in a new frame and glass. Changing just the sealed glass unit leaves a frame that is still sound where it is, and that job falls outside notification. For any notifiable job, the Building Control notification goes in from us, and the certificate then comes through to you after sign-off at the end of the work.
Our 10-year workmanship guarantee stands behind every installation, and each unit also has its maker's own warranty. If you already have a rooflight that has gone cloudy, our page on misted and failed rooflight replacement explains when the glass unit is enough.
Replacing an older rooflight
New glass unit
- Frame
- Stays in place
- Notifiable
- No
- Suits
- A sound frame
Whole rooflight
- Frame
- Replaced with the glass
- Notifiable
- Yes
- Suits
- A tired or draughty unit
Around Earlsdon, Chapelfields and Coventry
We survey across the city, from Earlsdon, Chapelfields and Cheylesmore to Finham, Allesley and Tile Hill.
Nearby places we cover
Questions we hear in Coventry
Will a rooflight on an Earlsdon terrace need planning permission?
Often it will not, because permitted development takes in a good number of rooflights, with the qualifying conditions explained in our rooflight planning guide. Coventry City Council makes the decision, and a listed house, or a house whose original planning permission carried a condition, or one that falls under an Article 4 direction, may get a different answer. Your address is checked against all of this when we come out for the survey.
Is Coventry within reach for a survey, Tile Hill and Finham included?
Coventry lies about 24 road miles east of Birmingham city centre, comfortably inside our 30-mile reach. Surveys happen at your own house, whether that is in Earlsdon, Finham or Tile Hill.
Will a roof window fit the roof of a Victorian terrace in Chapelfields?
Usually it can. The rafters set the width, the covering sets the flashing kit, and the pitch of the roof affects the opening type. All three are checked during the survey, so the sizes on the quote are ones that fit once the tiles come off.
What suits a flat-roofed garage conversion?
A flat rooflight is the usual first option, and a small lantern is the second. Both go on one quote, with the glass, the kerb and the covering around them. Our page on flat roof rooflight installation covers the detail.
Does a south-facing rooflight make a Coventry kitchen too warm in summer?
Glass choice controls much of it. Solar control coatings reduce the heat that passes through the glass, and a north-facing rooflight takes in less direct sun than a south-facing one does. The quote puts the coatings next to each other, and the difference is explained in our page on solar control rooflight glass.
Who handles the Building Control notification?
Our team does that for any work that is notifiable. That covers a rooflight in a new opening and a whole replacement unit. Sign-off can come from the council's own team, or from a registered building control approver if you would rather go private, and you are sent the certificate when that is done.
Can a worn plastic dome over a Tile Hill garage be replaced with glass?
A dome can come out and a glass rooflight made to the existing opening can take its place, or a lantern if you want more height. Looking at the kerb and the roof beside it comes first on a porch or garage, and the steps that follow are in our page on replacing a polycarbonate dome.
Over a rear kitchen extension on a Finham semi, does a lantern beat a flat rooflight?
Lifting the ceiling and lighting the middle of the room is what a lantern does, whereas a flat rooflight stays low and generally costs less. Where both would work for the room, we price both. Our answer on a roof lantern or a flat rooflight sets them out in full.
What happens on the day the rooflight goes in?
We prepare the opening, set the unit and make the roof weathertight before we leave, whatever the forecast does. Inside, we protect floors and furniture and tidy the area at the end. We agree access and a start time with you beforehand.
Do you only fit one make of roof window?
Each written quote sets several suitable options alongside one another, drawing on more than one maker if your roof permits, and spells out how each one is glazed, framed and opened, with its price and lead time. Book a free survey and we start from your roof.
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