Rooflights and skylights fitted around Knowle
Knowle Locks roads and Bentley Heath homes.
Conservation rooflights for period roofs, roof windows for larger family houses and lanterns for rear extensions, set side by side on one quote. The survey is free.
- Distance
- About 10 road miles south-east of central Birmingham
- Planning
- Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
- Conservation
- Older buildings around the village centre, so we check the address first
- Housing
- Period cottages, Victorian and Edwardian houses, larger detached houses on big plots
Knowle roofs and the questions they raise
A period house near the High Street?
Check for listing and conservation status first, then put a conservation rooflight beside a standard unit.
A large detached house towards Bentley Heath?
Roof windows suit the loft; a lantern or flat rooflight suits a kitchen at the back.
A cottage roof in old clay tile?
The rafters and the tile decide the window size, so we measure before we quote.
Period roofs first, extensions second
- Conservation
- Standard
A period roof sets the brief. If the house is old, or sits in the older part of the village, the slim frame of a conservation rooflight may be the one that keeps the roofline right, while a standard roof window gives the same daylight with a chunkier frame.
Your quote lines the two up on the same measures, so the extra cost of the period look is visible before you commit.
Conservation
- Frame
- Slim, dark, often with a glazing bar
- Profile
- Sits close to the tiles
- Cost
- Usually higher
Standard
- Frame
- Wider, in a range of finishes
- Profile
- Stands a little proud
- Cost
- Usually lower
Reading an older roof from inside
The roof of a Victorian or Edwardian house is often built with rafters at irregular spacings that do not match a standard window width. Between the rafters a roof window must either fit as it is, or the rafters are trimmed and a new timber is fixed across the opening. Neither is difficult, but the second adds work that belongs on the quote, and sometimes a builder to arrange it.
Clay tile and natural slate each need their own flashing kit, and an old slate roof deserves care in the lifting, because slates that are decades old can crack if they are moved the wrong way. At the survey the covering's state is assessed from the roof or from inside the loft, whichever gives the clearer view. If the tiles around the opening are tired, we say so and quote the window with the covering around it in mind.
An older loft with a steep pitch and a good height is well suited to a room in the roof. Our roof window installation page covers the opening types and sizes.
Where a new window must go in a roof with an existing chimney stack or a valley, the position is worked out around them. A window beside a chimney needs room for the flashing to turn up the brickwork cleanly, and a window in a valley is rarely sensible at all. We mark these on the plan we draw for the quote, so the final positions are agreed before any tile is lifted, and the roof is only opened once for the work.
- Rafter spacing measured
- Covering condition noted
- Listing and conservation status checked
Raised on the phone
Will a new window look wrong on the front slope?
It can, which is why the front slope gets the most care. A slim conservation rooflight set low in the slope, or a window placed on the rear slope where the roof allows, usually looks quieter from the road. We show the options on the quote so the choice is yours.
Large houses and what is added to them
Out towards Bentley Heath and on the roads that run from the centre you will find larger detached houses, some of them set well back on generous plots. Houses of that size are often extended: a kitchen and family room across the back, a garage turned into a study, a loft turned into a main bedroom. Each of these has a rooflight to match.
A kitchen and family room across the back usually has a flat roof, and the roof's size makes a lantern an option rather than an indulgence. A square room can take a pyramid lantern, and a long, narrow one a ridged lantern, while a flat rooflight leaves the ceiling clear if there is a bedroom window directly above. A garage conversion is darker than it looks, because the old door opening is now a wall, and a small rooflight can recover the light that the door used to give.
The loft of a large house is the best candidate for roof windows, because the volume is there. Two or three windows set in a row light a long room evenly, and a larger single window over the bed end gives a bedroom a view of the sky. Our page on roof lantern installation describes the lantern shapes if a rear extension is on the list.
Heat, glare and privacy under a large roof
A big roof holds a lot of heat in summer, and a loft bedroom under an uninsulated slope can become uncomfortable long before the glass is to blame. A roof window goes into a roof insulated to current standards, and on a large house glass with a solar control coating limits how much heat the sun adds. A blind, either inside or on the outside of the glass, takes out more. The quote treats each of these as its own line, which shows you what the added comfort would cost.
Privacy is a different matter in a loft. A window in a slope rarely looks onto a neighbour, but a lantern over an extension can be seen from an upstairs window next door, and the same glass that lights the room by day lights it up at night. A lantern with a blind system, or glass with a frosted band, deals with that. We raise it at the survey whenever the rooms around the extension suggest it will matter.
Noise is the third point. Rain on a glass roof is louder than on tiles, and the sound of a heavy shower can carry into a quiet room. Laminated glass is quieter than standard double glazing, and it is one of the options we price when the room underneath is a bedroom or study.
Glass for a loft bedroom
Clear
- Summer sun
- Passes most of it
- Rain noise
- Standard
- Cost
- Lowest of the two
Laminated solar
- Summer sun
- Cut down
- Rain noise
- Softer
- Cost
- Higher
| Item | Room | Rooflight to compare |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen and family room | A wide flat roof at the back | Lantern or flat rooflight |
| Garage turned study | A dark room with no side window | Small flat rooflight |
| Main bedroom in the loft | Slope with good headroom | Roof windows, top-hung or centre-pivot |
Deciding between lantern and flat rooflight
The room's height settles most of it. A lantern needs headroom above the ceiling and a roof deep enough to carry the kerb. A flat rooflight needs very little. If a neighbour overlooks the extension, the lantern's glazed sides can also put the room on show in the evenings, and a flat rooflight does not. Each of these points goes on the quote beside the price, so you weigh them together.
Listed buildings, conservation and the council
- Listed
- Council
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council decides
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, the authority for the whole borough, makes all planning decisions in Knowle, a village in the West Midlands. Any application, and any question on permitted development for your own home, is sent to the borough council.
Rooflights often go in without an application, so long as our rooflight planning guide shows the conditions are met. Listed building consent is still a must for any work that adds a rooflight to a listed building, whatever the position under permitted development, and an earlier permission may have attached a condition that takes the right away from a house, as can an Article 4 direction. The village has older buildings, listed ones among them, so your address is looked up in the council's records ahead of any suggestion of a unit.
Raised at a first visit
If my house is listed, who do I speak to first?
The council's conservation officer. Any rooflight on a listed Knowle house calls for listed building consent, and we can supply drawings of the unit and its position to support the application.
Building Control, guarantee and glass
Building Control has to be told of any rooflight put into a new opening, and of any replacement of the whole unit, and that notification is ours to make where it applies. A sealed glass unit alone, swapped in a sound frame, does not call for notification. The certificate is sent to you when the work is signed off, and your solicitor will ask for it if you sell.
Our 10-year workmanship guarantee stands behind the installation, while the unit itself is under the maker's own warranty. If an older rooflight on an extension has misted, our page on misted and failed rooflight replacement sets out when new glass is enough and when the frame should go as well.
Bentley Heath, Knowle Locks and the rest of Knowle
We cover Knowle from the old village core to Knowle Locks, and out towards Bentley Heath and Eastcote.
Nearby places we cover
Knowle questions, answered
Is my Knowle house in a conservation area?
We check at the survey against the council's records, because parts of the village have older buildings and the position can change what is allowed. If it is, a conservation rooflight usually features among the units we compare. The council decides the outcome.
Which council handles a planning application in Knowle?
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council. Plenty of rooflights fall within permitted development, with each condition itemised in our rooflight planning guide; the answer can differ if the house is listed, or if its permission carries a condition that limits the work.
Can you fit a roof window in a slate roof?
A slate roof takes a window fitted with a flashing kit designed for slate. We check the slates around the opening at the survey, because old slates can crack when lifted, and the quote says if any are expected to need replacing.
Do you take planning drawings to the council for a listed house?
We supply drawings of the unit and its position, which the application needs. Listed building consent is a separate application, and the council decides it.
Is a lantern allowed on a rear extension of a large house?
Permitted development covers many of them, with the conditions laid out in our planning guide, and the council decides wherever the house is listed, or an Article 4 direction or a permission condition applies to it. We check the address and the rear roof before we draw it.
Does your survey area take in Knowle, Bentley Heath and Eastcote?
Knowle is some 10 road miles from Birmingham's centre, towards the south-east, and the 30-mile area we cover takes it in comfortably. Surveys are at your home, so the village location makes no difference to the offer.
Can I light a garage conversion with a rooflight?
A flat rooflight is often the simplest way to light a converted garage, because the old door opening is now a wall. We check the roof build and the ceiling height at the survey. If the conversion is itself being built, we can fit the rooflight at the same stage so the roof is opened once.
Is there a choice of frame colour for the rooflight?
Frame finishes vary by maker and by unit. White and grey are widely available, dark frames suit a conservation rooflight, and the quote names the finishes offered for each unit so you can match your windows or your roof.
Would a rooflight make a loft bedroom too bright to sleep in?
A blackout blind removes the light when you want it gone, and blinds for roof windows are priced with the window. For a lantern over a bedroom, which is rare, we would discuss the blind system before quoting.
What does the quote show me?
Suitable units laid out together, with more than one maker included when your roof will take their units; price and the maker's typical lead time sit beside the glass, the frame and the way the unit opens, one set per unit. Book a free survey and we will measure up.
Book your free survey
It starts with a free survey and plain advice. No pressure, just clear options for your home.
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