Rubery skylights & rooflights, fitted and compared
Village-centre roofs, Lickey Hills edges.
Rubery roofs sit close to woodland and open hillside, and the right rooflight depends on the slope, the trees and the council that covers your address. At the end of your free survey comes the written quote, which lines the suitable units up against one another.
- Distance
- About 10 road miles south-west of central Birmingham
- Planning
- Bromsgrove District Council
- Housing
- Semis, detached houses and bungalows on roads that run towards the hills
- Conservation
- Where your address falls on the council boundary decides who we ask about planning
Questions Rubery roofs raise
A house near the hills with tall trees at the back?
Leaf fall and shade shape the glass and the pitch we compare.
A bungalow near the Lickey Hills with a dark middle room?
A sun tunnel and a roof window are the two usual answers, quoted together.
An older flat-roofed extension behind a semi?
The covering often decides whether a lantern or a flat rooflight goes in now or later.
Light on a hillside edge
- Tunnel
- Window
- Lantern
Houses at the foot of the hills often have tall trees and rising ground close by, so the rooms at the back can be darker than the plans suggest. A rooflight can bring light in from above, where the trees do not reach.
A sun tunnel and a roof window do the job in different ways. Both are set side by side below, with the measures a quote uses, so you can see where each gives ground.
Sun tunnel
- Light
- Daylight carried down a tube
- Fresh air
- None
- Roof needed
- A small clear run
Roof window
- Light
- Direct, with a view of the sky
- Fresh air
- Opens
- Roof needed
- Rafter space for the frame
Bungalows with a dark centre
A bungalow plan often has a hall, a bathroom or a middle bedroom with no outside wall at all. In those rooms a sun tunnel is the economical way in for daylight, because the tube runs through the roof void and needs a far smaller opening than a window. It does not open, and it gives no view, so it suits a bathroom or a hall better than a room where you sit.
Where the room is under the roof slope and you want air as well as light, a roof window is the alternative. It needs space between the rafters and a flashing kit made for your tile, and the opening has to be framed, which is more work than a tube. The quote sets the two next to each other, with the size of the opening and the glass or the diffuser for each.
On a tiled roof the tile type decides the flashing for either unit. We identify the tile at the survey, and our pages on sun tunnel installation and roof window installation show the options in more detail.
- Tile type and rafters identified
- Tree cover and aspect noted
- Roof and room both measured
Trees and the glass you choose
Woodland close to a house changes what falls on the roof. Leaves, needles, seeds and sap settle on a rooflight in autumn, and a flat pane laid almost level keeps hold of them longer than a steeper one does.
A self-cleaning coating lets rain carry the dirt away, and a lantern with sloping sides sheds debris well. In shade, a solar control coating matters less, because less summer sun reaches the glass. We note what overhangs the roof and quote the glass to suit it. Our page on self-cleaning skylight glass explains the coating.
Raised on site
Will the rooflight be dark if the trees are in leaf?
Overhead glass sees more sky than a wall window does, so it usually keeps more light than a side window under the same trees. We look at the angle of the branches and show you where the light will fall in the room below.
Flat-roofed extensions
A kitchen or utility extension with a flat roof is the other place a rooflight changes a house. The roof is already flat, so a flat rooflight sits on a kerb with the covering dressed up its sides, and a lantern does the same on a larger kerb that carries its weight.
The covering is the deciding detail. A single-ply membrane, a glass-reinforced plastic finish and mineral felt each meet a kerb in a different way, and the opening is the best moment to put right any worn edge or failing joint around it. We look at the roof surface and the structure beneath it, then quote the kerb and the finish as part of the rooflight.
Where the extension is small, a long flat rooflight lights a worktop evenly, and where it is wide enough to hold a table, a lantern gives the room a raised centre. Our page on flat rooflight sizes for an extension helps you work out a size before the visit.
Raised on a visit
Can the new rooflight use the old opening?
Sometimes. If the old opening is square, the right size and framed properly, a new unit can often sit in it. If the old one is too small for the room, or its framing has dropped, we quote a new opening and the structural work that goes with it.
| Item | Tiled bungalow | Tiled semi with a loft | Flat-roofed extension |
|---|---|---|---|
| Often quoted | Sun tunnel and roof window | Roof window | Flat rooflight and lantern |
| What we check | Roof void and rafters | Headroom and rafter spacing | Covering and kerb |
| Main trade-off | Light only against light and air | Window size against trimming rafters | Raised centre against a low profile |
Which council, and what we handle
- Planning
- Notifiable
A village on a boundary
Rubery straddles the boundary between Bromsgrove district and Birmingham, and the centre of the village is in Bromsgrove district. Planning questions for the village centre go to Bromsgrove District Council, which decides planning applications for it. Because the boundary runs through the village, the first thing we check is which side of it your address falls on.
Rooflights and roof windows in Rubery often go in under permitted development, and our rooflight planning guide explains what that depends on. A listed Rubery house needs the council's consent as a listed building before any rooflight goes in, whatever permitted development says, and the right can also be lost through a limiting condition on the permission, or if the address falls inside an Article 4 area, which we check. Your address is checked by us first, and the council makes the decision.
The Building Regulations are a separate matter from planning. A new opening in a Rubery roof is building work, and a swapped rooflight, supplied complete with its frame and glass, ranks as a controlled fitting, so it has to be notified. Notifiable work means a Building Control notification, which we make, and the certificate comes through once the job is signed off at the end.
Raised before the quote
My road is near the boundary. Who do I ask about permission?
Give us the address and we find out which authority covers it. We tell you what we have found before the quote is written, and the council decides any application.
Replacing an old rooflight
New glass unit
- Suits
- A sound frame, misted glass
- Notifiable
- No
- Work
- Quicker, less disturbance
Whole new rooflight
- Suits
- A worn frame or failed seals
- Notifiable
- Yes, we handle it
- Work
- Fuller, often with a new kerb
Old units on older roofs
An older roof may carry a rooflight put in decades ago. A misted pane is the usual sign, and a draught around the frame is the other. If the frame is sound, the sealed glass unit alone can be replaced, and the work is quicker. If the frame has worn out, a whole new rooflight is the sensible answer.
At the survey we check the frame first, then the seals and the kerb, and say which case yours is. Our page on misted and failed rooflight replacement covers the signs in full.
Roof windows in a loft
On a house with a roof room, the roof window serves daylight and air. Where a house has two storeys, its loft conversion gets the escape route from a protected stair, so no roof window is ever counted on as the way out. On a bungalow or chalet bungalow with rooms in the roof, a roof window may serve those rooms where they are within 4.5m of the ground.
We measure the room, then the sill and how clear the opening is, and the quote states what each window can be used for. The rules are set out on our pages about loft conversion roof windows and roof windows as a fire escape.
Around Frankley, Rednal and Rubery
Our surveys cover Rubery, running from the village centre to the Lickey Hills edge, on both sides of the council boundary, with Rednal, Frankley and Cofton Hackett close by.
Nearby places we cover
Skylights in Rubery: your questions
Which council covers my house in Rubery?
The village straddles two authorities, and the centre is in Bromsgrove district, where Bromsgrove District Council decides planning. We check which side of the boundary your address falls on and tell you before the quote.
Do I need permission for a roof window at the back of my house?
A roof window at the back of a house is frequently covered by permitted development, with the conditions in our rooflight planning guide. A listed building changes the position, as does a permission carrying a condition or an address inside an Article 4 area, and the council decides.
Will a sun tunnel give a windowless bathroom enough daylight?
Yes, for daylight, since the tube brings in a steady glow. It does not open, so a bathroom usually keeps its extractor fan for moisture. Our page on sun tunnels for hallways shows the same idea in a passage.
What if a tree is protected?
A tree with a preservation order needs the council's consent before anyone cuts it, and a tree in a conservation area needs notice given to the council first. We place the rooflight and pick the glass around the tree, not the reverse.
Can you replace a flat rooflight on an old extension without redoing the roof?
If the kerb is sound, the new rooflight can be fitted to it and the covering turned up the sides. If the kerb has failed, or the covering is close to its end, the quote says so and offers the fuller job beside the smaller one.
Which suits my flat-roofed extension, a lantern or a flat rooflight?
A lantern adds height and light from several sides, while the lower profile of a flat rooflight usually costs less to fit. Our answer on a roof lantern or a flat rooflight compares them, and your quote can price both.
Do you cover Rednal and Cofton Hackett as well as Rubery village?
Rubery lies roughly 10 road miles to the south-west of Birmingham city centre, so Rednal and Cofton Hackett, just beyond the village, fall inside the 30-mile area we cover. We survey at your home and it costs nothing.
What guarantee comes with the work?
A 10-year workmanship guarantee covers our work, and the rooflight also has the maker's own warranty. Book a free survey and we put the suitable options in writing.
Will a roof window make a bedroom too bright in the morning?
A blind built for roof windows solves that. Blackout versions run in side channels and shut out nearly all the light, and lighter fabrics soften the sun while keeping the room bright. We can quote the blind with the window.
What do I need to have ready before the Rubery survey?
Access to the loft or the room below the roof, and any drawings you have of a recent extension. We measure everything else on the day and write the quote afterwards.
Does a rooflight make a room colder in winter?
A modern double-glazed unit loses far less heat than an old single pane or a thin polycarbonate sheet. Part L (2021) caps a rooflight in an existing dwelling at 2.2 W/m²K; for a roof window a Rubery roof window must manage 1.4 W/m²K, or show Band B on its window energy rating label. Each unit being compared carries its own figure on your quote.
Can I match the frame colour to the outside of my house?
Each maker offers its own range of frame finishes, depending on the type of unit. The quote lists the finishes on offer for each option, so you can match the outside of the house.
Book your free survey
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