Walsall skylights & rooflights, fitted and guaranteed
Caldmore terraces and Pleck extensions
Walsall homes with an ageing extension rooflight, a dark loft or a flat roof due for renewal can have the options priced side by side, then fitted by us. Surveys are free.
- Distance
- About 13 road miles north-west of central Birmingham
- Planning
- Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
- Housing
- Older terraces, interwar and post-war semis, newer estates
- Roofs
- Pitched tile roofs and flat-roofed rear and side extensions
Walsall roofs, one question each
An older terrace in Caldmore with a dim back bedroom?
A roof window set into the back slope and sized to the gaps between rafters.
A semi in Palfrey with a tired kitchen rooflight?
A new sealed unit if the frame is sound, a whole rooflight if not.
A flat-roofed side extension in Pleck?
A flat rooflight or lantern, priced beside each other.
A tired rooflight: glass unit or whole frame
- Glass unit
- Whole unit
A rooflight that has gone cloudy between the panes has lost the seal on its double glazing. If the frame is still square, the aluminium or timber is sound and the seals around it hold, a new sealed unit can be fitted into it.
If the frame has warped, corroded or lost its seals, the better value is usually a new rooflight that fits the same opening. We tell you which applies after looking at it from above and below.
New glass unit
- Suits
- A sound, square frame
- Building Control
- No notification
- Cost
- Usually lower
- Disruption
- Less work on the roof
Whole rooflight
- Suits
- A worn or draughty frame
- Building Control
- Notification handled by us
- Cost
- Usually higher
- Disruption
- Frame and kerb are reworked
Why the frame decides it
The sealed glass unit is usually the part that fails first, since the seal around the two panes slowly lets moisture in. The frame around it is often in better order, so replacing the glass alone is a reasonable choice and the lower-cost route. The risk is that the frame is carrying its own faults, and a new unit in a tired frame gives you clear glass in a frame that still lets air through.
At the survey we look for three signs: daylight showing at the corners of the frame, staining on the inside of the kerb, and softness in any timber. A rooflight on a flat roof built many years ago may also sit on a kerb too low to let the new covering turn up properly, and where we see that we say so on the quote. Our guide to signs a rooflight has failed lists what to look for, and the page on replacing a misted sealed unit covers the glass option.
Often asked before the quote
The old dome on our extension is yellow and scratched. Is it worth keeping?
Plastic domes lose clarity and strength over time, and a glass rooflight or lantern is a clear improvement on both. We compare a flat rooflight and a lantern for the same opening, and check the kerb under whichever you prefer.
Choosing the new glass
A new unit is an opportunity to improve the glass. Modern double glazing with a low-emissivity coating keeps more heat in than the unit it replaces, which you notice in winter as a warmer ceiling. In a south facing kitchen extension that gets hot in summer a solar control coating helps, and a self-cleaning coating lets rain wash the outside clean.
These coatings can be combined, and each has a cost. We put the glass options for your rooflight in a short list on the quote, with what each does for the room, and you choose. Our guide to double and triple glazed rooflights covers the thicker glass option.
Renewing a flat roof around a rooflight
Flat-roofed extensions on Walsall houses are covered in felt, EPDM or GRP, and each material meets a rooflight kerb in its own way. A felt roof is dressed up the kerb in layers, an EPDM sheet is cut and bonded around it, and a GRP roof is laminated up the sides. The kerb has to be tall enough for any of these to turn up properly, which is why a very low kerb is often raised when a rooflight is replaced.
If your roofer is renewing the covering, we can fit the rooflight and kerb first, so the new roof is laid up to the finished unit. If the covering is staying, we work with what is there and say plainly where the new kerb will meet the old surface. Our page on rooflights for EPDM, GRP and felt roofs explains how each type works with a rooflight.
Roof windows in older Walsall houses
In Caldmore and the older streets around it you will find terraces and villas with tall, narrow back bedrooms and attics that were never lit. A roof window brings the attic into use, and the usual position is the back slope, away from the street. The window has to fit between the existing rafters, and old timbers are seldom evenly spaced, so we measure each gap and quote the window that fits without trimming, along with one that would need a trimmed rafter and a header.
On the interwar semis and later estates elsewhere in Walsall the roofs are wider and the pitch shallower, so there is more choice of size and position. A wider roof can take a larger window or two side by side, and a hipped end changes what fits, so we draw each option on your slope before you decide. Our roof window installation page and the guide to window size codes explain how the sizes work.
- Frame, kerb and glass all inspected
- Rafter gaps measured one by one
- Glass-only and whole-frame routes both quoted
Rules, signatures and sign-off in Walsall
- Council
- Regulations
| Item | Planning position | Building Control |
|---|---|---|
| New roof window in a house | Often permitted development, checked for your address | Notifiable, handled by us |
| Whole rooflight replaced | Usually no application, checked at survey | Notifiable, handled by us |
| Glass unit replaced in a sound frame | No change to the roof | No notification |
| Listed building | Listed building consent is needed first | Notifiable where the work is building work |
Who decides planning
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council makes the planning decisions for Walsall. Permitted development lets plenty of rooflights and roof windows go ahead without an application, and the conditions for that are set out in our rooflight planning guide.
Listing brings a consent of its own: any rooflight on a listed building must have that consent first, whatever permitted development covers, and an unlisted Walsall house can see that right withdrawn under an Article 4 direction, or where an old planning approval carries a condition. Whether your address falls under any of these is something we check at the start, and the council decides the outcome.
If the house is in a conservation area, one of the options we compare with a standard roof window is often a slim conservation rooflight. See our page on conservation rooflight installation.
Fitted to current Building Regulations
Under the Regulations, a rooflight put into a freshly cut opening is building work, and a whole unit exchanged for a new one, frame and glass together, is also notifiable. Where it is, we handle the notification with Building Control. The same role can be filled by a registered building control approver, the name for the private route since April 2024, and either way a certificate comes when the work is signed off.
Part L of 2021 sets the thermal limit that applies when a rooflight is added to an existing dwelling: the rooflight figure for a flat rooflight or lantern, and the window figure for a roof window. The quote states what each option achieves in plain words, and the thermal figures for the glass and frame are listed for every unit so you can compare them line by line. Ask us at the survey if you would like a figure explained. A 10-year workmanship guarantee stands behind all of our installation work, while the maker gives the unit a warranty of its own.
Often asked at the door
Do I need to be in when you replace the glass unit?
Someone needs to give access to the room below and to the roof. The visit is agreed with you beforehand, and the lead time for the unit appears on the quote as the maker's typical range.
Around Caldmore, Pleck and Walsall
We cover Walsall from Caldmore and Pleck to Birchills, Palfrey and Leamore.
Nearby places we cover
Before a Walsall survey
Do Walsall homes fall inside your working area?
Walsall lies roughly 13 road miles out from central Birmingham, to the north-west, comfortably within the 30-mile area that we cover. Surveys and fitting both take place at your home.
Where do I send a planning question about a roof window in Walsall?
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council. Many rooflights fall within permitted development, with the conditions given in our rooflight planning guide. We check the address for an Article 4 direction, a condition or a listing, and the council has the last word.
My rooflight has misted. Do I have to replace the whole thing?
Not always. A new sealed glass unit can be enough while the frame is sound, and no Building Control notification has to be sent for that job. If the frame is worn we quote a whole new rooflight, which does. See misted rooflight replacement.
Can the rooflight be fitted at the same time as my flat roof is re-covered?
That is a neat time to do it, as the kerb and the opening go in alongside the new covering as one piece of work. The rooflight and kerb are planned around the covering your roofer is laying, so the two jobs meet neatly at the upstand.
Which is better for a side extension in Pleck, a lantern or a flat rooflight?
It depends on the height of the room and how much of the roof you want to keep clear. A lantern gives extra height and a bright centre, while a flat rooflight sits lower and is usually the cheaper of the two. We price both for the same opening. See our comparison of a roof lantern or a flat rooflight.
Will a roof window in an older terrace need the rafters cut?
Only if the window is wider than the gap between two rafters. We measure each gap and quote the window sizes that fit as they are, and one that needs trimming if you would prefer a larger view. A trimmed rafter is supported by a header, and we explain the difference on the quote.
Can the old rooflight come out and the new one go in on the same day?
Usually the old unit is removed and the new one fitted in the same visit, so the room is not left open overnight. A larger opening or a new kerb takes longer, and we agree the plan with you at the survey. For the unit itself, the lead time the quote shows is the maker's typical range.
Does a new glass unit improve how warm the room feels?
It can. A modern low-emissivity coating keeps more heat in than an older unit, so the glass feels less cold in winter. Frame condition matters too, which is why we inspect both before we recommend glass alone.
What do I get with the written quote?
Each suitable unit listed together, with its price, lead time, opening, frame and glass, drawn to your opening. Where the roof allows, they come from more than one maker. Book a free survey to receive one.
Can a roof window serve as the escape from a loft room?
In a house with two storeys, the way out of the loft conversion is by a protected stair, and its roof window brings daylight and fresh air. Approved Document B allows bungalow and chalet bungalow roof rooms to use a roof window as their escape, as long as they sit within the height limit it sets. See roof windows and fire escape.
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