Skylights and rooflights for houses in Wythall
From Hollywood to Tanner's Green.
Roof windows for bungalow lofts, lanterns and flat rooflights for rear extensions, all compared on one written quote. The survey at your house is free.
- Distance
- About 10 road miles south of central Birmingham
- Planning
- Bromsgrove District Council
- Housing
- Bungalows and chalet bungalows, post-war semis, larger detached houses on bigger plots
- Roofs
- Concrete tile on the newer roofs, clay tile and slate on older cottages and farmhouses
Wythall's bungalow lofts, rear extensions and older lanes, each matched to a rooflight
A chalet bungalow in Hollywood with a room in the roof?
Roof windows in the slope, sized to the rafters and the floor height.
A detached house on a larger Tanner's Green plot with a new rear extension?
A lantern over the dining end, or a flat rooflight where the roof is low.
A cottage or farmhouse on one of the older lanes?
A conservation rooflight if the front slope faces the road, checked with the council.
Bungalow lofts and rear extensions
- Roof window
- Flat rooflight
A bungalow with a room in the roof wants daylight from the slope itself, which is the job of a roof window. A flat-roofed extension built out behind the house wants light from straight above, which a flat rooflight supplies without adding height.
Each written quote sets the units that suit the roof next to each other, so the trade-offs sit on one page and you pick the one that fits the room.
Roof window
- Sits in
- A pitched slope
- Gives
- Light, air and a view out
- Suits
- Loft rooms and bungalows
Flat rooflight
- Sits in
- A flat roof
- Gives
- Even light from overhead
- Suits
- Kitchens and utility rooms
Loft rooms in bungalows and chalet bungalows
Bungalows and chalet bungalows are the house types where a roof window is the natural first question around Wythall. The loft was usually built as storage under a modest pitch, and when it becomes a bedroom or an office the slope becomes the only source of daylight. Windows set in the slope bring in more light than a vertical window in a gable wall would, because they face the open sky.
Height matters more than width in a low roof. A window placed too high in the slope lights the ceiling and little else, while one placed too low can be blocked by furniture or sit below the line of sight when you stand. We mark the positions from inside the room, with the floor level you intend, and the quote shows the window sizes drawn for those positions.
A single-storey house is the one place where a roof window can also be the way out of a room in the loft, because Approved Document B lets an escape window serve any storey up to 4.5m above the ground, a height that bungalows and chalet bungalows usually stay inside. On a two-storey house that rule changes, and a loft conversion there needs a protected stair. We tell you which case your house falls into before you commit to a layout.
The opening types, the blinds and the sizes are all set out in more detail on our roof window installation page.
Raised at the door
Will a roof window make the loft too hot in summer?
The glass specification is the lever. Heat coming through the glass is reduced by a solar control coating, and an external blind takes out more of it. Both are priced as options, so you see what each adds before you decide.
Glass for sunny and shaded roofs
| Item | Clear double glazing | Solar control coating |
|---|---|---|
| Winter warmth | Strongest sun gain | Slightly lower sun gain |
| Summer heat | Warms the room most | Keeps the room cooler |
| Best on | Shaded or north slopes | South and west slopes |
| On the quote | Standard | A priced option |
- Which way the slope faces
- What shades it in summer
- Whether a blind is wanted
Garden light and open ground
Where a garden gives a good outlook, the view from a roof window can be a real part of the reason for fitting one. A top-hung window, hinged at the top, has its handle low in the frame and gives a clear outlook when you stand at it. The centre-pivot kind of window rotates around a bar in the middle and is reached from the top, which makes it a good fit lower in the slope, within easy reach. We show both on the quote for a bedroom or study so you can weigh the outlook against the reach.
Open ground also means weather. A roof facing the prevailing wind takes more rain across the glass, and a self-cleaning coating helps the rain carry dust off between washes. We also look at the sky above the roof: a window under a tall tree collects leaves and takes less summer sun, which changes the glass we would suggest. These points are small on their own, but together they decide whether a window feels bright and easy to live with or needs constant attention.
Blinds belong in the same conversation. A window in a bedroom wants a blackout blind, one in a home office wants a blind that cuts glare while leaving daylight, and one in a kitchen extension may want none at all. The blind, the opening type and the glass are priced together, so the quote shows what each choice adds.
Extensions on the larger plots
Detached houses on bigger plots tend to be extended to the rear, with a kitchen and dining room added on one level. A flat roof over a room of that size can carry a lantern, and the extra height lifts the ceiling in the middle of the room where the light is wanted. Where the roof is shallow, because it must stay below an upstairs window sill, a flat rooflight does the same job with almost no height.
The choice also depends on how the roof is built. If a roofer is already laying a new covering over the extension, adding the rooflight at the same visit saves opening the roof twice. We can quote the rooflight alone or alongside the roof covering, whichever suits how you are organising the work.
For a rear extension
Lantern
- Height
- Rises above the roof
- Light
- Central and strong
- Cost
- Usually higher
Flat rooflight
- Height
- Low profile
- Light
- Even and wide
- Cost
- Usually lower
Older cottages, permission and Building Control
- Permission
- Older roofs
Who decides planning in Wythall
Wythall is a village in Worcestershire, and planning here is decided by Bromsgrove District Council. Any application, and any question about whether permitted development covers your house, goes to the district council.
Many rooflights can be fitted without an application, subject to the conditions in our rooflight planning guide. Listed cottages and farmhouses answer to listed building consent first; permitted development cannot stand in for it on a rooflight, and a house can also lose the right under an Article 4 direction, or if its original planning permission carried a restriction. Your address gets checked before any unit is suggested to you, and the council decides.
| Item | Who | Our part |
|---|---|---|
| Planning | Bromsgrove District Council | Research the address and produce drawings if the council requires an application |
| Building Regulations | Building Control | Notify Building Control of any work in the job that is notifiable |
| Unit warranty | The maker | Registered with the unit when it is fitted |
Raised in the loft
Our farmhouse roof is old clay tile. Can a window go in it?
Usually it can, with a flashing kit made for that tile. We look at the battens and the rafters first, because old timbers set the size more often than the tiles do.
Clay tile, slate and conservation rooflights
The older cottages and farmhouses on the lanes around the village are roofed in clay tile or slate, and a roof window in either needs a flashing made to match, so the water runs over the covering without catching on a ridge. Modern concrete tile, seen on the newer estates, takes a different flashing again, and the quote names the one for your roof.
Where the slope faces a road or a lane, a conservation rooflight is worth pricing. It has a slim dark frame, a low profile and a glazing bar, so it reads from outside as a traditional cast iron rooflight, while the glass and seals behave like those of any current roof window. It tends to cost more than a standard unit, and the lead time from the maker is often longer. Our page on conservation rooflight installation compares the finishes.
Building Control and the guarantee
A rooflight set into a new opening is classed as building work, while a whole replacement unit, glass and frame, falls into the controlled-fitting category and must be notified. Replacing only the sealed glass in a sound frame is not, since the frame and the opening stay as they were. We make the notification when the work calls for it, and you are sent the certificate once the job is signed off. The maker's warranty stays with the unit, and on top of that our 10-year workmanship guarantee looks after the fitting itself, which is the part we do.
An older rooflight that has misted or become draughty may need only new glass or a whole new rooflight, and our page on misted and failed rooflight replacement explains which of the two applies and how to tell them apart.
Hollywood, Tanner's Green and the rest of Wythall
We survey across Wythall, from Hollywood and Grimes Hill to Drakes Cross, Tanner's Green and the lanes between them.
Nearby places we cover
Wythall rooflight questions
Which council deals with a rooflight application at Hollywood or Drakes Cross?
Bromsgrove District Council decides planning for Wythall. Permitted development reaches a good many rooflights, provided the conditions in our rooflight planning guide are followed, though a listed building brings its own consent requirement, and a condition tied to the house, or an Article 4 direction, can alter things. We go through the address as part of the survey.
Can the loft of my bungalow become a bedroom with roof windows?
Bungalows and chalet bungalows can have a roof window light the room in the roof, and the same window can serve as that room's escape route, where the room is no higher than 4.5m off the ground. The floor, the stair and the insulation are part of the same job, so we look at the whole room at the survey.
How high should a roof window sit in a low slope?
High enough to light the middle of the room and low enough to see out when you stand. We mark the positions from inside the room at the floor level you plan, and the quote draws each size in place.
Will a lantern stand too high above a modest rear extension?
It depends on the walls around it. Where an upstairs window sill limits the roof height, a flat rooflight gives the light with almost no rise, and we price both so you can compare the look and the cost.
How far is Wythall from your area centre?
Heading south from Birmingham city centre, Wythall is 10 road miles along, comfortably within the 30 road miles we cover. Every survey happens at your home, so we visit wherever in the village you live.
Do you replace old plastic rooflights on extensions?
Older polycarbonate rooflights and lanterns can be replaced with glass units made to fit the opening. The kerb and the surrounding covering get inspected first, before anything is ordered, and the quote lists any work the kerb needs.
Can a roof window be added to an existing bungalow loft that is already boarded?
Where the rafters allow it, one can. A boarded loft often still has the original rafters at a spacing that sets the widest window that fits without structural changes. We measure at the survey and the quote shows sizes that fit, plus any that would need the rafters trimmed and who would arrange that.
Does a roof window need a different flashing on older tiles?
Each covering has its own flashing kit, so clay tile, slate and concrete tile are each matched to the window. The quote names the kit for your roof.
Will a new rooflight make a kitchen extension warmer or colder?
Every rooflight on our quotes meets 2.2 W/m²K, the Part L 2021 limit for rooflights, and every roof window is held to the 1.4 W/m²K window figure or WER Band B. Glass with a solar control coating also cuts the summer sun, and the quote lists the glass of each option.
What does the quote compare?
Set next to each other, you see the suitable units for your roof, drawn from more than one maker when the roof permits, each described the same way: its glass, its frame, how it opens, how long the maker usually takes to deliver and the price. Book a free survey to begin.
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