Skylights & rooflights in Westham

The loft that could be a room

A roof space with some floor and some height is tempting. A roof window turns it into a place you can sit in, and a pair of them can give a bedroom its main light. The size of the opening depends on the rafters and on where the ridge is, so a window picked from a brochure may not fit the roof it is meant for. We measure first and specify second.

The landing at the top of the stairs

A landing with no outside wall is a common problem in a terrace or a semi. If there is a roof directly above, a rooflight solves it. If there is a loft void between, a sun tunnel carries daylight through a short tube and needs only a small opening in the roof.

The extension that stops short of the garden

A single-storey room built on the back of a house often has deep floor space and a window at one end only. Glass set into the flat roof, either a flat unit or a roof lantern, reaches the gloomy back wall. A lantern adds height to the room and a flat unit keeps the roofline low, and which of them suits you depends on the span and on how the room is used.

Light you can control

Daylight from above is strong. A south-facing roof window over a bedroom can make the room hot in summer and glaring at midday, and a flat rooflight over a kitchen worktop can throw a hard patch on a screen or a hob. Blinds and glass coatings deal with this, and it is far easier to decide on them at the start than after the unit is in. When we survey, we note which way the roof faces and ask how the room is used at different times of day, so that the specification matches.

Position matters as much as size. One well-placed opening over the dark end of a room does more than two larger ones in the wrong spots. We mark the intended position on the ceiling or in the loft before the quote is written, so what you approve is what is built.

We say little about specific streets because we have not surveyed them. What we can do is look at yours, and the visit is free.

A rooflight that suits a pitched tile roof will not work on a flat felt roof. The roof is the first decision, and the glass follows it. This table sets out how the usual combinations run, along with what we look at in each.

Roof forms and the rooflight that tends to fit

Roof form	Fits	We check
Pitched, tile or slate	Roof window	Pitch, battens, rafters
Flat, felt or single-ply	Flat roof rooflight	Falls, kerb, upstand
Flat, wide span	Roof lantern	Support and weight
Pitched, visible from the street	Conservation rooflight	Council advice first

The same house can need two of these. A pitched main roof with a flat extension behind it will want a roof window on the front or side and a flat rooflight at the back, and they are specified separately. We do not apply one product to a house because it is convenient.

Where a room needs ventilation, an electric or opening rooflight brings in air as well as light. Where you want the best performance from the glass, look at the page on energy efficient rooflights. If a roof window is needed to a standard size, VELUX windows are the usual reference, and we can often match an existing opening.

Pitch, weight and span

Three numbers on any roof decide what can safely be fitted. The pitch tells us whether a roof window is suitable at all or whether a kerb-mounted unit is better. The weight of the glass tells us what the surrounding timbers have to carry. The span tells us whether a lantern needs extra support across the opening. None of these can be read from the street, which is why we measure on the roof and in the loft.

A lantern is heavier than it looks. On a flat roof it sits on a kerb that is itself fixed to the structure, and that structure has to be adequate for the load. A roof that was built for felt and little else may need strengthening first, and the survey is where that gets decided, long before anyone orders glass.

When a roof has a mix of coverings, say old tiles repaired in places with newer ones, we look at the edge detail around the opening before we confirm the flashing. A kit that is right for plain tiles can be wrong for an uneven patch, and the difference shows within a season.

Why it pays to ask early

The village sits beside Pevensey, and an address near the edge of the conservation area may be on either side of a line you cannot see from the pavement. A short email to Wealden, quoting your address and describing the rooflight in a sentence, gets a clear answer. It is far better than finding out after the unit has been ordered. If the answer is that permission is needed, the application can be prepared alongside the survey, so the two run together instead of one after the other.

The second office to deal with

Inspection of the work falls to the East Sussex Building Control Partnership, a shared service led by Wealden alongside Eastbourne, Hastings and Rother. What the regulations expect of the unit is in the Building Regulations guide.

1. Survey the plot. Front, side and back are looked at, with gates, steps and overhead cables noted.
2. Choose the route. The safest access for the roof in question is selected and drawn into the plan.
3. Apply for permissions. A scaffold or bay suspension on the public highway needs a licence from East Sussex County Council, and we apply.
4. Notify neighbours. If scaffolding will touch or overhang next door, they are told in advance.
5. Fix the price. The quote states one figure, and it sits beside the access plan on a single page.

Delivery needs its own thought. Glass units are long, heavy and easily damaged, so the van must stop close enough to the house, and the carry from the van to the scaffold has to be clear. A narrow road with parked cars may need a short bay suspension for the van as well as one for the tower. We include that in the plan, so nobody is circling the block with a crate of glass on the morning of the job.

Weather has a say too. A wet slope or a gusty morning is the wrong time to lift a large unit through a roof opening. If conditions are poor, we move the day. A short delay is better than a hurried fit.

How a licence or a bay suspension is obtained is laid out in our scaffold licence and parking guide. The upshot for you is that you are not left to chase the council.

The opening tells us more than the glass

Once an old unit is out, the kerb, the timber and the membrane beneath it are visible for the first time. If they are sound, the new unit goes into the same opening. If a rafter has darkened or a kerb has moved, we say so and agree what to do before going on. This is why the survey looks at the roof from inside as well as outside, and why the quote says plainly what is being kept.

A chance to change

A replacement is also the moment to ask whether the old unit was ever the right one. A small fixed window over a room that gets warm may be better as an opening unit. A plain dome over a good-sized room may be better as a glazed rooflight with a better specification. We are happy to discuss this at the survey, with no obligation.

Plastic domes and timber frames

Two older types deserve a mention because they turn up on older roofs. The first is the plastic dome on a flat roof. It yellows, crazes and splits at the fixings, and it lets in less light each year. The second is the early timber-framed roof window, whose frame swells, shrinks and eventually twists, so that the flashing no longer sits tight. Neither can be refreshed with a coat of anything. Both are best replaced with a modern unit set into the same opening where the structure allows.

Fitting is followed by a clean finish and a check that the flashing is tight to the covering. We close the opening before we leave each day, and a 10-year workmanship guarantee applies to the completed job. To see what moves a price, read the costs page, then use the quote form to arrange a visit.