Skylights & rooflights in Crowborough

Before we talk about glass, we talk about how the roof is reached. In a town that has grown over more than one century, the plots vary: some have wide gardens behind the house, some have a drive to one side, and some face the road with little room between pavement and front door. Each layout leads to a different way up.

A rear garden is the easy case. A scaffold can stand on private ground, tied to the house, with a clear fall for debris. A side drive can take a tower. A front-only access leaves a platform from the road, which needs a licence, and we apply for it. Any licence for the road or pavement is issued by East Sussex County Council, and the steps are set out in our licence and parking bay guide.

Whichever route suits your plot goes into the access plan, written into your quote with the price. You will know before the day how we are getting up, who is applying for what and which neighbours are being told.

Working order on the day

A rooflight job moves in a set order, and knowing it helps you plan the day. The room under the opening is cleared and covered first. Then the scaffold or platform is checked, the old unit is stripped out and the opening is inspected. Only then does the new unit go in, with the flashing or kerb dressed around it. Nothing is left open overnight, so the order is built to have the roof weathertight before we leave site.

Because the town sits at the edge of a forest and on high ground, we plan for weather changes rather than hope the forecast holds. If the wind or rain turns, the opening is closed and the work resumes when it is safe.

1. Look at the plot We walk the front, side and back to see where a scaffold or a platform can stand.
2. Pick the route The best option goes into the written access plan with the reasons.
3. Apply and notify We apply for any road licence and tell neighbours the dates.
4. Set up The scaffold or platform goes up and the roof is checked for safe working.
5. Do the work, then clear The unit is fitted, the access comes down and the area is left tidy.

Neighbours matter on a street where houses sit close together. A scaffold pole, a skip or a van changes how people get in and out, so we tell the households either side what is planned and keep any shared path clear wherever the layout allows.

Booking matters here as elsewhere. Every visit is by appointment, and we do not turn up unannounced. If you cannot be home, tell us who will let us in and where the loft hatch is.

Where a house has been extended, there may be three or four roof forms on one building: the original slope, a dormer, a flat-roofed addition and perhaps a porch. A single rooflight does not suit them all, and a household that wants light in every room may end up with a mix of units chosen room by room.

Houses of the railway era were built before anyone thought about roof insulation or daylight in the way we do now. That is a reason to look carefully at what sits under the slates or tiles, rather than a claim about any particular street. Some lofts have been boarded and lined; others are as they were. We see which you have when we are up there.

What we check in an older roof

Before cutting or replacing anything, we look at the roof as it is, not as the drawing says it was. The questions are plain ones: can the rafters take a new opening, is the lining behind the old unit damp, and are the tiles around it in good enough shape to be re-flashed? If the answer to any is no, the quote says what has to be done first.

If you are thinking of converting the loft of a Crowborough house, a roof window is usually the first thing you need. Our page on roof windows explains sizes and layouts, and our page on VELUX windows covers the ranges homeowners ask about by name.

With the roofs sorted, the choice is simpler. We think of it as a short list, one product for each kind of roof and room.

Two additions apply wherever the roof is. A unit you cannot reach by hand, such as one high in a stairwell, is worth fitting with an electric opener, and our page on electric and opening rooflights covers the controls. And where the glazing itself needs to perform well, the page on energy efficient rooflights explains what to ask for.

What does a new rooflight add to a room? Mostly it moves daylight to where the walls cannot. A window on one wall lights one side of a room; a rooflight lights the middle. That is why people ask for them over kitchens, stairs and bathrooms that never had good light.

A walk through the house with a tape measure often turns up the best positions. We stand in the room, look up at where the ceiling meets the roof, and mark where daylight would reach the darkest corner. Then we check that spot against the rafters above it, because a rooflight has to sit between the structural timbers, or the timbers have to be trimmed to suit it.

Size is the usual trade-off. A bigger pane lets in more daylight but also more heat in summer and more loss in winter, so the glazing specification does more of the work as the unit gets larger.

Planning for Crowborough is handled by Wealden District Council. The town has a designated conservation area, and it also lies in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, as the highest town in that landscape, at the edge of Ashdown Forest. Neither fact tells you what you can do to your roof. What matters is whether a particular restriction applies to your address.

The sources on Article 4 directions disagree. Wealden parish pages say none are available, while its register lists a few for particular sites. With the record unclear, a written question to Wealden about your own address is the only safe answer, and the reply is worth filing. Our planning guide shows how to put the question.

The East Sussex Building Control Partnership, a shared service between Wealden, Eastbourne, Hastings and Rother, deals with the building side. Our Building Regulations guide sets out the rules. Living in a flat changes who must agree to the work, and our flats and leasehold page covers that.

When you write to the council, give the full address, say you are replacing or adding a rooflight and describe where it goes on the roof. Ask whether any direction or condition removes your usual freedom to alter the roof, and ask for the answer in writing. If the property is listed, say so, because the route is different.

Start with the council. A short reply before the survey saves a redesign afterwards, because a restriction can change the type of unit, its height above the roof and its frame.

A town with houses of different ages has rooflights of different ages, and the oldest are the ones that fail. A misted pane, a stained lining or a frame that no longer closes are the common signs. A failed sealed unit cannot be dried out or cleaned, so it is replaced. How we decide on site is explained in our guide to misted and failed rooflights.

The job is more than a pane swap. We take out the unit, check the structure under it, renew what is worn and fit the new one so it sits properly in the roof. Once it is finished, the 10-year workmanship guarantee stands behind the installation.

Keep the glazing question open until the survey. Clear, tinted and solar-control glass each behave differently in a sunny room, and the right one depends on which way the roof faces and how the room is used. We talk it through with samples against the roof before you commit.

Plan for the room too. Once a unit is out, there is a bare opening above your head, and the lining around it will need making good. We include that in the quote, so you are not left with a new rooflight set in a patched ceiling.

Cost is the next question. We do not quote figures on a page like this, because what changes the number is particular to each roof: the size of the unit, the specification of the glass, the access method and any work to the structure. The costs page sets out each factor, and the survey gives you a fixed written price. Ask for a survey when you are ready.