Skylights & rooflights in Ashurst Wood

A skylight in Ashurst Wood is generally wanted for one of three kinds of room. The first is a loft that has been boarded out or converted and needs a window in the slope of the roof. The second is a landing or stair that is dark all day, because the house was built with a window at one end or none at all. The third is an extension, a kitchen or a family room at the back, where the flat roof above could take glass.

Each of these has a natural answer, and the difference between them is mostly the roof. We talk through your room at the survey, because the same window that suits a loft would be wrong over a kitchen worktop.

Where the light is wanted and what usually fits

Space	Likely unit	Why
Loft room	Roof window	Sits in the slope, gives a view
Landing or stair	Sun tunnel or roof window	Daylight where there is no wall
Rear extension	Flat roof rooflight or lantern	Light over a large floor
Rooms needing air	Opening rooflight	Ventilation from above

If you are thinking about a loft conversion, there is more to it than a window, and Building Control will look at the stair and the structure as well as the glazing. The Building Regulations guide has the background, and we can talk you through how it applies when we visit.

Landings deserve a special mention. A dark stairwell in a house with a sloping roof above it can often be lit by a single well-placed roof window or a sun tunnel, and the improvement carries down through the whole house. The ceiling below needs a light well, a lined shaft that carries the daylight from the roof opening to the ceiling, and we shape its sides so the light spreads instead of dropping in a narrow beam.

For an extension, the questions are size and shade. A big flat roof rooflight can overheat a south-facing room, and a lantern with solar control glass or a blind is one answer. Ask us what the glass options are, and we will explain them in plain terms before we quote.

Our contact page has the phone number and WhatsApp line if you want to describe the room before booking a visit.

Your own roof is the evidence that counts, so we look at it closely and build the quote on what we find, not on a guess about the street. Two houses of similar age can be put together quite differently, and an hour in the loft settles more than any amount of assuming.

It also helps to think about the light you want from the opening, not just the hole. A south-facing slope over a loft bedroom brings strong sun in summer, so a blind fitted with the window is worth asking about. A north-facing slope over a study gives steady, even daylight with little glare. Orientation is something we note on site, with a compass and a look at the neighbouring trees and rooflines, and it affects where we propose the opening.

A third kind of roof turns up in any village that has been altered for decades: the one that has had a bit of everything. We see tiles from two eras on the same slope, a patched hip, a dormer added on to the original ridge, or a chimney taken down and capped. None of this stops a rooflight going in. It does mean the survey has to read the roof as a history, and the quote has to say which part of it we are touching.

Flat roofs and later additions

Extensions on postwar houses often carry flat roofs, and these are where flat roof rooflights and lanterns go. We check the deck, the falls, the upstands and the edge detail before we agree a size. A tired felt roof around a new rooflight is a poor combination, and we would say so rather than leave you with a leak at the joint in three years.

When the covering is near the end of its life, we will tell you at the survey, and the quote will make clear which parts of the work belong to the rooflight and which belong to the roof around it.

On the building side, a farmhouse roof and a postwar roof meet the same rules, and the Building Regulations guide sets them out. Where the job needs to be notified, that goes in on your behalf, to the council or to a registered building control approver.

Because the village sits in a protected landscape, appearance counts. A rooflight on the back slope of a house is far less visible than one facing the lane, and a flat, low-profile unit blends in better than a tall one. We will suggest positions and profiles that keep the roof looking like itself, and we can show you the effect by marking the opening on the roof plane in a drawing before you decide. The council makes its own judgement, but a modest, well-placed unit is easier to explain.

Allow time for the council's reply when you plan your year. We book our work around your answers, not ahead of them, so nothing is ordered until the position is clear and you have your fixed quote in hand.

A maisonette or flat usually shares its roof with the freeholder, so before anything else read the leasehold page to see whose agreement you need.

1. Look at the plot We check the drive, gate, side passage and garden before we propose a route.
2. Pick the platform Scaffold, tower or mobile platform is chosen to fit the roof and the opening.
3. Plan the carry We measure the narrowest point so a large unit does not stick halfway.
4. Notify neighbours Adjoining owners hear about the work before the boards arrive.
5. Choose the day Work is booked for settled weather, with the old opening covered until the new unit is ready.

Gardens in a village with open surroundings can be long and sloping, and a scaffold on uneven ground needs proper bases and sole plates. We check the ground at the survey. Soft lawn, a soakaway cover, a pond or a patio built over a cellar can all change where a tower may stand, and it is far better to find that out in advance than on the day.

A farmhouse with a long, steep roof may need more scaffold than a modern semi, and the quote will show that. The reverse is also true: a low extension roof can sometimes be reached from a short tower with little disruption.

It is worth thinking about what the old unit was for. Perhaps it opened and you never used it, or perhaps you wished it opened and it never did. A replacement is the moment to change the type: a fixed unit can become an opening one, a small window can become a larger one if the structure allows, and a plain pane can become a blinded one. We note these wishes at the survey and price them as options beside the like-for-size swap.

Modern units are better glazed than those fitted a generation ago, and the effect is noticeable in a loft room in winter or under a flat roof in summer. If thermal performance is your reason for changing, read about energy efficient rooflights. For a protected or older building, conservation rooflights are made to sit flat in the slope and look at home on an old roof. A VELUX window may suit a postwar house where the existing unit is one, and our page on VELUX windows explains sizes and how to read the codes.

Each job carries a 10-year workmanship guarantee, set out on the guarantee page. The costs page explains what changes a price, and the free survey gives you a fixed written quote.

When you are ready, use the quote form, or ring 01273 282313 and we will book a visit. Everything starts from the page on skylights and rooflights in Brighton & Hove, and the same approach carries up to Ashurst Wood.