Skylights & rooflights in Newick

Newick is a Wealden village, 18.1 road miles north-east of central Brighton & Hove, so a survey visit is an easy drive for us. The wider picture of what we fit and how a job runs is on the Brighton & Hove hub page. This page stays with Newick roofs, and it starts with a unit that is already in place.

Newick was a scattered settlement until the Second World War, when many more houses were built around the Green, and extensions and loft rooms have been added to some of them since. So a roof may already carry a rooflight or roof window from an earlier round of building work. Whoever fitted it, the glass and the seals have been through every winter since.

A sealed double-glazed unit fails at the edge seal first. Moisture gets between the panes, and from then on you see a grey film or beads of water on the inside faces that no cloth will reach. That is the stage at which a unit is called misted. It does not clean off and it does not go back, so the sensible next step is to have it assessed with replacement in mind. If you want to see how that goes, the write-up on misted and failed units walks through it.

Signs it is time to look

Condensation trapped between panes is the clearest sign. Others are a frame that no longer closes square, a handle or opening mechanism that grinds, staining on the ceiling lining around the upstand, and a flat roof dome that has gone yellow, crazed or cloudy. A plastic dome and a glass sealed unit age differently, so the survey starts by working out which one you have and what it sits on.

A new unit is also a chance to improve how the room performs. The glazing and the frame have both moved on since the old one was made, so a replacement built to today's standard should hold heat better. What counts as notifiable work on a replacement, and the energy standard it has to meet, is laid out in the Building Regulations guide, and we deal with the paperwork.

The same survey checks the timber upstand or kerb, the lining and the roof covering around the opening. If any of those have been wet for a long time they come out and are rebuilt as part of the replacement, so the new unit is not fixed to something that is already failing. You see that in the quote as one fixed figure, not as extras that appear halfway through.

It is worth thinking about the insulation around the unit too. Packing a reveal carelessly can undo much of what a better pane gives you, so the lining is detailed at the same time as the glazing, not left until last.

• A loft room usually wants a roof window, sized to the rafter spacing so the structure is trimmed as little as possible.
• On a single-storey rear extension the options are a flat roof rooflight or, for a taller glazed feature, a roof lantern.
• A dark hallway or bathroom under a pitched roof may suit a sun tunnel, which needs no structural opening of any size.

Older buildings are different. Timber-framed roofs are not square and not regular, and the rafters will not line up with a catalogue size. Any opening has to be set out from what is actually there, and a standard unit sometimes has to give way to a custom one.

The longer part of the work on these roofs is not the rooflight itself. It is the care taken at the edges: the flashing against the tiles, the way the lining meets the plaster, and the way the new frame is kept dry through the whole job. Those details are what make a unit last.

Roof coverings matter as much as the opening. Whether the slope is clay tile, concrete tile or slate, the covering has to be lifted course by course and relaid around the new frame, with the flashing dressed so water runs over it and not behind it. Spare tiles are worth asking about at the survey, because an older roof can be short of matching ones.

Because the two conservation areas are close together and the village is small, it is worth checking even if you think your house sits just outside the line. A property near the edge may or may not be inside, and the council can tell you in one conversation.

That is also why a Newick survey always asks about the age and history of the building. A house that has been altered before, perhaps with a rooflight already in the roof, is a different planning question from one that has never been touched. Tell us what you know and the order of work is set accordingly, so the council conversation happens before the build, not after.

A listed house needs separate consent for an alteration that touches its character, and that is worth knowing before a design is drawn. For roofs like these, conservation-style rooflights are the natural choice: slim, low to the slope and flush with the covering.

1. Walk the plot We look at the drive, the gate width and the garden to decide where the tower or scaffold can stand.
2. Protect the ground Boards go down over lawn, paving or gravel, and planting near the house is moved or covered.
3. Open the roof The covering is lifted around the old unit and the old frame is taken out in one piece.
4. Fit and weather The new upstand or frame goes in, the flashing is dressed to the tiles and the lining is finished inside.
5. Clear away Offcuts, packaging and the old unit leave with us, and the scaffold comes down.

Before the date is fixed we confirm where materials will be lifted from, and where the old unit will wait once it is out. These are small questions that decide whether a job runs smoothly.

Fixed or opening

For a modest bedroom or box room under a pitched roof, one roof window centred on the room is usually enough. For a landing or stairwell that is dark all day, a smaller unit higher up the slope can bring daylight down the stair without taking space from a room. For a bathroom with no outside wall, a sun tunnel is the tidy answer, with a diffuser in the ceiling and a short run of tube through the loft.

A kitchen that was extended into the garden, with nothing above it but a flat roof, is the classic place for a lantern or a large flat rooflight. A loft room meant as a bedroom needs a roof window you can open, and if you are counting on it as an escape route, ask about height first: the building regulations guide covers where that stops being possible.

If you prefer a well-known make, VELUX installations are one option, and high-performance glazing is another route when the room has to stay warm. If you are not sure, the survey settles it. The visit costs nothing, and the figure you get afterwards is written down and does not move. The costs page explains what moves a price, and the quote form is the way to start.

Orientation changes the answer too. A rooflight facing the sun brings in bright light and heat on a summer afternoon, so a bedroom or a south-facing kitchen may call for solar control glass or a blind. A north-facing slope gives gentler, steadier daylight, which suits a study or a landing and rarely needs any shading at all. We talk this through at the survey, standing in the room, because it is much easier to judge with the roof above you.

Size matters as well. A unit that is too small leaves a room dim, and one that is too large on a sloping ceiling can look out of scale against the rafters. On post-war houses the rafter spacing is a useful guide, because a unit that fits between two rafters avoids cutting structure and keeps the opening tidy.

For everything else we fit across the area, head back to the Brighton & Hove page.