Park Gate
Can an old conservatory roof become the best room in a Park Gate house?
Park Gate is a place of busy roads, estate houses and extended kitchens, and the rooflight jobs follow the way homes have been altered
Park Gate is a community on the A27 beyond Sarisbury Green, where it meets Locks Heath, close enough to the M27 that people reach it from Southampton in a short drive. Its roads are a mixture of housing from different decades, and as in many places like it, the houses are no longer the way they were built. Garages have been turned into rooms, porches added, loft rooms put into the roof and kitchens extended into the garden. A Park Gate rooflight job tends to be part of one of those alterations.
That suits the way we work. A rooflight tends to cause trouble when it is added to a project late. Here it is usually decided early enough to sit on the first drawings.
The conservatory that has outlived its roof
A conservatory added to a Park Gate house in past decades shows its age first in the roof. Polycarbonate sheets turn yellow and scratch, and glazing in an older frame can be cold in winter and hot in summer. Owners often decide to keep the walls and change the roof, which gives them a room that is usable all year.
A lantern is a natural choice for this job. The old roof comes off, a new insulated roof structure is built on the existing walls where the structure allows it, and a roof lantern is set in the middle on a kerb, so light still arrives from above. The kerb size, the height and the roof depth go to the builder before the old roof is stripped, because the new structure has to be designed around the lantern's weight and footprint. Our page about the lantern on an existing flat roof explains the structural questions your builder will ask.
A change of that kind can involve the Building Regulations and the planning position, because the structure and the thermal performance of the new roof are considered, not only the glass. Your builder or architect leads that discussion with the building control body, and we supply the unit's specification so the figures can be checked. Our note on Building Regulations for rooflights sets out the parts that concern us.
Raising the roof, or using the space already there
Bungalows and low-pitched semis are part of the housing around Park Gate, and the roofs of the older ones are often the plain tiled kind that were built without any thought of a room above. Their roofs are covered in concrete or clay tile, set at pitches that vary from shallow to moderate. A shallow roof needs checking before a roof window is promised, because the maker gives a minimum pitch and a window below that angle needs a different treatment. Our page on roof windows on a low pitch explains the options, and the survey measures the actual pitch for your roof.
Where the loft is to become a bedroom, the usual shape is a rear dormer or a set of roof windows. Your builder or architect chooses between them for structural and planning reasons; we advise on the rooflight side. A pair of windows on the front slope over the landing and stairs brings natural light down into the hall, and sun tunnels reach the places that roof windows cannot.
Heat is the next consideration in a loft that faces the sun. A bedroom under a tiled slope can become warm on a summer afternoon, and the cure is largely in the specification. Solar control glazing, an external blind and an opening window each help, and the survey notes which way the slope faces. A north-facing rear slope needs none of that, which is one reason we look at the whole house before deciding where windows go.
A bathroom or en-suite under the roof is another room that rewards a little planning. A roof window above a bath or a shower gets steam and splashes, so the position, the glass and the finish of the frame are chosen with that in mind. The plumber, the tiler and the plasterer need the opening dimensions early, together with the position of any ventilation fan, because the tiling and the waterproofing in the reveal are done before the final fit.
Garage conversions and flat-roofed additions
A converted garage often has a flat roof, a long low room and a single window facing the drive. A flat rooflight over the back of the room makes it feel much brighter, and the same goes for a utility room, a shower room or an extension added on the side of the house. The roof is typically GRP, EPDM or felt, and the surface decides how the kerb and the covering are joined. Our page on rooflights on EPDM, GRP and felt roofs explains the differences.
In a new or re-covered flat roof the sequence is straightforward. The carpenter forms the opening and upstand to the dimensions we supply. The roofer lays the new covering and takes it up the upstand. We fit the glass and the trim on top of that. The electrician's first fix, for an opening unit or a light in the reveal, comes earlier, and the plasterer follows. If the roof is already finished, a rooflight can still be added, and our guide to adding a flat rooflight after the roof is finished explains how.
Noise, traffic and tight sites
Park Gate has busy roads, and the plots sit close to their neighbours. Deliveries and cranes need planning, and we ask your builder where a lorry can stop and how the glass reaches the roof. A big lantern can be carried through a side passage if it is delivered in parts, while an assembled one may need a hand crane. The decision is made on the survey, so that the delivery matches what the site can actually take.
Neighbours need thinking about as well. A crane on the drive or a scaffold against the party wall is noticed, and a short note through the door the week before, with the likely days, goes a long way. Your builder normally handles this, and we are happy to give the dates for the glazing visit so the note is accurate.
Opening rooflights suit busy-road houses too. On a warm evening, a window in the roof lets warm air leave without letting the street in the way that a window at the front of the house might. An electric opening rooflight can be worked from a switch on the wall or a handset, and with rain sensors it shuts itself.
Units that have already failed
Not every Park Gate job starts from nothing. Some houses already have a flat rooflight or a roof window whose glass has misted, and others have a plastic dome that has crazed and clouded over a hallway. We can look at what is there and say whether a new sealed unit will do or whether the whole rooflight should be replaced. If the choice is to replace the frame and glass together, that is a controlled fitting and the notification is ours to handle where it applies. Our page on misted rooflight replacement explains the decision in more detail, and the answer on how long a replacement takes covers the day itself.
If the roof covering is due for renewal anyway, replacing the rooflight at the same time makes sense. The roofer is on site, the scaffold is up and the flashing and covering can be laid as one job. Our page on replacing a rooflight during a re-roof sets out the order of work. We ask for the roofer's start date as soon as it is known, because a new rooflight ordered to arrive that week saves a second visit from everyone.
Planning, in plain terms
Planning applications from Park Gate addresses go to Fareham Borough Council. A rooflight project on an ordinary house can sometimes go ahead without an application, but not always, and the position turns on the house, its past and any condition or direction that applies. Our rooflight planning guide explains the rules, and for a flat or a house split into flats the picture changes, so ask before you commit. For your address we read the council's records and relay them, and the council makes the decision.
The council's planning pages are at fareham.gov.uk. If your plan includes a new roof structure, an extension or a change of use, your architect will usually submit the application and we supply the rooflight details for the drawings.
Fitting dates that follow the roof
The date on which your builder expects to have the roof ready is the starting point for the order. We work back from it through the maker's lead time, which varies between standard and made-to-measure units and is stated in the quote. At ordering, the maker's delivery date is passed to both you and the builder. If the roof date moves, tell us early so the order moves too. See our guide to lead times for what affects them.
Park Gate is a short drive from Southampton, so a second look at an opening before the order is easy to arrange. The first step is a survey, which we do at no charge, and you can book it through the quote page.
Park Gate lies south-east of Southampton at 7.7 road miles by road, short enough for the builder and us to look at an opening again before it is closed in.
