Whiteparish
A village at the Hampshire border: which roofs here call for a rooflight, and who decides?
Brick, tile and timber frame under mature trees, in a parish where old farm buildings are turned into houses and cottages are extended at the back
Whiteparish is in Wiltshire, but it lies close to the Hampshire boundary, on the road that links Romsey with Salisbury. Our work covers everywhere within thirty road miles, and at 15.5 road miles the village is well inside that. What changes at the boundary is the council: planning questions go to Wiltshire Council and not to a Hampshire authority, and we look to the right one when we check an address.
The village has a church dedicated to All Saints, common land and woodland close by, and a scatter of farms and lanes around the main street. It is a place where a lot of work happens on existing buildings. Houses are extended, outbuildings are converted, and roofs are re-covered when the time comes. Each of those is a chance to include a rooflight at little extra disruption, and a poor moment to leave the decision until the roof is already closed.
Older cottages and village houses
Older cottages in the village can be low, with brick or painted walls, clay tile roofs and small first-floor rooms tucked under the eaves, and some may be timber framed. A roof of that age is likely to have rafters of different sections, an uneven slope and battens that were nailed on a long time ago. When a rooflight goes in, the rafters either side of the opening are checked, doubled up where needed and fixed to a new header, and the battens are renewed around the hole so the tiles lie flat to the unit.
A small roof window set low in the slope is usually the right answer for a cottage bedroom. It lets in light without cutting through the line of the roof, and with the right flashing kit for plain tiles it sits close to the covering. On the street-facing slope, keep the units modest and in line with each other; on the back, you have more freedom. We would rather talk through where a window will be seen from the lane than leave you to find out later.
Where a house is listed, or stands within a conservation area, the question of consent comes before the question of the unit. The village has older buildings, and we cannot tell from the road which of them are protected. We check the address against the planning information and tell you what shows up. The council gives the answer.
Barn and outbuilding conversions
The farms and smallholdings around Whiteparish include buildings that have been or could be converted, and the roofs on them pose a different problem. A barn roof is large and high, often with trusses spaced for hay and not for windows, and it may be tile, slate or profiled sheet. Rooflights are what make a converted barn feel like a home and not a shed. Dim at the centre and bright at the gable, an open-plan barn without roof glazing needs electric light on all day.
The structure leads. An engineer or architect sets out the frame, and the rooflights are placed in the bays between trusses or purlins, not across them. We take the bay dimensions and the roof covering and send back the opening size for each unit in writing. In a tall room a rooflight that opens by electric motor is a reasonable choice, since a manual handle would be out of reach; the cable then goes in at first fix, before the walls are lined.
Where a barn has been converted already and a dark corner remains, a single roof window or a sun tunnel can often be added without disturbing the finished rooms around it. The work is done from outside, the ceiling is opened only where the light well comes through, and the plasterer is called back for the reveal.
Rooms under the eaves
Some village houses have first-floor rooms that run right up into the roof, with sloping ceilings and low walls. Such a room may be lit by one small window in the gable or by none at all. A roof window in the slope puts light where it is needed, and because the glass is tilted with the roof it picks up more of the sky than the same area of wall window would. We position the window by looking at where the ceiling slopes meet the wall inside, since a unit set too far up the roof will light the ridge and leave the bed in shadow.
If the room is a bedroom, the window is also its escape route, and its size and height above the floor matter. Your designer or building control confirms the requirement for the particular room, and we price the unit that satisfies it. Whether the sash is top-hung or centre-pivot depends on how high the sill falls in the room. We settle that at the survey with the room in front of us, and the quote records the choice. Handles within reach matter more in a bedroom than a catalogue suggests.
Extensions at the back of the house
A rear extension with a flat or low-pitched roof is a familiar addition to a village house. It might be a kitchen opened out to a garden room, a utility space or a ground-floor bedroom. The new space has windows on one side only, so it benefits from light from above. A flat rooflight over the working part of the kitchen, or a lantern over the table, changes how the room feels during the day.
On a new extension the kerb is part of the carpentry. Your builder forms it from our sizes, the roofer covers the roof and turns the membrane up the kerb, and we fit the glass afterwards. Glazing for a lantern or a large rooflight can arrive on a lorry that cannot get far down a village lane, so we ask about access when we survey: how wide the gate is, where the delivery can be set down and whether the unit has to be carried through the house or lifted over it.
Thickness of insulation in a modern extension roof often exceeds what you might expect, because current standards ask for more than houses of the older generation had. A deep roof means a deep kerb or a tall sleeve inside, and the rooflight should be chosen with that depth in mind so that the reveal is not cramped.
One more point for extensions: a rooflight that opens is a useful addition to a kitchen that has been extended into a single large room, because cooking steam and warm air rise to the roof and have nowhere to go. An opening unit lets that air out at the highest point, though it supports the extractor over the hob rather than standing in for it. If the unit is electric, a rain sensor can close it when a shower starts, and the wiring is an electrician's job at first fix.
Trees, common land and glass that stays clear
Whiteparish is among trees: woodland near the common, hedges along the lanes and mature gardens. Falling leaves and seed on a flat rooflight need clearing now and then, and moss builds up on glass in the shade. A steeper roof window sheds more of it. Where a rooflight sits under a tree, we say frankly how much help a self-cleaning coating will give you; it needs rain and light to work, and heavy shade lessens both.
Winter jobs and weather windows
A roof is opened to the weather for as long as the work takes, so in colder months we plan around the forecast. A roof window in a tiled slope can be fitted and made watertight in the course of one visit, and the opening is closed up before we leave. For a lantern or a flat rooflight, the kerb should already be covered by the roofer before the glass comes. We explain how the day will run before it starts, who needs to be on site and what will be done if conditions change.
Planning on the Wiltshire side
Whiteparish falls under Wiltshire Council for planning. Many rooflights are permitted development for a house, but a condition on the original permission, a direction or listed status can remove that right, and a converted barn may have had its rights limited by conditions when the conversion was approved. The rooflight planning guide explains the framework. For your own address we look at the history, tell you what we have found and suggest you ask the council if there is any doubt.
The council's website, Wiltshire Council, carries the planning register and its guidance on listed buildings and conservation areas. It is worth looking at it before a barn conversion is designed, because the conditions attached to an earlier permission can restrict new openings in the roof.
Building Regulations and the order of work
Building Regulations apply on both sides of the county line. Fitting a fresh rooflight, or swapping an old frame and glass for new, is notified to building control, a step we take care of whenever the work calls for it. The steps of the job do not change: the quote names the unit and the glazing, the opening or kerb sizes go to the builder, the order goes in against the build programme, and the fitting follows the roofer and the electrician, with the plasterer after. The roof stays open for the shortest time we can manage.
Heading north-west out of Southampton, the village comes up after 15.5 road miles, which is short enough for a survey and a return trip once the builder has the sizes.
