Rooflight and skylight installation in Fordham

Old roofs

Clay pantile and plain tile predominate, on traditional cut roofs. Pantile is the harder covering for a flush unit because of the deep roll, and soakering a conservation rooflight into it properly is skilled work that takes longer than a flat tile roof.

It is worth paying for. A flush unit correctly bedded into pantile is nearly invisible from the lane; a badly fitted one is the first thing you see.

Barn conversions

There are a number of converted agricultural buildings around here, and they are among the better candidates for rooflights: large uninterrupted roof planes, few windows in the walls, and rooms that are otherwise dark. Where the building is listed, consent is required and the products that get agreed are the flush ones.

Skylight and rooflight work we cover in Fordham

Roof lanterns, flat roof rooflights, roof windows, VELUX replacements, conservation units and sun tunnels, all surveyed before they are quoted. We also work in West Bergholt, Wormingford and Great Horkesley.

A small village in the Colne valley

Fordham sits north west of Colchester on the higher ground above the Colne, a small parish of cottages, farmhouses and twentieth century housing scattered along the lanes and around the church. There is no substantial village centre and the buildings are dispersed.

That shape means most jobs here are individual properties standing in their own ground, which makes access easy and makes the building itself the whole of the question.

Choosing where the daylight goes

On a rural property with several usable slopes the position is a real decision rather than a default, and it is worth ten minutes before ordering anything.

Orientation first. North facing gives even, cool, glare free light all day with no solar gain at all, which is the best light in any building for a kitchen work surface, a study or a studio. Specify it for thermal performance alone. South and west want solar control glass as standard, and west is frequently worse in practice than south because late afternoon sun is low and arrives when the building has already been warming for hours.

Then position in the slope. Lower gives a view out and lets light reach further into the room. Higher gives more sky, more even light and better privacy. In a room with a low eaves height, lower is usually right; in a loft room with a knee wall, higher.

Then number. Two smaller units spaced apart give ambient daylight across a room; one large unit gives a bright pool and leaves the corners dark by contrast. On a cottage roof with irregular rafters, two narrow units are frequently easier to fit as well, because each can sit clear of the timber without trimming. They also fail independently.

Aftercare

Ten years on our workmanship, covering the weathering, the flashing, the frame fixing, the insulation collar and the making good. Alongside it sits the manufacturer’s warranty on the product, which is separate cover from a separate party.

Most rooflight problems are installation problems rather than product failures, which is why the first matters more. Where a unit does fail under a manufacturer’s warranty on a job we did, we handle that claim ourselves.

The routine care is short. Clean the gasket once a year so the sash seats properly. Clean the filter at the top of the sash. Keep any flat roof perimeter clear. Cycle motorised units fully a few times a year including in winter. And on an exposed rural roof, check the flashing and fixings every few years after a storm.

What eventually fails is the sealed unit at fifteen to twenty five years and the actuator on a motorised window at ten to fifteen. The actuator is a serviceable part that unbolts and is swapped rather than a reason to change the window.

Privacy and obscure glazing

In a dispersed village overlooking is rarely the issue, and where privacy matters it is usually about a bathroom rather than a neighbour.

Obscure glazing solves it permanently without a blind. Several grades are available from lightly textured to fully opaque, it costs a modest premium at the point of order, and it cannot sensibly be added later because the labour and access are the same as replacing the whole unit.

Avoid it anywhere the view matters, because obscure glass gives light without any sense of sky.

On a side elevation facing a boundary, permitted development rules may require obscure glazing and restrict how far the unit opens. That is a legal requirement rather than a preference, and we check it at survey.

How we work

A survey before a fixed price. An itemised written quotation naming the product, the flashing kit and the insulation collar. Disposal of what comes out. A ten year guarantee on our workmanship alongside the manufacturer’s warranty on the product.

Where the work is notifiable we handle Building Control, and where consent is needed we prepare the material for the application.

We will also tell you when the cheaper option is right, which out here sometimes means a sun tunnel rather than a rooflight, or a rear slope rather than a front one so no application is needed at all.

Talk to us

Send a photograph of the roof and one looking up inside the loft, and tell us the address. You will get a realistic range back the same working day wherever possible, without an appointment and without any obligation attached.

Because we plan work out here as full days, it is worth mentioning everything that needs doing at the enquiry stage rather than one item at a time.