Rooflight and skylight installation in West Mersea

The causeway

Deliveries of made to size units and scaffold have to be timed around the tide. It is not a problem, it is a planning matter, and we check the tide tables when scheduling rather than discovering it on the day. A crew stuck on the wrong side of the Strood is a wasted day for everybody.

Salt, at full strength

Surrounded by water on all sides. Marine grade powder coat and stainless fixings are the baseline here, not an upgrade, and standard architectural coatings will chalk within a few years.

We specify for the island rather than the catalogue, and it is the main reason a quotation here may differ from one for the same unit in Colchester.

Varied stock

Mersea has an unusual mix: old fishing cottages near the hard, inter-war and post-war housing, a lot of individually built and extended houses, and chalets. The roofs vary enormously and there is very little standard about them, so the survey does more work here than usual.

Where a house has been extended repeatedly, the flat roofs often date from different decades with different build ups, and a rooflight going into one needs the build up established rather than assumed.

Skylight and rooflight work we cover in West Mersea

Roof lanterns, flat roof rooflights, roof windows, VELUX replacements, conservation units and sun tunnels, all surveyed before they are quoted. We also work in East Mersea, Peldon and Abberton.

Island roofs, and what the weather does to them

West Mersea sits at the end of the Strood on the most exposed inhabited ground we cover. Everything about specifying a rooflight here follows from that, and a unit chosen for a sheltered inland position is the wrong unit for this island.

What we fit on the island

Four kinds of job, and which one you have is usually obvious once the property type is established.

Roof windows into pitched slopes. The mainstay on the conventional twentieth century housing. Straightforward once cut or trussed is established, and specified for exposure rather than for a sheltered inland position.

Flat roof rooflights over extensions. Where the kerb decides everything: at least 150mm of upstand, the deck falling away from it, and rigid insulation on the outer face. On an exposed site the fall matters even more than usual, because standing water and driving rain together are what work a seal loose.

Sun tunnels. Particularly useful in the bungalows and chalets, where every room is under the roof and a windowless bathroom or hallway can be daylit for a fraction of the cost of anything else. The run is short, which is exactly the condition in which a rigid mirrored tube performs best.

Replacement. A large and growing share, because coastal exposure brings sealed units toward the shorter end of their fifteen to twenty five year life. Start with a photograph of the data plate rather than a tape measure.

What we would tell you not to do

Fit a very large single unit on an exposed south or west facing roof without solar control glass. It produces a room nobody uses in July and the fix afterwards costs nearly as much as the original installation.

Specify triple glazing as a default. It takes the whole unit U-value from about 1.2 to about 0.8, which is real and modest, while adding weight that affects an actuator, reducing daylight transmission, and costing substantially more. The same money on solar control glass, stainless fixings and an insulated kerb does more for how the room actually feels here.

Accept a universal flashing kit. On this island that is the single most consequential economy a quotation can make.

Timescales and getting materials here

A like for like replacement into a sound opening is a single day. A new opening with making good is three to four days. A sun tunnel is usually half a day.

The one genuinely unusual scheduling fact about working here is the Strood, which floods on the highest tides. We check tide times when planning a delivery of a large unit or a scaffold erection. It sounds fussy and it prevents a wasted day.

Beyond that, what lengthens a programme is the order rather than the work. Stock sizes are quick; made to measure units and lanterns run to several weeks. On the lighter built chalets and bungalows, a structural check on what the roof can carry may come first, and that is days rather than weeks.

Where consent is needed in the conservation area covering the older settlement, that is measured in months and it comes before the order.

Blinds and shading on the island

Worth deciding before the unit is ordered, because it affects which product to choose.

Mass market roof windows carry clip in blackout, pleated and venetian blinds that fit exactly and cost far less than made to measure. External awnings are also available and are far more effective against heat, because they intercept the sun outside the glass rather than after it has entered the room.

The caveat here is wind. An external blind on an exposed island roof needs to be robust, properly fixed, and ideally retractable automatically when the weather turns. On a solar powered unit a solar blind runs from its own panel, which avoids a second wiring question.

Where a blackout blind is wanted over a bedroom, order it with the window rather than retrofitting.

How we work

A survey before a fixed price, and on a lightly built chalet or bungalow that survey establishes what the roof can carry before anything is specified.

An itemised written quotation naming the product including coastal grade options, the flashing kit, the fixings 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 in the conservation area we prepare the material for the application. We also check tide times before booking a delivery, which sounds fussy and prevents a wasted day.