Skylights & rooflights in Banwell Under Banwell Hill, from stone cottage to new-build kitchen

Light inside these rooms matters as much as air. Many cottage attics here are used as a second bedroom or a place to work, and the single gable window gives a dim, one-sided light. A rooflight in the rear slope brings daylight in from above, which reaches the far corners and the sloping ceiling, and the same sash that lets light in can be opened on warm evenings. Skylights in Banwell cottages repay careful positioning: a pane that sits above the bed head gives a view of the sky, while one near the eaves floods the floor with light and leaves the walls dark.

Planning in the older streets

North Somerset Council deals with planning in Banwell, and the historic centre has conservation area status, with listed buildings among the cottages and the church. For a listed house, a new or replacement rooflight requires listed building consent. In the wider conservation area, ask the council what it expects before ordering anything for a roof that faces the road. The usual outline of what is allowed, and what is not, is on our planning permission page.

A good rule of thumb for a village like this is to put the larger opening where only the back garden sees it. Banwell's rear slopes often look out on orchards, paddocks or the hill, and that is where a bigger roof window can go. Keep the front slope modest, or leave it alone if the council would rather.

Matching unit to roof

Old roofs rarely follow the plans. Beams get cut, chimneys lean and the slope can drift by a few centimetres from end to end. For that reason, a surveyor climbs into the loft before anything else, notes where the rafters run and where the old purlin sits, and only then suggests a size. A pair of smaller windows can sit more neatly between timbers than a single large one, and they give the room two sources of air.

When the work begins, the opening is cut and the unit set in on the same day wherever possible, and the roof is left weathertight each evening before the team goes home. Swapping an entire rooflight, frame and glass at once, has to be notified, and we look after telling Building Control, as this guide describes.

Bungalows and loft rooms

Banwell has a good stock of bungalows, and many have roof space waiting to be used. A roof window in a bungalow loft room can be both the main window and the escape route, provided it is the right size and the sill sits at the right height. For a house with two full storeys the rules differ, and the loft needs a protected stair instead. This page covers both situations and why they differ.

The same ground is also why some Banwell lofts feel closed in. Two-storey semis built across the level land often have a full-height loft, and a long, low ridge with no window to either end. A roof window in each slope turns the loft into a room with a through-draught on warm nights, because air can enter at one sash and leave at the other. Where only one slope can take a window, tilting it open and leaving the loft hatch or the stair door ajar achieves a gentler version of the same effect.

Extensions and flat roofs

Kitchen extensions are everywhere on the newer streets. One broad fixed rooflight on a flat roof brings in daylight and, on a July afternoon, uncomfortable heat as well. Swapping the fixed light for a flat rooflight that opens, or adding a second opening unit, lets the warm air climb away beneath the ceiling. Pairing an opening unit with doors on the garden side sets up a cross flow, so air actually moves rather than just sitting.

Where a house has no easy route for a cable, a solar-powered unit can run from its own panel with no wiring. On a loftier ceiling the extra reach is worth paying for. Our costs page sets out typical ranges and what moves them.

One practical point on timing: a roof window in a bungalow or semi is normally a short job, because the opening is cut, the frame set and the flashing dressed round it in a visit, with the ceiling finished below by a plasterer or the owner afterwards. Flat rooflights take a little longer, because the upstand has to be built or checked first. Either way, the same crew sees the job through from the first cut to the final clean, with dust sheets down inside the house throughout.

The same thinking carries across the villages beside Banwell. We take on work next door in Winscombe and in Churchill, where the roofs are similar and the questions are much the same.