Skylights & rooflights in Downend Victorian terraces, interwar semis and the cricket-club streets

Where planning comes in

Planning in Downend falls to South Gloucestershire Council. A conservation area may take in some of the older streets near the centre, and a few buildings are listed. In either case, check with the council before you set a date. A conservation area can limit what is seen on a front slope, and a listed house has to have listed building consent. For the general position, our planning page is the place to start, and the conservation area rooflight guide goes further.

The long attic and its air

A Victorian attic is often the length of the house, which is useful, because a long room is easy to air. One window at each end, or a single window with a clear run to the stair, gives the air a path. On a still day, opening a roof window and the front door together sets up a gentle draw up the stairwell. Where the stair is boxed in, a second window lower down the same slope can assist.

Many of these roofs have seen decades of weather, and the slates or tiles around a new opening need care. The flashing, the strips of metal that make the join watertight, is cut and dressed to suit the covering. Our page on roof window flashing explains what is involved. A unit sits best between rafters, and if one has to be cut, the opening is framed properly so the load is carried round it.

One more point on the old roofs: the party wall between neighbours is often a thick brick or stone wall that runs up through the roof as a gable parapet or chimney stack. Keeping clear of it protects both houses, and it is the reason a window may sit a little off-centre. We mark the positions with the room in view, not just on paper, and adjust them until the daylight falls where you want it.

It is also worth planning the finish inside. The lining splays upward to the ceiling at the head and down to the floor at the sill, which spreads daylight into the room and avoids a dark edge. A deep reveal in an old brick or stone chimney wall can turn into a small shelf, which people often like.

The details of those ratings are explained on our U-values page.

Bungalows on the newer roads follow the same logic with a twist. Where a bungalow has had rooms built into its roof, the roof window is often the way out of the room as well as the source of air, so the glass area and how far the sill stands above the floor are checked against the rules before anything is ordered. The escape window guide has the detail, and our team will say at the survey whether a given room can use one.

Chalet-style houses, with a front dormer and sloping side ceilings, need a different eye. The side slopes are steep and low, so a window set high on the rear slope reaches the standing space and gives the most air. Thinking about where you stand in the room, rather than only where the roof has space, produces a better result than putting the unit where it looks tidiest from the garden.

Glass that has given up

Older houses often carry a rooflight put in decades ago, and by now the seal has gone: misting between the panes, a cloudy look, a draught round the sash. There are two routes. If the frame is sound and the opening still works, replacing just the sealed glass unit is a neat solution and not usually notifiable. If the frame is worn or the unit is the wrong size, the whole thing is replaced, which is notifiable building work. We say which applies on the survey, and the misted rooflights hub sets out the signs to look for.

Each of these houses also asks a question about blinds and glass. A roof window facing the afternoon sun can be fitted with solar-control glass and an external or internal blind, which together tame the heat without losing the view of the sky. Choose these at the quote stage, since the blind has to match the window it fits.

Extensions to the rear

Rear extensions are common on Downend semis and bungalows, and most have a flat roof with a fixed panel. A fixed panel brightens a room, but on a sunny day it can make it uncomfortable. A swap to an electric or solar opener is the standard answer, and a lantern is the choice where the room is big enough to carry a taller roof. Staple Hill and Mangotsfield have the same sort of housing, and the costs page explains what drives the price.