Skylights & rooflights in Dinnington
Dinnington grew around its pit, and the housing still shows it: planned rows, then larger estates added as the village grew. Those roofs are straight and regular, which makes for a clear survey, and we choose skylights and rooflights that can be maintained without opening the roof again.
What the planned streets of Dinnington mean for a rooflight
Where houses were built in batches to a single design, a survey can predict a good deal before the ladder goes up. What it cannot predict is what each owner has done since. Extensions, new coverings and altered lofts make every house in a row slightly different from its twin.
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Rows of matching houses, each altered differently
On a street of near-identical semis, one house has a dormer, the next a rear extension and the third nothing at all. We measure the house we are standing in and do not assume it matches its neighbour, because the timbers in the loft seldom do.
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Back kitchens that grew into the garden
Extending a kitchen outwards pushes its middle further from the garden door and from any window. A flat rooflight or lantern over that middle brings daylight back, and its size is worked out from the dimensions of the room.
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Landings and bathrooms with no outside wall
Inner rooms are the least lit in a semi. The loft above is usually close and the run short, so a sun tunnel is the smallest change that makes a visible difference, and we check the roof space first for pipes, tanks and wiring.
How Dinnington was built and how it has changed
Dinnington is a former colliery village, and its older streets are laid out the way colliery housing was: straight, in rows, with terraces and pairs of houses of a similar size. Brick is the walling, with concrete or clay tile now on most roofs and slate on a few. The consistent layout gives the roofs a simple form, usually a plain pitch with a ridge parallel to the road, and that helps us place an opening where it will not clash with the structure.
As the village grew, estates were added round the older core. Semis in loops and cul-de-sacs, bungalows on the quieter roads and short terraces in between make up most of them. They share a building method, and their roofs are low to moderate in pitch with a shallow eaves overhang. A roof window on such a slope sits neatly and can be flashed to the tile without trouble, as long as the tile is in reasonable order.
The edges have newer closes, and the places joined on to the village, such as Laughton Common and Throapham, add more of the same mixed stock. Newer closes are usually trussed, and with trusses the opening has to fit the clear gap between them or be designed by an engineer. This is a question a Dinnington survey keeps coming back to, and it is answered in the loft, not from the street. We measure each gap twice and write the figures on the survey sheet so that the quote rests on numbers and not on a guess made from the pavement.
Because so much of the housing was built to a similar plan, many owners have looked at the neighbours' extensions for ideas. We encourage that, with one caution: what worked next door depended on the roof next door. A lantern that suited one rear extension may be too heavy for the next, and the joists and walls underneath settle the question, not the glass.
Dinnington sits in open country east of the city and meets more wind than a sheltered terrace would. West and south-west slopes see most of the rain. We look at which way a roof faces and choose a flashing and a seal that suit, instead of treating every slope in the village the same.
Consider the plain-pitch terraces of the older streets, where the ridge runs along the road and the rear slope is a clean, even plane. A roof window there ages in a predictable way. Concrete or clay tile is heavy but steady, so what wears is the flashing, the seals and any blind. The blind and the inner seal can be swapped from the room, which is why we put forward a model whose inner parts are easy to reach. At survey we check the tile for lifted edges, the battens beneath, and the gap between ceiling and rafter, because the head of the frame has to clear the ceiling line below. Where the tile is sound, the work stays small and the plan for later years is short.
Rooflights matched to the houses of Dinnington
The six below follow what the housing needs: windows for lofts, lights for extension roofs, a tube for inner rooms, and options for homes where an older unit is wearing out. Each quote lists the ageing parts together with the way they are renewed.
Roof WindowsFor semis and bungalows where the loft can be used, with frames sized to the rafter or truss spacing we find.
Sun TunnelsFor inner landings and bathrooms, where the loft run is short and the roof collar can be inspected easily from the roof space above.
Flat Roof RooflightsFor the flat roofs on rear extensions and garages, set on an insulated kerb that can be reached from the room below.
Roof LanternsFor an extension that has made a long kitchen-diner with no light in the middle.
Energy Efficient RooflightsFor homes where an older unit is cold to stand beneath and drops heat from the room in winter.
Electric & Opening RooflightsFor high or awkward windows over stairs, opened by a switch or remote, with a rain sensor that closes the sash.
Planning, conservation and sign-off in Dinnington
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
Dinnington is part of Rotherham borough for planning purposes. What a house can have without applying is set nationally, and our guide on planning and Building Regulations covers it, so this page deals only with the village itself.
Rotherham's records include a conservation area called Dinnington, close to the village centre, and show no Article 4 direction. How far it reaches along a given street is a question for the map, not for guesswork, so the boundary is checked for your address at the visit. Should the roof fall inside, you will be shown a flush heritage-style frame next to the ordinary one, with the difference explained.
Flats, maisonettes and houses converted into flats are the exception to the usual freedoms. Such a building needs an application, and the freeholder has to consent, so if that describes your home we would sooner hear it at the outset.
When the job is done, what you are left holding is the completion certificate. Our notification reaches either the council's team or a registered approver, who inspects, and the certificate is issued in your name. It is the document that shows the work was checked, so keep it with the deeds.
Conservation areas
A Dinnington conservation area sits close to the village centre in the council's records, with no Article 4 direction beside it. We check the boundary for your address and say whether it reaches your roof.
Dinnington and the villages nearby
North Anston is the closest, 1.2 miles south-west and almost joined on. Thurcroft is 2.8 miles north-west and Kiveton Park 3.3 miles south-west. Maltby lies 3.8 miles to the north and Carlton in Lindrick 3.9 miles east. Wickersley is 4.8 miles north-west, Swallownest 4.9 miles west, and Worksop 5.5 miles south-east. All of them are within reach, and each has a page to itself, since the housing moves on from one place to the next. Maltby has its own mix of terraces and estates, and Worksop is a larger market town with a longer history, so we write each up separately. A homeowner in Thurcroft or Kiveton Park will find the pages for those places set out the same way, with their own housing notes, so you can compare what applies where you live.
Dinnington
Dinnington rooflights, from the first loft visit onwards
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Survey
Into the loft before anything is drawn
At 15.6 road miles east of Sheffield, around 24 minutes' drive, Dinnington is an easy visit to arrange. We measure the room below, then check the roof space for rafters or trusses, pipework, a water tank or wiring on the route. The covering outside is checked for sound tile and a firm edge, since the flashing relies on both. Garages and porches with flat roofs get a look as well, because owners often ask about them once the main roof has been discussed, and an older felt or asphalt covering has to be sound enough to take an upstand.
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Fitting day
A short, tidy day on a plain pitched roof
On an estate semi the tiles are cut back, the frame is fixed and flashed, and the ceiling is protected throughout. For a sun tunnel the collar goes onto the roof first, then the tube runs down through the loft, then the diffuser sits in the ceiling. The collar is checked for watertightness before we pack up.
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First winter
Signs to look for when the cold sets in
A rooflight is cold on a frosty morning, so a bedroom or bathroom may show condensation on the glass. That tells you about the humidity in the room, not about a leak. A little ventilation clears it. Look at the reveal after a hard wet spell, and tell us if you find a damp patch. A tube diffuser can show a slight halo of condensation in the same way, and that too points to the humid air in the room below.
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Year 5 and after
What the plan says to check and when
The life plan marks the seals for a look at about year 5, then the hinges, any motor and the glass unit later on. For each part it says how it is changed and whether the tiles round the frame are disturbed. Tube diffusers and ceiling trims can be swapped from the room without a ladder on the roof.
What Dinnington homeowners ask about skylights
Is Dinnington's conservation area going to affect my roof?
It might, if your street falls inside the boundary. A conservation area called Dinnington is recorded close to the centre. Your street gets laid over its map at the visit, and if you are inside, a flush heritage-style frame is shown beside the ordinary one.
My neighbour had a lantern fitted. Can I copy it?
Possibly, but your roof decides. We look at the joists, the walls and the base under your extension before saying yes. A lantern is heavier than a flat rooflight, with a taller frame and more glass to carry, and what suits one rear extension may not suit the one next door.
Can a sun tunnel light an inner bathroom in a semi?
Usually it can. A short, straight run through the loft above is what we look for. If a tank or pipework stands in the way, a flexible tube can bend round it, and we choose between the two when we are in the roof space.
What if my roof is made of trusses and I want a roof window?
Trusses cannot be cut like old rafters, so the opening must sit between two of them, or an engineer designs a way round. We measure the gap at survey and tell you which applies, before the quote is written.
Do you work in Laughton Common and Throapham?
Yes. Both are folded into Dinnington on our books, and the same survey applies in each. We look at the individual house, its roof and its extensions, then suggest a unit.
Does the rear slope of my Dinnington terrace make the best spot for a rooflight?
Often it does, since the rear slope is out of view from the road and leaves the street elevation as it was. Before we agree a position, we check which way the slope faces for sun, whether a neighbour's extension casts shade, and how the rooms below are laid out. A rear opening also keeps the front roof untouched, which suits owners who prefer the street to look the same as it always has.