Skylights & rooflights in Hatfield
Hatfield pairs an older village centre, with two conservation areas of its own, with large later estates of semis and bungalows. Across both streets and estates we put in and swap skylights, roof windows and lanterns, with each unit picked so that its wearing parts can be renewed later and the roof left intact.
What Hatfield roofs ask of a rooflight
The place is really two kinds of roof sitting together: the older streets around the centre, where the council has drawn conservation areas, and the wide spread of later housing beyond them. The right rooflight on a High Street roof is rarely the right one on an estate semi, and we start by finding out which roof we are dealing with.
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Old roofs inside the conservation areas
Two conservation areas, Hatfield High Street and Hatfield Manor Road, appear in the council's data close to the centre. Inside one, a street-facing slope gets a closer look, and a flush conservation unit with a slim frame is where we begin.
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Estate roofs that were built without a room in mind
Semis and bungalows from the later building phases have simple pitched roofs on trusses. Trusses are designed to carry the roof and often leave no clear gap for a window, so a wider opening is a job for structural design before any glazing is chosen.
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Extensions with flat roofs of every age
Hatfield's family houses have been extended over the years, and the flat roofs on those extensions range from sound and recent to worn and patched. Before a rooflight goes onto one, we check the covering, because a new upstand needs something good to join.
Hatfield's houses, as we see them
The older core of Hatfield is built mainly of brick in a mix of ages, with cottages and larger houses along the High Street and Manor Road and a roofline that changes from one plot to the next. Slate and clay tile are both in play. Those streets are where we take most care with the choice of unit, because a conservation-style rooflight, set flush with the slope, sits far better in an old roof than a standard unit with a raised frame.
Beyond the centre the town opens out into suburban streets of semis, short terraces and bungalows, nearly all in brick under concrete tile. Dunscroft, which the statistical area names alongside Hatfield, has housing of the same plain sort. These roofs are simple and regular, which makes them straightforward to survey. A roof window in a semi's rear slope is a common choice where the loft is in use or could be.
Bungalows here often have roof voids that nobody has ever used, with enough height under the ridge to make a room. Where a bungalow's roof void becomes a bedroom, roof windows can supply the light and, if sized correctly, the way out in a fire. We take the measurements at survey and tell you what the roof allows.
The land around Hatfield is flat and open, and the weather comes over it from every side. A house at the edge of an estate faces more of it than one inside a close, and a roof facing across a field has more to deal with than one facing a row of neighbours. We read each house for its position before choosing flashings and glazing.
Garages and porches matter more than people expect. A house with a side garage often has a lower roof running off the main slope, and a rooflight on that lower roof sits near a valley or an abutment that has to be flashed properly. We draw the join at survey, so the frame is ordered for the roof as it is and not for the roof as it appears from the pavement.
Whatever the age of the house, the first question about any roof is where the water goes when it runs down the slope. Answering it tells us where the flashing must be strongest, which side of the opening needs building up and whether an opening sash would foul a gutter or a chimney stack.
Where a rear garden is wide, access is easier: a scaffold tower can stand clear of the house and the roof is reached without crossing a neighbour's land. We note on the survey where materials can be set down and how they reach the slope.
On the older brick houses in the centre, a conservation-style rooflight sits flush with the slope, and its life plan reflects how little of it shows: the thin frame, the flashing dressed close to the slate or clay tile, and the seals. A flush flashing hugs the covering, so it gets looked at closely at each checkpoint, along with the sash seals. A blind or a lining can be changed from inside. The survey covers the condition of the slate or clay tile, whether the roof has been repaired with unmatched slates, and the council's conservation map for the address, since which of the two conservation areas applies is the council's to say.
Rooflights for Hatfield's old streets and estates
The work follows the two halves of the town: conservation-style units for the older streets, and roof windows, lanterns and flat rooflights for the estates and their extensions. In each quote we set out the unit, what in it will age and how each part comes out later.
Conservation RooflightsFor the older roofs near the High Street and Manor Road, where a low, flush frame leaves the old slope looking much as it was.
Roof WindowsFor the rear slopes of estate semis, where a loft room needs daylight and a frame can sit in the rafter gap.
Roof LanternsOver rear kitchen and dining extensions, where the back of the room never sees much sky.
Flat Roof RooflightsWhere an extension sits under a bedroom window, so a lower, flatter rooflight leaves the view alone.
Electric & Opening RooflightsFor rooms with the glass above reach, where a powered opener and a rain sensor handle the sash.
Misted & Failed Rooflight UnitsFor older extension lights with fog between the panes, where sealed glass alone may have failed.
Planning, High Street and Manor Road in Hatfield
City of Doncaster Council
Hatfield's planning applications go to City of Doncaster Council. A small roof window can go into many houses without one, as permitted development; the national limits are spelled out in our planning guide. On a lantern the height needs watching: one that stands tall above an extension roof can move outside those rights.
Hatfield has two conservation areas of its own near the centre, which the council's data names as Hatfield High Street and Hatfield Manor Road. We do not guess where the edge of either one falls. When we visit, your address is looked up on the council's map. A house inside one of the areas gets a quote for a flush conservation unit as well as the standard one.
Alterations already made to a house count against it. If a previous owner added a loft conversion or an earlier rooflight, part of the allowance is gone, and the survey sets what is there against the planning guide before a quote is written.
Again, no Article 4 directions appear in the data around the centre. For a flat or maisonette the permitted development rights are missing, so a rooflight there wants planning permission and the freeholder's consent. We flag that early on.
Conservation areas
Two conservation areas appear in the council's data for Hatfield: High Street and Manor Road. Before any unit is suggested, the map is checked for your address and for extra controls.
Building Regulations cover every installation here. For notifiable work we make the Building Control notification, and the checking is done by the council's building control team or a registered approver.
Hatfield's side of Doncaster: Kirk Sandall and Armthorpe
Hatfield lies in the north-east corner of the Doncaster area. Kirk Sandall is 2.8 miles to the west and Armthorpe 3.3 miles to the south-west. Bentley is 6.1 miles to the west, Finningley 6.2 miles to the south and Doncaster itself 6.4 miles to the south-west. Askern is 6.7 miles to the north-west, Cusworth 7.3 miles to the south-west and New Rossington 7.5 miles to the south. We work in each of them. The housing changes from one to the next, from larger semis and bungalows to older village streets, and so do the rooflights that suit their roofs. Kirk Sandall and Armthorpe, the two nearest pages, share much of Hatfield's mix of semis and bungalows, and the same advice about trusses and extension roofs carries over, while Finningley and New Rossington to the south bring a different spread of village and estate housing.
Hatfield
Hatfield rooflights, from the first visit to the long run
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Survey
Finding out which kind of roof this is
Hatfield is 29.2 road miles from central Sheffield, a 38-minute drive to the north-east, and we book the visit to suit you. The first job is to place the house: inside one of the two conservation areas, or out among the estates. On an older roof we check the covering and the rafters. On an estate roof we look for trusses and measure the gaps between them.
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Opening
Working to a roof's own construction
On a trussed roof, the opening is kept within the gap between trusses or the structure is designed first, never cut on the day. On an older roof, tiles and slates round the opening are lifted, stacked and relaid. On a flat extension the kerb is built to drain, the covering is dressed up to it and the join gets a water test.
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First winter
Reading the new unit through the cold months
A first winter shows how a room behaves under new glass. After hard rain, look along the reveals for staining, swing the sash fully open and watch for fogging on the room side of the pane. In a kitchen with a lantern overhead, some fog on a cold morning means moist air in the room rather than a defect, and a vent or a little airing clears it.
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Year 15
The first parts that ask for attention
Past the fifteen-year mark, seals on windward slopes will have had more from the weather than those on the sheltered side. Written into your quote is a plan for renewing each wearing part, without disturbing the roof around the frame. A 10-year guarantee on the workmanship begins on the last day on site.
Straight answers for Hatfield roofs
Is my house inside the High Street or Manor Road conservation area in Hatfield?
Possibly, if you are near the centre. The council's data lists both areas, but boundaries are not something we guess at. At survey your address is laid over the council's map, and we say which units suit before you decide.
Will a roof window fit an estate semi with a trussed roof?
Often it can, if the window fits within the gap between trusses. A wider opening needs a structural design, because trusses carry the roof. The survey tells us the truss spacing, and we say honestly whether your chosen size is possible.
Which rooflight suits a dark extension, a lantern or a flat one?
It depends on the room and the roof. A lantern brings more light and sits above the roof line; a flat rooflight is lower and quieter. We put both forward where both would work, and explain which parts of each will need replacing.
Does a bungalow loft need a special window?
If the room in the roof is to count as a bedroom, the window may also be the escape route, and then the opening needs 0.33 square metres of clear area and 450 millimetres in each direction. We measure at survey and size the window to the rule.
Do you cover Dunscroft and the villages around Hatfield?
Yes. Dunscroft is covered, along with Kirk Sandall, Armthorpe and Finningley, and New Rossington and Doncaster lie beyond.
Is a conservation-style rooflight worth it on a brick house outside the conservation area?
It can be, on a slope that faces the street, since the flush frame and slim bars sit quietly on old slate or clay tile. The trade is a smaller choice of sizes and finishes than a standard unit. We put both options in the quote with the life plan for each, and you decide by weighing the look against the choice of sizes.