Skylights & rooflights in Havercroft
Havercroft and Ryhill run into one another, a mix of brick terraces, council-built semis and bungalows, with newer closes on the fields around them. Skylights, roof windows and lanterns are what we install and replace here, one roof at a time.
Havercroft and Ryhill roofs, case by case
Two villages run into each other here, and the housing follows the same pattern in both: a core of older brick, a band of mid-century building and a rim of newer closes. A rooflight that suits one band can sit badly on the next, so the street decides what we put forward.
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Terrace lofts with little room under the ridge
The older brick rows have steep-enough slopes but shallow lofts, often boarded years ago and never meant for a bedroom. A roof window there is sized to the rafter gap, and the height from floor to ridge is taken at survey before anyone talks about a conversion.
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Bungalows with a single dark middle
Bungalows put the hall, bathroom and sometimes the kitchen at the centre of the plan, away from every outside wall. Daylight has to arrive through the roof, and a short tube or a compact roof window is usually the least disruptive way to bring it.
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Old extensions with tired flat roofs
Back kitchens and utility rooms added over the years often have a felt or single-ply flat roof that has been patched more than once. Before a rooflight goes in we find out what the covering is made of, because the new upstand has to be sealed into it.
The streets of Havercroft and Ryhill
In the older part of the villages the houses are brick terraces and short rows, with pitched roofs of slate or concrete tile that replaced earlier coverings. Many have a single-storey rear offshoot, and the kitchen inside tends to be the dimmest room in the house. A flat rooflight over the offshoot lifts it more than a bigger window in the same wall could.
Then come the semi-detached houses and short terraces of the middle of the twentieth century, built to a common plan, with simple pitched roofs and regular rafters. Those roofs are the easy ones to read. The rafters run at an even spacing, the loft hatch is on the landing, and a roof window can be placed over the stairs or at the back with little guesswork.
Bungalows make up a good share of the later building, and a bungalow roof suits a roof window well. If a bedroom is wanted in the roof, the escape rules can accept a roof window as the way out, provided its opening is big enough and the sill is at the right height. We measure both at survey, so the answer comes before the quote and not after it.
On the edges, closes of newer houses have trussed roofs with little free space between members. A cut wider than the space between neighbouring trusses becomes structural work, with a beam or trimming designed and approved before the order is placed. We would rather tell you that at the first visit than discover it with the tiles off.
On the edges of both villages some slopes face open fields and take more wind than the streets tucked between houses. We read each roof's aspect and the shelter around it, then set the flashing and the glass to match.
Garden outbuildings and detached garages sometimes get converted into offices or gyms, and a flat rooflight is a tidy way to light one without opening a wall. We look at the roof structure of an outbuilding as carefully as a house, since garden buildings are often lightly framed and glass is heavier than the sheeting it displaces.
Take the rear offshoot, where a flat rooflight lights the kitchen. The parts that wear are the upstand where the rooflight meets the covering and the seals around the glass, while the frame and kerb can last through several glass changes. Inside, the blind and lining are the simple parts to swap. If the glass fails, the unit can often be exchanged from above, leaving the roof covering undisturbed. If the covering beneath is old felt, it may be better to renew it at the same time, and the quote would then spell out the extra work. At survey we lift an edge of the covering, check the fall, look at the joists under the opening and note how far the offshoot roof is from the main wall.
What suits Havercroft houses
Sun tunnels and small roof windows answer the bungalows, flat rooflights answer the old back kitchens, and a replacement unit answers a roof where an earlier light has clouded. The quote says which pieces of each unit will tire first and whether changing them means opening the roof.
Sun TunnelsFor the hall and bathroom at the heart of a bungalow, where a short run from the ridge side to the ceiling does the work of a window.
Roof WindowsFor lofts being turned into bedrooms or studies in the brick semis, cut in to suit the spacing of the rafters and flashed into the tile.
Flat Roof RooflightsOver rear offshoots and extensions on the older terraces, where the middle of the floor stays dark whatever the wall windows do.
Misted & Failed Rooflight UnitsFor lights fitted years ago and now cloudy or damp at the edge, where we look at whether the glass alone can be swapped.
Electric & Opening RooflightsFor a rooflight set high over a stair or beyond arm's reach at the worktop, with a motor that is listed in the plan and can be replaced separately.
Roof LanternsFor the larger extensions on the newer closes, where a dining area wants light from above and the structure has been checked to carry it.
Consent in Havercroft: Wakefield's side of the line
City of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council
A planning decision for Havercroft would be made at Wakefield. Plenty of houses can take a rooflight on a back slope with no application, the rules behind that apply nationwide, and our planning guide works through them, so they are not rehearsed here. Tell us if you are thinking of a lantern that stands tall, since height is what can take it past those rights.
Wakefield's conservation boundaries are absent from the national planning dataset, so no desk check for Havercroft can settle it one way or the other. When we visit, your house goes onto the council's own conservation mapping, and any control that applies is explained before you choose a unit.
Flats, maisonettes and houses divided into separate homes cannot rely on permitted development for roof alterations. Putting a rooflight into one takes planning consent with the landlord agreeing to it. When you ring, mention it if that describes your home and we will explain the route.
Conservation areas
The national dataset carries nothing from Wakefield on conservation boundaries, so your street is looked up on the council's own mapping during the visit, and you hear the result first.
Because the work is controlled, Building Control must be told, and we send the notice. An officer from Wakefield might do the inspection, or someone on the private register, and a purchaser's solicitor will ask for the certificate when you sell.
Havercroft, Ryhill and the ring of villages
The closest of our pages is Fitzwilliam, a little over a mile off to the north-east. Hemsworth lies east at about two miles, and Crofton sits a similar distance north-west. Royston is nearly three miles south-west, Ackworth Moor Top just under three north-east, and Grimethorpe and Cudworth are each a shade over three miles south. South Kirkby is close to four miles south-east. Between them they take in the former pit villages, older market-town centres and commuter closes at the edges, so the housing differs from one page to the next. If you and a neighbour both want a survey, one visit can often cover the pair. Go to the page nearest your street.
Havercroft
Havercroft: first visit to the fifth winter
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Survey
Measuring a loft and a slope at Havercroft
Havercroft is 22.2 road miles from central Sheffield, about 40 minutes by car heading north, and the survey is booked for a time that suits the household. Up in the roof space we look at rafters, felt and any boarding, then read the slope from the garden. A bungalow gets its ceiling heights and the position of the hall measured, because that decides where a tube or a window can land. We also ask which room the light is for, since the answer changes the glass: a bedroom wants control of heat and glare, a hall wants all the daylight it can get.
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Fitting day
A tiled roof opened and closed in a day
The tiles nearest the opening are lifted row by row and stacked for reuse. The frame is screwed to the rafters, and the flashing is laid so that every lap throws water onto the next. A sheet protects the room beneath. Old flashing, felt or rotten timber found round the opening is shown to you before we close it up, and the quote covers what we do about it. A hose test ends the day.
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First frost
What to look at when the weather turns
Havercroft's first hard frost after fitting is a fair test of a new unit. A haze on the inner pane on a cold morning usually reflects damp air in the room, most often over a bathroom or kitchen, and an opened sash or a trickle vent clears it. A line of damp at the edge of the reveal is the sign to ring us.
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Year 5
The fifth-year look at seals and gear
By the fifth year the seals, the flashing and any opening gear are due a second look. The plan that came with your quote names every part that wears and how each one is swapped, by working inside or out on the slope, and whether the tiles round the frame would need to be lifted.
Havercroft and Ryhill rooflight questions
Is a bungalow roof suitable for a loft room with a roof window?
Often, yes. The window can double as the escape route as long as the clear opening and the sill height both meet the rules. We take both measurements at survey, so you know before the quote whether the room will pass.
Can a sun tunnel stand in for a window in a hallway?
It does a different job, and often a good one. A dome, a reflective tube and a ceiling diffuser carry daylight into an interior hall or bathroom. How far the tube must run, and what stands in the loft, comes out at the survey.
Is there a conservation area I should know about in Havercroft?
Wakefield keeps its conservation boundaries out of the national dataset, so a yes or no from here would be a guess. On the visit your address is set against the council's mapping, and we say if anything extra applies.
How long does the guarantee last?
The installation carries a 10-year guarantee. The written quote sits alongside it with a life plan for the unit, so what will be needed in later years is known from the start.
Do you work in Ryhill as well as Havercroft?
Yes. Ryhill is part of the same area, with the same survey and quote. Fitzwilliam, Hemsworth, Crofton and Royston have pages of their own if you live closer to one of them.
Can a trussed roof in a newer Havercroft close take a rooflight?
The opening is structural work. A truss is a continuous frame, so a cut wider than the space between neighbouring trusses needs a trimmer designed to carry the load, and that design is agreed before the frame is ordered. A narrow rooflight placed between trusses can avoid the cut altogether. At survey we measure the truss spacing and say which route fits, before any price is written.