Skylights & rooflights in Lepton

Round that core, the village has spread into streets of inter-war and post-war semis and detached houses, and later cul-de-sacs of modern homes. Most carry concrete or clay tile on timber that is easier to work than an old stone roof, but newer trussed roofs bring their own limit: a hole wider than the spacing of the trusses needs an engineer's design first.

Fenay Bridge, which lies out to one side of the village, has its own mix of older and later houses, and the same rule applies. We do not assume one roof from another by the postcode. At survey we sight along the slope, check the covering and note what the structure underneath will take.

A good many Lepton houses have been given an extension at the rear. That is typically a one-storey kitchen or dining space with a flat or very low pitched roof, and it is where a lantern is most at home, lifting the daylight into the middle of a deep room. We look at the covering, the joists and the way the new roof meets the old wall, and say honestly if the covering is too tired to join to.

Condensation is the other thing that crops up in this sort of house. A family kitchen with a rooflight overhead will see steam rise and meet cold glass in winter, which is why we favour units with warm-edge spacers and an opening sash or vent where the room can take one.

Roof pitch varies as much as the walls do. The older cottages have steep pitches that shed water quickly but make work at height slower, while the bungalows have gentler slopes that call for a flashing made for a lower angle. We note the pitch at survey, since it decides which frame and which flashing kit will keep the weather out, and we put it in the quote.

A back bedroom under a hipped roof, a landing with no window, a bathroom tucked into the middle of a semi: each has a different answer, and it may be a roof window, a sun tunnel or a small flat rooflight. We would rather talk it through room by room than push the same unit at every house.

Light from above also changes how a room feels at the end of the day. A kitchen with a rooflight stays bright when the wall windows have gone dull, and in winter that matters more than the size of the unit.

Storage is another thing to settle. Many people use the loft for boxes, and a new roof window means clearing the area below it and sometimes boarding a safe route to the opening. We tell you what has to move before the day and what we will protect with dust sheets.

A bungalow with a gentle roof slope needs a window chosen for the pitch, and that choice decides how it behaves over the years. At a low angle water leaves slowly, and a leaf or a film of moss can hold it against the frame, so the flashing kit has to be one made for the pitch and the sill detail is the part to inspect. The sash seals, the hardware and the glass pane can all be renewed from the room. If the bungalow loft is a bedroom, the same window may be the way out in a fire, and its sill height and opening size are checked against the rules at survey. We also look at the felt under the tiles at the opening, since on a shallow roof old felt tires sooner than the tiles above it.