Skylights & rooflights in Market Warsop

Post-war building came as council and private estates, with semis and short terraces under concrete-tile roofs, and with bungalows set on wider plots. The roofs are regular and the loft hatches are on the landing, which makes them straightforward to survey. Many of these homes have since gained an extension, with a flat roof that suits a lantern or a flat rooflight. Bungalows on the wider plots often have a roof space that was never boarded, so a tube can run from slope to ceiling with very little disturbance and almost no mess indoors.

Church Warsop sits close to Market Warsop and shares much of its housing, with older stone and brick near the church and later building spreading out from it. Where stone or older slate roofs survive, the slates are stacked as they come off and relaid, because matching them later is difficult.

Newer closes at the village edges bring modern brick houses under trussed roofs. A truss is designed as a frame, so an opening that cuts through one needs an engineer's detail. Before pricing anything we find out what kind of roof you have. Where a loft is boarded for storage, we ask you to clear a path to the position of the opening before survey.

Flats are few, but converted houses and flats above shops do exist near the centre, and they follow different rules. A roof alteration over a flat needs consent from the freeholder as well as the council, so we ask who owns the roof at the first call.

Outbuildings add another group of roofs, and they are easy to overlook. Garages with light pitched roofs, brick-built workshops and sheds converted to home offices are common in the back lanes and cul-de-sacs, and a small rooflight in one of them can turn a dark box into a room that is pleasant to work in. These roofs are light, and the sheeting or boarding on them is thin, so we look at what is underneath before we agree to cut. A simple timber frame is usually built round the opening to carry the load, and the covering is carried up to it as on any other flat roof.

In a short brick terrace with a stack shared between neighbours, a roof window is a modest unit and it ages modestly. The slate or old tile around it is the main thing to look after, so the flashing is chosen to suit that covering and written into the plan as a checkpoint. Sash seals and handle are the parts that move, and either can be changed by someone standing in the room. The pane is sealed and can be exchanged without disturbing the covering. What the survey checks here is the rafters beside the stack, where a lining can hide old damp, and the line of the party wall, since an opening should leave the neighbour's side alone. We also look at the loft floor, which in a house of this age may be a few thin boards over the ceiling joists.