Skylights & rooflights in Stocksbridge

Garden Village is its own pocket, with a more planned layout and a different feel from the terraces around it. Houses there are often semi-detached, with gardens and regular roofs, and they respond well to a window set in the rear slope or a tube for a dark landing. Light for a bathroom is possible too, and the answer depends on the loft above it.

On the slopes above the town, later estates of semis and bungalows spread out in brick under concrete tile. Gardens fall away, and many houses have been extended to the back. A flat extension roof there is a good place for a rooflight or a lantern, provided the covering is sound enough to join to and the joists can take the trimming.

Across the whole town, the exposure decides more than the type of house. A south-facing slope in a sheltered fold can take a large opening sash, while a west-facing roof on the open hillside is better with a fixed unit and a very careful flashing. We assess each roof for what is in front of it, then match the unit to the slope.

Roof pitch varies across the town. The stone terraces carry a moderate pitch that suits a standard roof window, while the later estates have lower pitches in places, where a flat rooflight or a low-profile unit sheds water more reliably. We read the pitch at survey with a level, not by eye, and the unit is chosen from that figure.

Several streets here have a long run of identical houses, which raises the question of whether one survey covers the row. It does not, because even matching houses differ inside the loft: one owner has laid boards, another has added insulation, a third has taken out part of a purlin. We survey each house on its own merits, though the first one in a row tells us a great deal.

Lofts in a cold climate need to be kept dry. A rooflight set into a poorly insulated roof can become a cold spot that collects condensation on its inner face, so the insulation around the frame is part of the job, not an add-on. We bring the lining of the reveal down in line with the room's ceiling and seal the vapour layer to the frame.

Access shapes the quote on the steeper roads. A delivery of long frames or a lantern cannot always reach the door by van, so we ask about the gradient, the width of the road and the neighbours' drives at the first call. Sometimes the glass is carried the last stretch by hand, and the date is set around that.

Return to the stone terraces, because their narrow lofts shape every choice. On a flush roof window in a stone slate slope, the flashing and the seals age while the stone barely changes. Indoors, the glazed sash, blind and handle are changeable on a visit without opening the roof, provided the frame was chosen with that in mind. At survey in these houses we check the width between rafters, the state of the timber where a cut will be made, and whether a chimney breast or party wall stands close to the planned position. A terrace row often shares a wall at the ridge, so we also look at how the flashing will meet it and where the water will run once it is fitted.