Skylights and rooflights in Trimsaran

Trimsaran is a community in Carmarthenshire, close to Burry Port harbour, Pembrey Country Park and the Millennium Coastal Park.

Coal shaped the place. By 1896 the Inspector of Mines noted that Trimsaran employed 144 men, producing coal, anthracite and fireclay. By the early 1900s three drift mines made up Trimsaran colliery: Caedean, the deepest, then Waunhir and the Upper Slant. They were joined underground and on the surface by a tramway. Waunhir and Caedean employed 198 men in 1908, and by 1918 the workforce had grown to 435. In 1923, 352 men worked at Caedean Slant, 63 at the Upper Slant and 126 at Waunhir.

Between 1909 and 1953, Trimsaran Road railway station on the Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway served the miners and the residents of the village and the locality.

Change has come to the land since. A 608-acre site in the area has been approved for redevelopment as a coarse fishing lake and a quad bike and mountain biking centre, and after that a horse racing course, a training centre and a grandstand for 1,000 spectators have been proposed for it, with a hotel and up to 250 houses to be built there too.

Seen from Swansea, Trimsaran lies 16.73 road miles away on a north-west line, comfortably inside the range we cover. A visit here can be combined with work in Carway or Burry Port.

Whatever the age of a house, the same question applies to its roof. Which way does it face, how steep is it, and what is it covered with? The answers tell us what a window or rooflight will have to cope with, and they come from the survey rather than from the history books.

Houses from different periods bring different roofs, and a roof survey meets each of them. Older cottage roofs can be slate and modest in size. Later houses and bungalows have their own pitches and coverings. Those are general patterns by house type, and what matters is the roof you actually have.

Where a Trimsaran roof already has a window or rooflight in it, replacing it is a different job from cutting a fresh opening. The work starts with what is up there now.

On a VELUX, the clue is a small metal plate fixed to the top of the sash, which you can see once the window is swung open. The code on it records the width and height, and the maker has fitted one to every window made after 1968. A matching code means a matching size, which makes the swap simpler than starting from nothing. Other makes have their own marks, and we read those at the survey.

A replacement comes with obligations. Under Approved Document L (Wales), a new or replacement roof window should reach 1.4 W/m²K or Window Energy Rating Band B, and a rooflight 2.2 W/m²K. Ventilation should not get worse either. An old frame fitted with trickle vents passes the duty on: the vents in its successor should match them in size, and be controllable by the occupant or automatically. Fitting only new glass into a frame you keep is not building work under the energy rules, and a whole replacement is.

If the glazing has clouded between the panes, the seal has gone. Our misted rooflights page explains the choice between a new sealed unit and a new rooflight. If an old roof window leaks at the flashing instead, the survey says what is needed.

Electric opening is worth a look at the same time. On the VELUX solar and electric models there is an integrated rain sensor, so a window in a hard-to-reach spot can be left open for air while nobody is in. The VELUX windows page covers the range.

Position counts as much as product. A window that is set high in the slope lets in more of the sky, while one set lower gives a view and is easier to reach. On a roof where the old unit was fitted in a hurry, the best place for its successor may be a hand's width away from where it was. The survey marks out the options on the roof and from inside the room, so the choice can be made with the rafters in view.

Planning belongs to Carmarthenshire County Council here. Trimsaran lies beyond the Gower AONB, so that protected-land rule has no bearing here. On a house, a rooflight may need no application when it stays within limits on projection and height. Those are laid out on our skylight planning page for Wales, with the extra condition that applies to some side slopes.

Not everyone starts from the same place. Flats and maisonettes cannot use the householder rules. Some streets lose the rules through an Article 4 direction. A single house can lose them through a condition on its own planning permission. A listed building is separate again: where a rooflight would affect its character, listed building consent is applied for through the council, under the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023, and Cadw publishes the listing records.

When you cannot tell which camp your house falls into, ask the planning team, and think about requesting a Lawful Development Certificate so the reply is recorded. It takes some patience at the start and gives you a document to keep.

Building Regulations are a second, separate approval. Replacing a roof window is building work, and so is fitting a new one, though a new opening generally needs Building Regulations approval. We deal with the Building Regulations notification where the work is notifiable, through local authority building control or a registered building control approver.

With the paperwork clear, the order of events is the free survey, then the fixed written quote, then the work, then a ten-year workmanship guarantee in writing. Call 01792 929062 or send your details through the form.

The energy figures bear repeating here. Under Approved Document L (Wales), a new or replacement roof window should reach 1.4 W/m²K or Window Energy Rating Band B, and a rooflight 2.2 W/m²K, and the installed unit should be well fitted and reasonably draught-proof.