Skylight and rooflight fitting in Cilfrew

Cilfrew, which is Cil-ffriw in Welsh, lies in Neath Port Talbot, and its planning authority is Neath Port Talbot Council. Reaching it from Swansea takes about 11 miles of road heading north-east, which keeps it inside our service radius. The Gower AONB lies beyond it.

Surveys in Tonna, Neath, Alltwen and Rhos run the same way. A job in one of them is the same job in any other: a survey first, a written quote, a guarantee at the end.

Extra space under the roof needs light and a way out, and a roof window can supply both. A flat extension roof at the back of a house has its own claim on the daylight, and a landing with no outside wall has another.

Nothing in that list can be settled from the pavement. The pitch of the roof, the position of the stair and the state of any existing opening only show up when someone goes and looks. The survey is free, and it is where the options turn into a recommendation.

To ask for one, ring 01792 929062, message us on WhatsApp or write to info@horizonskylightsswansea.co.uk.

A loft room has to be safe to sleep in as well as bright, and a roof window can take on the job of the way out. That is a matter for Approved Document B (Wales), which sets a minimum size for the opening and a maximum height for its lower edge. Our Building Regulations guide for Wales is the place to start reading about it.

Planning comes next. Neath Port Talbot Council decides applications for Cilfrew, and the conditions that settle whether a particular house needs one are in our planning guide for Wales. Houses are where the householder rights start, because flats and maisonettes never had them, although an Article 4 direction, or a clause in the first consent, can still take them from a house.

A listed house needs listed building consent for work that alters its special interest. In Wales that duty now comes from the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023, the council receives the application, and Cadw is the Welsh Government body for the historic environment.

Two kinds of building control body operate in Wales: the local authority service and the private registered building control approvers. Private approvers are overseen by the Building Safety Regulator, and the council's own service is regulated by the Welsh Ministers.

Building control is a separate process, and the Welsh rules let you pick the body. Approval is generally needed to put in a new rooflight, since forming the hole usually involves structural work on the roof, and the roof must take the new weight. We handle the Building Regulations notification where the work is notifiable, through the local authority service or a registered building control approver.

Swapping a window raises one more point, which is the air in the house. Approved Document F (Wales) wants ventilation to be no worse after a replacement than it was before, so a new roof window should carry vents at least as large as the ones it replaces, where the old window had any. Whoever fits the unit has to keep that in view, and so does the person choosing it.

Energy is the last of the three. A new or replacement roof window should reach 1.4 W/m²K or Band B on the Window Energy Rating scale, which is the Welsh limit in Approved Document L.

Two styles of roof window suit loft rooms. A top-hung sash is hinged along its upper edge, and a centre-pivot sash turns on a horizontal axis through the middle of the frame. Which suits a given room depends on the height of the sill, the headroom beneath the window and how you want to reach the outside pane. Our guide to centre-pivot or top-hung compares the two, and the main roof windows page shows the range.

A loft window that is awkward to reach may be better with a motor. VELUX solar and electric roof windows have a rain sensor built in, and the sash shuts on its own as the first rain arrives. For a room that is aired by day and empty, that takes the forecast out of the daily routine. The electric opening rooflights page goes through how they work.

Dark stairs below a loft deserve a thought as well. A sun tunnel carries light from a small roof dome through a reflective tube into a diffuser set in the ceiling, and the roof only gets a small opening for it. That suits a landing where there is no obvious place for a roof window.

If the ground floor has a flat-roofed kitchen at the back, glass on a kerb (flat rooflights) or roof lanterns can bring it daylight from above. In Wales a rooflight on a kerb should reach 2.2 W/m²K, and the figure for a lantern on a new extension is one we agree with the council.

A bathroom under the slope is the room where a roof window works hardest. Steam rises to the glass, so an extractor or a vent matters as much as the unit itself, and a window that opens lets the room clear in minutes when the weather allows. In a wet week the extractor does the work.

Size is worth a moment. VELUX lists each roof window by a size code with a width and a height, and a swap in the same size leaves the opening as it was. A larger window means a larger opening, which brings the roof structure into the work and Building Regulations approval with it.

An old unit that has misted between its panes is a different question. Our page on misted rooflights explains how replacing the glass compares with replacing the whole unit.

Nothing is priced before the free survey. The quote that follows is fixed and written, and the 10-year workmanship guarantee arrives in writing once the job is done. Phone 01792 929062 or book from the form.