Skylights and rooflights in Corntown

Wikipedia describes Corntown as a village, and gives its Welsh name as Corntwn. It sits in the Vale of Glamorgan, so its council is the Vale of Glamorgan Council rather than Bridgend County Borough Council.

One building stands out in the sources: Corntown Court, a Grade II listed house, described as a historical house in the village. The only other detail we hold is a date. Edward Morse was ordained at Corntown on 4 July 1845.

The practical points are shorter. Swansea is the starting point for our distances, and Corntown falls inside the ring at 23 road miles, to the south-east. Close by are Bridgend and Colwinston, and we fit skylights in both.

Beyond the court, our sources say nothing about the housing, so the advice in the table is general. A house that has been altered over the years may behave differently from its original design, and a house that has never been touched may be more delicate than it looks. Which of those you own is something a survey sorts out, and the sort of thing the visit is best at.

Knowing your house's age and history before the visit helps. If you have plans, deeds or an earlier planning decision, keep them to hand, because a listing, a condition or an extension can all change what the roof will allow.

A planning application for a Corntown address goes to the Vale of Glamorgan Council. Whether you need one is covered by our Welsh planning guide for rooflights, which takes the questions in order. Corntown lies outside the Gower AONB, so that designation's rules do not apply.

Listed houses are where the paperwork matters most. Altering a listed building in a way that affects its special architectural or historic character needs listed building consent, now under the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023. The consent covers inside work as well as outside, including fittings and details. Cadw has said that replacing traditional windows on a listed building with uPVC will not normally be acceptable, which shows how carefully materials get read.

Planning permission and listed building consent are separate. A house can need one without the other, and permitted development does not remove the need for consent on a listed building. The council that handles planning, here the Vale of Glamorgan, also takes the consent application.

Householder permitted development rights do not exist for flats and maisonettes. Houses can also lose theirs, where the council has made an Article 4 direction or where the first planning permission came with a restricting condition. For a formal answer in a document before work begins, ask the council about a Lawful Development Certificate.

The Building Regulations are a parallel matter. Fitting a rooflight counts as controlled work, and a new one generally needs approval: forming the opening usually changes the structure of the roof, which must then carry the load. Approved Document L (Wales) expects a new or replacement roof window to reach 1.4 W/m²K or Window Energy Rating Band B, and a rooflight on a kerb or upstand to reach 2.2 W/m²K. The checking body is your choice, the council's building control team or a registered approver, and where the work is notifiable we handle the notification.

Ventilation counts in a replacement as well. Vents built into the old frame set a floor for the new one, which should offer an opening of the same size or larger. Glazing safety is dealt with in Approved Document N for Wales, and a roof window serving as an escape route from an upper room has to be built and fixed as an escape window, as the roof windows page explains.

Roof glass has a few options that bear on all this. VELUX lists a coating that makes the pane easier to clean, and a laminated inner pane that stops glass falling into the room should it break by accident. Availability changes from one window to the next and from one glazing variant to the next, so ask for the list while you are choosing.

Pitch is the first thing to measure, because manufacturers design products for a range of it. For roofs that are only slightly inclined, VELUX offers a low-pitch roof window made for slopes of 10 to 20 degrees, and the flat dome picks up below that. Together they deal with a lean-to or a gently sloping extension. A standard roof window belongs on a steeper slope.

For a steep slope, the roof windows page explains top-hung and centre-pivot opening. A top-hung window opens like a hatch. A centre-pivot turns on a central axis, which suits cleaning the outer pane from indoors.

Flat additions bring flat roof rooflights and roof lanterns into play. For lanterns, Brett Martin recommends a level upstand. A tilt of up to 5 degrees is possible, but the company cautions that it will probably look lopsided. Where a lantern forms part of an extension that has yet to be built, we check the position with the council first.

VELUX describes its flat and curved glass rooflights as available double or triple glazed, aimed by the maker at energy efficiency and at reducing sound. For a quieter and warmer room, energy-efficient rooflights explains the options.

Rain sensors need a mention for anyone choosing an opening window. VELUX fits an integrated one to its electric and solar roof windows, and it closes the window automatically when rain starts. See electric opening rooflights for how these units work.

A stair or hallway with no outside wall can use a sun tunnel instead, made of a roof dome, a reflective tube crossing the loft and a diffuser that finishes the run at the ceiling of the room below.

An older or listed house may suit a conservation rooflight, and a misted unit in any house can be replaced: see misted rooflights.

To begin, call 01792 929062 or use the quote form. The survey is free, the written quote is fixed, and a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing follows the work.