- FROM SWANSEA:
- 15.61 mi, road distance
- COUNCIL:
- Carmarthenshire
- HOMES:
- grouped by roof type
Skylight and rooflight fitting in Cross Hands
Four villages share one built-up area here, and a rooflight on any of their roofs has the same job in the wet: shed the water, keep the room dry.
Free survey / fixed written quote / Building Control notification handled / 10-year workmanship guarantee
Standing water on a Cross Hands extension roof
Rain does its worst damage to a rooflight when it stops moving. On a flat roof over a back extension, a shallow dip beside the kerb can hold a puddle against the frame for days, and the glass above it never quite dries. Manufacturers typically ask for some fall across a flat rooflight, and Rainclear's installation guide puts the figure at a minimum of 5° on the kerb.
Pitch matters for the glass made to suit it, too. For its flat roof dome, VELUX names pitches from 0 to 15°, and the range for its low-pitch roof window runs from 10 to 20°. A roof that sits between those ranges needs the right product matched to it, which is why a survey comes before a price.
On the underside the story changes. Cooking, showering and drying clothes fill a room with water vapour, and it collects wherever the surface is coldest. A rooflight glazed to the Welsh energy guidance keeps its inner pane warmer than an old single-glazed unit would, and an extractor that runs long enough takes the damp air out before it reaches the glass.
Then there is the outside face, which on a low roof is hard to wipe. Pilkington names roof glazing among the places its Activ range suits: daylight starts breaking the grime down, and a shower carries it off the pane. A pane that tidies itself is a fair choice where a ladder is a big undertaking.
A clouded unit is a different fault from a wet one. An old extension rooflight with fog trapped between its panes has lost the seal on its glazing, and cleaning the outside will not bring it back. Whether a new sealed unit or a whole new rooflight is the better fix depends on the frame and the kerb, and the survey is where that gets decided.
Rain also has a voice. Water drumming on glass carries into the room below in a way slate does not, and some VELUX glazing comes with a rain noise reduction option. For a kitchen extension that is also somebody's dining room, that is a question to ask at the survey.
| House type | Roof shape | Glass to consider |
|---|---|---|
| Terraces from the mining era | pitched, covered in slate or tile | roof window in the back slope |
| Semis from later decades | pitched, concrete or clay tile | roof window or light tube |
| Flat-roofed back extensions | flat, on a kerb | flat rooflight with a fall |
| Bungalows with a loft void | pitched, hipped or gabled | roof window or tubular light |
| Garage conversions | flat or low-pitched | rooflight sized to the span |
- VILLAGE:
- Carmarthenshire
- BUILT-UP AREA:
- 5,717 (2011)
- PUBLIC HALL:
- Grade II* listed
Cross Hands and the villages beside it
Cross Hands is a village in Carmarthenshire. The continuous built-up area that takes in Cross Hands, Gorslas, Cefneithin and Pen-y-groes had 5,717 residents in 2011, so the roofs here are shared among four village names with no clear break between them.
Coal shaped the place. The village housed many of the anthracite miners who worked in the nearby mines, Tumble among them. Terraces of that era are often pitched-roofed with small back rooms, though that is general to the type and says nothing certain about your own house. The A476 runs through, and in December 2012 the county council announced plans for a new road so that traffic could bypass the congested Cross Hands roundabout.
The Public Hall was put up in 1920 and is credited to an unknown Italian designer working in a classic Art Deco style. Restored, it has a working stage and cinema screen, and it is protected as a Grade II* listed building. A listed roof sits under a different set of rules from the house next door, and the second chapter below picks that up.
Swansea is 15.61 road miles away, with Cross Hands north-west of it, which puts the village well within the radius we cover. Our work takes in Tumble and Capel Hendre as well, and Saron and Foelgastell are close by too. Whichever village the house is in, the survey looks at that roof and that room.
- 1920Public Hall erected
- 5,717built-up area residents, 2011
- 15.61road miles, Swansea to here
- PLANNING:
- Carmarthenshire planners
- LISTED HOUSE:
- consent needed
- FLATS:
- no householder rights
Listings, consent and Carmarthenshire's planning desk
Carmarthenshire County Council takes planning applications for Cross Hands addresses. When a house has no special designation, the rules on whether a rooflight needs an application are set out in the planning guide for Wales, and the answer turns on the size of the projection and the part of the roof involved.
Listing changes the picture. In Wales, an alteration that would affect a listed building's character as a building of special architectural or historic interest needs listed building consent, under the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023. Cadw, the Welsh Government's historic environment service, adds that the consent reaches fixtures and details inside as well as out, and that quite minor jobs can need it. Householder rights do not remove that requirement, and the planning authority receives the application. Cadw also publishes every listed building record in Cof Cymru, the National Historic Assets of Wales, so a house's status can be looked up before any plans are drawn.
The energy rules treat period homes with some flexibility. Where a replacement roof window on a home of architectural or historic interest cannot reach 1.4 W/m²K, Approved Document L (Wales) allows 1.2 W/m²K at the centre of the pane, or low-e secondary glazing. Rooflights get no such fallback. For a period roof, conservation rooflights are the range to ask about.
Householder rights skip flats and maisonettes entirely. Councils can withdraw them from houses through an Article 4 direction, and a planning condition attached to the first permission may have done so already. Where any of that is unclear, the council's Lawful Development Certificate gives formal certainty before a slate is lifted.
Building Regulations run on a separate track. Fitting a new rooflight generally needs approval, since forming the opening usually alters the roof's structure, and the glass adds weight the roof must bear. You can pick the building control body: the council's own team or a registered building control approver. For notifiable work, whichever body you choose receives our notification.
- EXTENSION:
- kerb-mounted rooflight
- LANDING:
- light tube
- LOFT:
- window in the slope
A kitchen extension, a landing and a loft room
A back extension is where glass in the roof earns its keep, because a new room can be the deepest in the house. A flat roof rooflight carries light to the worktop from straight above. Approved Document L defines a rooflight as a glazed unit set on a kerb or upstand, and a new or replacement one in an existing home should reach 2.2 W/m²K. A lantern is a separate case: for one planned over a new extension, the council gives the answer and we ask.
The roof over a hall or landing poses a different puzzle. There may be no outer wall for a window and a loft directly above. A sun tunnel sends daylight along a mirrored tube, with a small dome at the top and a diffuser in the ceiling at the bottom, and a dome that size gives drizzle little to hold on to.
A loft room asks for a roof window, which Approved Document L (Wales) guides to 1.4 W/m²K or Window Energy Rating Band B when new or replacing. For a bedroom you want aired while the forecast turns, VELUX's solar and electric range has an integrated sensor that closes the sash as soon as rain begins.
A garage turned into a living room has the opposite worry, a wide ceiling with very little glass in it. A rooflight over the middle of that span does the job a window in a far wall cannot, and its glass size is something the survey measures. Where an opening is widened or a fresh one cut, the Welsh energy guidance also caps what windows and doors may add up to against the home's floor area, so a run of new openings is worth adding up first. That sum, with the size of the span and the roof beneath, is checked at the survey.
Whatever the room, the first visit costs nothing, the quote that follows is a fixed written quote, and our workmanship guarantee runs for 10 years, set out in writing. Ring 01792 929062 or book your survey online.
Kerb-mounted rooflight
- stands on a kerb over the flat deck
- needs a fall so water runs away
- lights the middle of a deep room
Light tube
- a small dome with a tube beneath it
- reaches rooms with no outer wall
- threads past the loft above
Questions from Cross Hands
Which council deals with a rooflight application for a Cross Hands house?
Carmarthenshire County Council takes the planning application, whether the house is in the middle of the village or on its edge. For building control you choose between its own team and a registered building control approver, and the two decisions differ: one weighs how the roof will look, the other how the work is built.
Why does water collect on the rooflight over my extension?
A flat rooflight sheds what lands on it only when its kerb carries a fall. A dip, a blocked outlet or a kerb set dead level lets a puddle sit against the glass. Rainclear's guide asks for at least 5° on the kerb, and a new unit on a corrected kerb can cure it. Our answer on water that stays on a flat rooflight goes into the causes.
My loft roof window is old. Can the same size be fitted again?
It can. Open the sash and look along its top edge: VELUX fixes a metal plate there carrying the size code, which gives the window's width and height. Anything made after 1968 has the plate, so an older loft conversion in the village will usually give you a code to read. The new window should meet the Welsh guidance figure of 1.4 W/m²K or Window Energy Rating Band B.
How far is the drive from Swansea?
Cross Hands is 15.61 road miles out, north-west of Swansea. Our area runs 30 road miles from the city across Carmarthenshire, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend.
Does replacing just the glass in an old rooflight count as building work?
Keeping the existing frame and changing only the glass sits outside the energy rules. Putting in a matching roof window or rooflight in place of the old one is building work, and so is fitting a new one. A misted rooflight is one reason people ask, because its sealed unit has failed and the choice is how much to replace.
What comes first, the price or the visit?
The visit comes first, and it is free. We look over the roof and the room, then send a fixed written quote, because glass in a roof cannot be priced from a photograph. When the job is finished the 10-year workmanship guarantee is given in writing, and the terms are on our guarantee page.
Nearby towns we also cover
Bulletin Cross Hands
Book your free survey
- Survey:
- before we price
- Quote:
- fixed, in writing
- Guarantee:
- 10 years on our workmanship, in writing
No obligation. Building Control notification handled where the work is notifiable.