Rooflights and skylights fitted in Pembrey

Pembrey, Pen-bre in Welsh, is a village in Carmarthenshire between Burry Port and Kidwelly. It had a population of about 2,154 at the 2011 census. The coastline began to retreat from the foot of Pembrey Mountain around 6,000 years ago, which uncovered land that people have occupied since the Iron Age. Hill forts here date from about 400 BC.

The mountain, Mynydd Penbre, was thoroughly mined by Welsh and English companies for about a century, and some reserves are said to remain underground. Roman pottery has been unearthed in the oldest parts of the village, evidence of an early Norman motte-and-bailey castle has been suggested near the village square, and buildings from later Norman times remain. Arnold le Boteler, a Norman squire of the 12th century, lived here.

The 20th century brought RAF Pembrey, which played a part in Britain's defences as home to fighter and bomber aircraft. A station called Pembrey served the village on the Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway between 1909 and 1953. The railway station now called Pembrey and Burry Port stands in Burry Port, on the West Wales line.

Pembrey lies west of Swansea, about 19 miles on the road, and so inside the area we cover. By the 2021 Census, Pembrey's built-up area held 2,094 usual residents. Burry Port and Kidwelly are the neighbours either side.

A place with a history this deep can have houses of many ages. We cannot say what a Pembrey street is built of from records like these, so we read each roof as it comes. What we can say is general: a steep slate slope, a gentle tiled pitch and a level extension each ask for a different kind of glass.

Villages with a long past collect additions. A back kitchen tacked on to a house of any age usually has a flat or low roof, and a flat roof is where a standing-water problem starts. Knowing that, the survey looks at the fall before it looks at the glass.

Pembrey's planning decisions come from Carmarthenshire County Council, so check an individual address with the council. The village lies outside the Gower AONB.

Flat-roofed extensions raise the question about lanterns. A lantern usually sits high on its upstand. Putting one onto an existing level roof will normally need a planning application, since that is beyond permitted development. For flush glass, the limits are in what Wales allows for rooflights on houses. Where a lantern would belong to a wholly new extension, the position is not settled, and we put that question to the council at survey.

Beyond planning, Building Regulations have a say. Cutting a fresh opening in a roof generally brings Building Regulations approval with it, as the structure is usually changed and must hold the new weight. If the work is notifiable we take care of the Building Regulations notification, going either to local authority building control or to a registered building control approver.

Replacements are simpler. A like-for-like swap of a roof window counts as building work, while a repair does not. Re-glazing inside the old frame falls outside the energy rules' idea of building work.

Know your status before you ring anybody. Flats and maisonettes carry no householder permitted development rights. A house whose original consent carries a condition removing them is in the same position.

Start from the loft bedroom. A top-hung window opens clear of the head, and a centre-pivot window turns so the outside can be cleaned from within. Read the choice from the room: who sleeps there, how high the sill is and where the bed sits. See roof windows for both types.

An electric opener earns its keep in that room. VELUX solar and electric windows come with a rain sensor that closes the window on its own when rain starts, so air can come in during the day without a worry about the afternoon. Electric opening rooflights are the page to read for the motor and the controls.

The bathroom is the second test. Steam rises straight to a roof window above the bath, and the pane needs to stay warm enough that it does not run with water. Mist between the panes normally points to a failed seal, and swapping units like that is part of the job: see misted rooflights. Any new or replacement roof window should reach 1.4 W/m²K or Window Energy Rating Band B under Approved Document L (Wales).

A flat-roofed kitchen at the back takes either a roof lantern or a level pane on a kerb, and a rooflight on a kerb should reach 2.2 W/m²K. For a lantern, the figure to work to is agreed with the building control body and never assumed.

A bedroom facing the bay may want a quieter pane. The glazing list for VELUX roof windows includes a rain noise reduction choice on some variants, so ask us which suits the size you need.

A free survey opens every job here. A fixed written quote follows, and the guarantee on our workmanship runs ten years, on paper. Ring 01792 929062 or book your survey.

Light from overhead falls on the worktop and the floor, where light from a side window mostly reaches the nearest wall. One lantern can therefore serve a deep kitchen that two small side windows could not. Size it to the room and the roof underneath, in that order, and let the survey say what the structure allows.

A landing without a window deserves a thought too. Where a loft or a box room sits above it, a sun tunnel routes light down from a small dome, and a quick look in the roof space shows whether a straight run is possible.

Whatever you choose, leave room for access. A pane over a stair is awkward to reach, and glass that nobody can clean ends up dull. Tell us at the survey who will be cleaning it and how, and we can suggest a position and a type that keep the job manageable.