Rooflights and skylights fitted in Port Eynon

Port Eynon, also spelt Port Einon, and Porth Einon in Welsh, is a village and community on the far south tip of the Gower Peninsula, within the designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Ordnance Survey maps mark it as Port-Eynon. The community has its own elected community council, and in 2011 it had a population of 597.

The village is fairly small and extends from the beach to the top of the hill. The A4118 from Swansea city centre ends here. There are two pubs, a youth hostel, two fish and chip shops and a gift shop on the sea front, and a cafe and surf shop. The churchyard has gravestones carrying the surname Eynon, and it is believed that a prince built a Port Eynon castle that no longer stands.

By road the village is about 17 miles from Swansea, to the south-west, inside the 30 miles we cover. Our rooflight work also takes us to Reynoldston, Southgate, Gower, Crofty and Bishopston.

The hill matters to a roofer's eye. A village that climbs from beach to summit has roofs at many heights, some looking down on others and some looking out over the beach. A window in a south-facing slope sees a lot of sky, and a house tucked below the brow sees less. Those are differences between positions, and only a look at the property settles them.

How a house is used affects its windows. A house may be a family home, a second home or a let, and each pattern leaves the roof windows in a different state: opened every day, opened at weekends, or opened by whoever arrives. Say which applies, because it influences whether a motor and a rain sensor make sense.

The same goes for what sits on the roof. Slates, tiles, an older flat extension at the back, a loft with its own shape: each wants something different from the glass. The survey costs nothing, and the fixed written quote comes after it.

This is the section that matters most for a Port Eynon house. The village lies inside the Gower AONB, which in Wales is land where a rooflight inserted into a roof slope is not permitted development. Such a rooflight needs a planning application to the City and County of Swansea Council. The council has an AONB page for the landscape designation.

Conservation areas add a second layer. The Welsh Government's map shows areas named Port Eynon and Horton close to the village reference point, 110 metres and 372 metres away. The map is not property-level, so your address is what counts. The council's conservation areas page is the place to look. Treat the map as the start of the enquiry. A rooflight in a conservation area needs planning permission as well.

Inside the AONB boundary, planning permission is the starting point for a new rooflight in a roof slope. Our Welsh planning guide for skylights explains how the rules fit together, and the conservation-area planning page covers the application side.

Other houses begin from different footings. Householder permitted development does not cover flats or maisonettes. An Article 4 direction can strip it from a street, and a condition on an original consent can strip it from a single house. A listed house needs listed building consent, applied for to the council, where the work affects its character. Cadw, the Welsh Government's historic environment service, publishes each listed building record in Cof Cymru.

Listed cottages deserve a word. Cadw says that replacing traditional windows with uPVC on a listed building will not normally be acceptable, and listed building consent covers work inside as well as outside, including historic fixtures and fittings. Starting work with no consent in place can amount to a criminal offence, so put the question to the council before choosing anything for an old frame.

Building Regulations are separate again. A new rooflight generally needs approval, and you choose between the council's building control and a registered building control approver. Where notification is needed, we make it for you. Exchanging an old roof window for an identical new one is building work as well, with its own energy figure to meet.

A lantern is the item to settle with the council early. Putting a lantern on a flat roof already built usually brings a planning application with it. For one that comes with a brand-new extension, the council is the body that answers.

For an older cottage, the sensible start is a conservation rooflight, the type designed with older roofs in mind. Its looks matter to the planning officer, and it sits close to the slate. VELUX publishes a conservation roof window with laminated inner glass that holds together if it breaks accidentally, a feature of its safety lamination option.

For a loft room, a roof window that opens gives the room air from above. In a second home that stands empty through the week, an electric opening rooflight with a rain sensor closes itself if showers arrive while nobody is in. VELUX says the sensor shuts its solar and electric roof windows when it rains.

On a flat roof, whether a kitchen extension or a utility, flat roof rooflights and roof lanterns compete for the job. A rooflight in Wales should reach a U-value of 2.2 W/m²K. A roof window should reach 1.4 W/m²K or Band B under Approved Document L (Wales). Those are guidance figures.

A swap changes the ventilation of the room, and the guidance expects it to be no worse afterwards. That means matching any trickle vents in the old frame.

A roof window is no automatic escape route. It counts as one only when it was specified for that purpose, and the roof window Building Regulations page has the rules.

A kitchen or shower room in a seaside house gets damp quickly. An opening unit lets steam leave at once, and a fixed unit depends on an extractor. Either way, think about how the glass will be cleaned, since a clean pane lets in more light than a dull one.

Sun tunnels suit the dim stair or landing of a cottage with thick walls and small windows. The sun tunnel route runs from a dome on the roof through the loft to a diffuser in the ceiling.

A rooflight that has misted internally has lost its seal, and we replace misted rooflights and fit new ones alike. To begin, call 01792 929062 or use the quote form. We give a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing for finished work.