Skylights & Rooflights in WheldrakeA village close to York, and close to the Ings

Wheldrake stretches along its main street, and the roofs along it were built across several generations.

The village lies about 9.8 road miles south-east of York, between the city and the River Derwent. Its older houses are brick under pantile or slate. Around them are the semis and bungalows of the last century, with tile roofs of their own. A rooflight has to suit whichever you have, and the flashing kit is chosen to match the covering, so the tiles or slates lie snugly against the new frame once they are put back.

A loft office that gets proper daylight is a common reason for a call, and so is a kitchen at the back that never seems quite bright enough. Homes in the older part of the village also tend to have deep sills, thick walls and low ceilings downstairs, so a little extra light from above makes a visible difference.

Wheldrake is a village in the York council area, so the planning route is York's.

City of York Council is the planning authority here. Most houses can take a roof window under permitted development, provided they respect the limits explained in our skylight planning guide. Flats and maisonettes cannot use that route. Listed buildings need listed building consent. In a conservation area permitted development still applies to houses, unless an Article 4 direction has removed it from a particular street.

We cannot tell from the road whether your house lies in a designated area, and we do not guess. The council's planning pages show it for any address, and a quick look at the start saves a difficult conversation later.

A postal address can say North Yorkshire while the planning desk to ring is still the one at York.

From a survey in Wheldrake

Working from the loft is only pleasant when the room has real daylight and air.

A semi or a larger village house often has loft space that is dry, floored and little used. Two roof windows set side by side, or a single wide one, turn it into a room you can sit in all day. A top-hung window gives an open view when you lean back from the desk.

Screen glare can be a problem on a south-facing slope, so we talk about blinds at the survey rather than afterwards. Details on frames and glazing are on our roof window installation page.

The staircase deserves attention too. Narrow, steep loft stairs are common in older houses, and a new study is used every day, so you will notice the climb. We can look at the headroom on the stair during the survey and tell you honestly whether the room will be pleasant to use.

The rules matter here. Where a two-storey house gains a bedroom in the loft, the escape route has to be a protected stair, as a roof window is too high to count. If you are only thinking of using the space as a study, the rules are lighter, but you should still ask Building Control what it expects before you move a desk and a chair in. A chat with the council early on also gives you a chance to ask about insulation, ceiling height and the position of the window in relation to the stair.

A sun tunnel is a small job with a large effect on a windowless room.

The dome sits on the roof, a tube runs down through the loft, and a flat diffuser sits in the ceiling below. The room gets natural light without losing any wall space. In a house with a shallow loft, the run has to be planned round joists and tanks, and we measure for that during the survey.

Our sun tunnel installation page explains rigid and flexible tubes and what each can do. A rigid tube carries more light because its walls reflect more. A flexible tube bends round obstacles, at some cost in brightness.

Where a flat roof sits above a kitchen or garden room, it can usually carry a rooflight.

The structure is checked first, since the joists decide where an opening can go. Then the covering is looked at, because a roof near the end of its working life is better re-covered with the rooflight than cut into. A flat rooflight is the plainer choice, and a lantern is the taller one. Both sit on an insulated upstand, which is usually at least 150mm above the finished roof. Our flat roof rooflights page covers the options.

Think about the garden as well, and about the seasons. In winter the sun sits low and a rooflight may get direct light for only a short spell; in summer it climbs high and the same glass can warm the room quickly. A rooflight over the dining area looks up at whatever stands above the house, and a tree or a neighbour's roof can shade it for much of the day. We stand in the room with you and look up, so you can judge where the sky actually opens.

Village extensions from a few decades back often still wear their first rooflight, and it shows.

Plastic domes go cloudy and brittle, early double-glazed units mist between the panes, and the frame round the edge lets in a draught. Each of these is a clue that the rooflight has reached the end of its useful life. Because the replacement of a whole rooflight is a controlled fitting, we arrange the Building Control notification where it applies and pass the paperwork to you when the job is done.

The simplest case is a like-for-like swap into an opening that is already the right size and sits on a sound kerb. The less simple case is a kerb that has gone soft, or a roof covering that is close to failing. We would rather tell you that at the survey than find it with the roof open. If only the sealed glass has gone, you may need no more than a new unit. Our misted and failed rooflights page sets out how the two cases differ.

You can expect order, plain talk and a roof that is closed in every evening.

The quote comes with a plan for each day, so you know who is coming and what will be opened. Dust sheets cover the floors, the stairs and whatever furniture is near, and a screen cuts off the work area. The hidden work is photographed, and you receive the photos at handover with the product literature, the makers' warranties and our 10-year workmanship guarantee. If the work is notifiable, we arrange the Building Control notification and pass you the certificate when it comes.

Wheldrake is about 9.8 road miles south-east of York, so a survey is quick to arrange.

We look over the roof, measure the room and say what the council is likely to ask. A quote follows in writing and prices each element separately. For neighbouring places we also cover Elvington, Escrick and Riccall. Use the form below to get in touch, and tell us if anyone in the house works from home, so we can plan the noisier hours around the working day.

Low ground near the Derwent means damp air in some houses, so we look for condensation marks on loft timbers while we are up there. A new roof window needs a ventilated roof space around it, and a damp loft is better dealt with at the same visit than left to spoil fresh lining.