Are Opening Rooflights Secure?

Start with how someone would get to it

Security is mostly a question of reach. A roof window on a steep slope two storeys up is hard for anyone to get near. A flat rooflight on a single-storey rear extension is a different matter, because a bin, a wall or a trellis may give a way up. Before we talk about locks, we look at what is around the roof: boundary walls, outbuildings, drainpipes and the garden side of the house.

It is a short walk round the outside, and it tells us more than any catalogue.

What holds the rooflight shut

A closed rooflight is held by its frame, its hinges and one or more locking points. An electric opener adds a motor that drives the lid or sash against the seal and holds it there. Because the drive is a worm or screw mechanism on many models, it cannot be pushed back in by hand once it stops, which makes a closed lid difficult to force from outside. The exact details vary between makers, so we give you the data sheet for the unit that is quoted.

Manual units usually have a handle with a catch. On a few you can also fit a key lock. That is a good choice where children or visitors have access to a low roof window.

Limiting how far it opens

A rooflight does not have to open wide to do its work. Warm air leaves through a gap of a few centimetres, and many people leave a rooflight on a narrow vent setting overnight. Opening limiters and vent positions keep the gap too small for a person to pass through. A motor can be set to stop at that point, and a manual restrictor does the same job on a hand-operated window.

Wider settings are best kept for when somebody is in the house.

The glass

For overhead glazing we choose laminated inner panes. The reason is safety, so that broken glass is held in place rather than falling into the room, and it also happens to make the glass harder to break through. Nothing in the regulations obliges anyone to use laminated glass overhead, so this is a choice we make for the house. A flat rooflight with a thick toughened outer pane and a laminated inner one is a tougher thing to attack than most people expect. If security matters to you, say so, and we can discuss the glass specification alongside the lock.

Remotes, apps and the electric side

A wireless remote has to be paired to the unit it controls, so a neighbour's remote does not open yours. Wall switches, being wired, are an even simpler case. If you link rooflights to an app, treat the account like any other: a strong password and a phone with a screen lock. We set up the controls with you at handover, and a grouped control is explained so that a single press cannot open every rooflight in the house without your meaning it.

Rain sensors have a security side effect, since they close the unit when a shower arrives. See our page on rain sensors and controls for how they behave.

Your insurer

Home insurance policies differ on windows and openings. Some ask for locks on any window that opens within reach from the ground, and a rooflight on a low extension may be counted. It is sensible to tell your insurer when you add or change a rooflight, and to ask what, if anything, they require. Your policy wording is the final word, and we can give you the product details and the dimensions that they may ask for.

Can the whole thing be made safer?

• Choose a model with a key lock where a low roof can be climbed.
• Set the vent stop so the gap stays narrow overnight.
• Move planters, bins and ladders away from walls that lead up to the roof.
• Keep side gates shut and the garden side lit.
• Close rooflights when the house is empty, or use a timer if your controls offer one.

None of that is complicated, and a few of these steps cost nothing.

A word on noise and neighbours

A motor moving a lid is quiet, and it will not wake a sleeping house. A rooflight left open on a vent setting also lets sound in and out, so a bedroom that backs onto a neighbour's garden or a busy road may be noisier with the lid cracked open. Some people close it at night for that reason alone, and the same habit helps with security.

It is also worth asking where light from a lit room shows through the glass at night. A rooflight that makes a room visible from a neighbour's upstairs window, or from a road, can tell people when the house is empty. A blind or a dimmer helps.

Where to go next

If a rooflight is also going to be used to climb out onto the roof, that changes the picture entirely, and we cover it in roof access through a rooflight. For the wider choice of opening styles, see hinged or sliding, and the full subject sits on our electric opening rooflights page.