Skylights & Rooflights in BoroughbridgeFitted with care in homes beside the River Ure

Boroughbridge was a stopping place long before the bypass, and the buildings still show it.

Coaching-era brick and the plainer later terraces sit close together here, so two neighbouring roofs can differ in pitch, covering and age. At the survey we look at the slope you have in mind from the ground and from inside the loft, because a window that suits one roof in a row may not suit the next.

The town stands on the River Ure, on the line of the old Great North Road. Coaching-era brick and stone buildings line the main streets, and behind them run terraces, post-war semis and estates of later houses, some of them bungalows. That mix means a rooflight job here can be almost anything: a single window in a cottage, a pair in a loft, or a lantern over a kitchen built out into the garden.

Because the older buildings are close together, access matters. A narrow frontage may mean an access tower in a small space, or materials carried through the house, and we plan for that before the first day. Neighbours get a warning about the scaffold, and the pavement is kept clear.

Many of the houses here have been altered over the years: a back kitchen added, a loft boarded out, a bathroom squeezed into a corner. Each alteration changes where the light falls and where the roof structure can be opened. At the survey we look at what has been done before, because an earlier extension can hide a flat roof, a steel beam or a change of roof pitch that changes the plan for the new opening. That is better known before the quote than discovered on the day.

Planning in Boroughbridge belongs to North Yorkshire Council, and a quick check at the start saves a long wait later.

Until April 2023 the town was under Harrogate Borough Council. Now North Yorkshire Council is the authority. For a house, a roof window or rooflight is normally permitted development, provided it meets the conditions summarised on the planning permission page. Flats and maisonettes need an application, and consent is needed for anything listed.

Boroughbridge has an older centre with historic buildings, so ask the council whether your property is listed or in a designated area. If it is, a rooflight can still be fitted, but the council has a say first.

Old buildings by a river crossing come with history, so a call to the council before ordering is time well spent.

From a Boroughbridge survey

The semis and terraces away from the main streets often have lofts with plenty of floor and nothing to light them.

A loft conversion without windows is a dark box, and a pair of roof windows on the rear slope transforms it. We choose a size to match the rafter spacing, so the structure is altered as little as possible. A window in a room used every day should open easily, and for a bedroom a blind is worth adding against summer glare.

A word on safety. Escape windows only count for floors within 4.5m of the ground, and a loft room above a two-storey house sits higher than that, so its roof window is not an escape route. For that third floor, the way out is a protected stair running down through the house. We will say so at the survey if it affects you.

Light is only half of it. A loft room under a south-facing slope can warm up quickly in summer, so we talk through blinds and glass at the survey. Roof windows also bring in ventilation, which helps in a bedroom that has been unused for years and smells of stored boxes. If the room is to be a home office, a window that opens fully makes a real difference on a still afternoon.

Where a Boroughbridge house has been extended, the question is rarely whether to add a rooflight, only which kind.

A flat rooflight is the practical choice for a utility room or a narrow extension. A roof lantern is better in a family kitchen, where the extra height gives a sense of space. Both stand on an insulated upstand of at least 150mm above the finished roof, as a rule.

Most lanterns rise more than 150mm above the roof, so on an existing extension the council may ask for an application or a confirmation. If the lantern forms part of a new extension, the extension's application covers it.

The choice often comes down to the room's proportions. A long, narrow kitchen suits a pair of flat rooflights set in a line, which spread light along its length. A square family room carries a lantern well, because the glass gathers light from four sides and lifts the ceiling over the table.

Households carry on with their lives during a fit, so the work is planned to let them.

The order of the days is agreed with you in advance and written down, along with which rooms we need and which we leave alone. Dust sheets cover the route through the house and the furniture in the room below. Sheeting screens the work where it can. By the end of each day the opening is closed in, so no one sleeps under a hole. We carry the rubbish out ourselves.

The hidden work gets its share of attention. The trimmers, upstand, flashings, membrane and insulation are done carefully and photographed, and those photographs are yours at handover.

An older extension may have glazing that no longer holds heat or opens properly.

Look for a clouded plastic dome, misted glass between the panes, a stained ceiling beside the frame or a window that rattles shut. Swapping a rooflight as a whole, frame included, is a controlled fitting, so the council's Building Control side hears about it, and we make that notification. Changing the sealed glass unit alone does not need it.

Older units were often fitted before today's energy standards, so the glass loses heat quickly and the room below feels it. A replacement made to current limits is warmer to sit under, and condensation on the inside face is less likely in winter. It also tends to be quieter in heavy rain than a thin plastic dome.

Where the structure under the old rooflight is sound, the new one can often use the same opening, which keeps the job short. The energy efficient rooflights page explains how modern glass compares with old.

Not every dark room has a roof slope within reach, and a tube of reflected light can serve where glass cannot.

Plenty of Boroughbridge houses have a bathroom or hall under a roof space that nobody uses. A sun tunnel takes a small dome on the roof, a mirrored tube running through the loft, and a frosted disc in the ceiling below. Fitting is quick and leaves the rooms around it largely undisturbed.

Boroughbridge is about 20.4 road miles north-west of York, and a survey takes less time than the drive.

During the visit we measure up, study the roof from inside and out, and talk through the planning position. An itemised quote in writing follows, with a timetable for each day. At the end of the fit you are walked round the work and given the makers' warranties and the product information, along with our 10-year workmanship guarantee plus, where the work had to be notified, the Building Control certificate.

We cover the places nearby too, including Ripon, Knaresborough and Linton-on-Ouse. Use the form below to book.