Skylights & Rooflights in BraytonLight for bungalows, family semis and the rooms built on behind them

Brayton sits on the south-western edge of Selby, and its streets mostly reflect later estate building around a small older village core.

Much of the housing here is post-war and later: bungalows, semi-detached family houses and detached homes on estate roads and cul-de-sacs. A few older cottages and farm buildings remain, but the typical Brayton house has a concrete tile roof, brick walls and a garden with room for an extension. That is useful for anyone thinking about light, because the roofs are simple and the structures are usually easy to read.

It also means the choice of rooflight tends to follow the house type rather than the street. A bungalow wants windows in the roof slope. A semi with a recent kitchen extension wants glass over the new room. A house with a dark hall wants something quieter.

A bungalow has the largest loft for its footprint of any house type, and a roof window is how that space becomes a room people can use.

The first question is not the window but the room. Is there enough height under the ridge, and is there a sensible place for a stair to arrive? If the answer to both is yes, windows on the rear slope bring in light and a view. If the roof is shallow or the trusses are in the way, a conversation about structure comes before any glass is ordered. You will hear that from us before any glass is ordered.

In a bungalow, a roof window can serve as the escape route from a loft bedroom, because the sill is within 4.5m of the ground under Approved Document B. That is a point in a bungalow's favour. A two-storey house is different, and needs a protected stair instead.

For most houses in Brayton the planning position is simple, and the council to ask is North Yorkshire Council.

North Yorkshire Council took over planning from Selby District Council in April 2023. A roof window or rooflight on a house is usually permitted development when it meets the limits we set out in the skylight planning permission guide. Flats and maisonettes are the exception and need an application, as does a listed building.

Where Brayton differs from a historic town is that there is rarely a conservation question in the way. Estate houses seldom sit in a conservation area, so the matter usually comes down to the height of the glass above the roof and which slope it faces.

On an estate bungalow, a window on a side slope carries extra conditions that the rear slope does not.

From a survey in Brayton

Brayton gardens are generous enough that rear extensions are common, and a new room often needs more daylight than its doors can give.

A kitchen-diner built out from a semi usually has a deep floor plan. The bifold or sliding doors light the garden end, but the part nearest the old house stays shadowed. A flat rooflight set over that darker end moves the light into the heart of the floor plan. A roof lantern does the same job with more presence, and gives the ceiling some height.

If the extension is new and still being designed, the glass is best chosen before the roof is built, so the structure can be sized to suit. If the room is already finished, we cut the opening into the existing roof and dress the covering up the insulated upstand. The flat roof rooflights service page sets out sizes and glazing choices.

The roof covering decides how a new window looks from the street, so it is matched before anything is ordered.

Most Brayton houses wear interlocking concrete tiles, and a roof window fitted to them needs a flashing kit made for that profile. The kit lets the tiles run up to the frame and overlap it, so rain is carried over the top and away. Tiles that are lifted for the opening are kept and relaid, and any that crack are replaced with the nearest match. Sunlight fades a tile over time, so we try to take replacements from the shaded side of the roof, not the bright one.

Inside, the lining around the opening is formed to a smooth reveal. A splayed reveal, wider at the room end than the roof end, lets more of the daylight spread across the ceiling and wall instead of stopping at the frame. The lining is then insulated behind and finished with plasterboard, so it reads as part of the ceiling.

Some rooms cannot have a roof window at all, because there is a bedroom or a pitched slope in the way, and a sun tunnel is the answer there.

A sun tunnel needs only a small circle cut in the roof and a clear run through the loft. The dome catches daylight, a reflective tube carries it down, and a diffuser in the ceiling spreads it into the room. It suits a hallway, an en-suite or a downstairs cloakroom in a bungalow, where the roof sits directly above. The work is quick and the mess is small.

Our sun tunnel installation page shows the sizes and how the tube is routed.

A rooflight job is mostly about keeping the house dry and clean while the roof is open, and that is where most of the planning goes.

Nothing is left to guesswork on the day. Our day-by-day plan tells you in advance which rooms we will use and when the roof is open. Dust sheets go down over floors and stairs, furniture is wrapped, and where space allows a screen shuts the work off from the living areas. By the time we leave each evening, the opening is closed against rain. Once the plaster is finished, the following parts are hidden for good: trimmers, upstands, flashings, membranes and insulation. We do it carefully and photograph it, and you receive those photos when we hand over. That visit also covers a walk-through, the makers' warranties, the product details and our 10-year workmanship guarantee, with the Building Control certificate where the job was notifiable. Rubbish leaves with us.

Brayton is about 16.6 road miles south of York, so a survey visit is straightforward to arrange, and it costs nothing.

The visit takes in the roof, the room and who needs to be asked about planning. The quote that follows in writing lists each cost separately. Where the opening needs Building Regulations approval, we arrange the notification. A whole replacement rooflight is a notifiable job, so older domes and failed units are covered by the same process.

Many homes here have had a loft boarded or an extension added over the years, so tell us what sits above and below the spot you have in mind. We check where the rafters run, how the existing ceiling is fixed and how we would carry the frame indoors. Knowing this early lets the written quote cover the real job, with no vague allowance to be argued over later.

Many homes here have had a loft boarded or an extension added over the years, so tell us what sits above and below the spot you have in mind. We check where the rafters run, how the existing ceiling is fixed and how we would carry the frame indoors. Knowing this early lets the written quote cover the real job, with no vague allowance to be argued over later.

We also work in Selby, Thorpe Willoughby and Barlby, so neighbours can often be seen on the same visit. To ask for one, fill in the short form on this page. A few lines about the room are plenty.