Skylights & Rooflights in EggboroughFor village bungalows, family houses and the extensions on the back

Eggborough is about 20.7 road miles south of York, and many of its homes are low and wide, which suits a rooflight more than people expect.

The village sits close to the River Aire and the M62, with the old power station site a short distance away. Its housing has grown in layers. There are older cottages and farmhouses near the centre, a good number of post-war semis and detached bungalows, and newer estate houses built in the decades since. Bungalows are common, and their roofs are long, simple and usually pitched.

That matters for the work. A low roof is easier to reach and easier to protect during a fit, and a bungalow loft is often a bigger room than the outside suggests. A rooflight here is rarely a cure for something broken. More often it makes use of space the house already has.

A bungalow roof is the best-kept secret of village housing, because the space under it is often wide, dry and unused.

Many bungalows were built with the roof trusses sitting close together, and the loft is full of timber webbing that makes it feel unusable. Others have a plain cut roof with a clear span. We cannot tell which you have from the street, so the survey starts in the loft with a torch and a tape measure. We note the rafter depth, the ridge height and where the timbers run, because those decide where a window can go.

A bungalow loft that is going to be a room needs more than a window. It needs a safe way up, a floor that is strong enough and a way out that meets the fire rules. On a bungalow, a roof window can serve as an escape route for a room in the roof, because it is within the height the rules allow, but the size and position matter and building control decides that, not us. We can explain what to ask.

The planning authority for Eggborough is North Yorkshire Council, and an ordinary house rarely needs a long conversation about it.

North Yorkshire Council took over planning in April 2023, replacing Selby District Council among the other districts. For a typical house, a roof window or flat rooflight is usually permitted development. The conditions sit in our skylight planning permission guide, so we will not repeat them here. A listed farmhouse is a different matter and needs consent before the roof is touched, and a flat or maisonette needs a planning application.

The question that comes up in a village is the side slope. A bungalow on a corner plot, or a house whose neighbour's window looks onto the roof, may have a side slope that is visible from the road. Glazing there has its own rules about opening and obscure glass, which the guide sets out.

On a corner plot in a village, the slope that faces the side road is the one to check before you order anything.

From a survey in Eggborough

Most roofs in Eggborough's newer streets are concrete tile, and the covering decides how a window is sealed in.

Concrete interlocking tiles are heavy and rigid, so the flashing kit has to match their profile. A kit made for a different tile leaves gaps that water finds in the first storm. We choose the kit by the tile, lift the surrounding tiles by hand, and refit them over the new flashing so that the roofline reads as one surface again. Where a tile cracks as it comes off, we replace it with the nearest match.

Older village roofs can be different. A clay pantile or an old slate roof calls for a lighter touch. Both are brittle when they are old, and we allow time to lift and relay them rather than hurry. The same applies to any roof near a chimney or a party wall, where the flashing needs more thought.

Where a kitchen now reaches into the garden, the trouble is nearly always the dim band in the middle.

A rear extension tends to be bright by the new glazing and dim by the old kitchen wall. A flat rooflight over that dim band spreads daylight deeper into the room, and a lantern does the same while adding height and a feature in the ceiling. Both stand on an insulated upstand of at least 150mm above the finished roof, and that upstand is where the hidden work lives. We photograph it before the rooflight covers it, and the photos come to you at handover.

Lanterns normally climb past the 150mm limit, so over an existing roof expect to apply or to get written confirmation from the council. Build one into a brand new extension and it is judged along with the extension itself. What a lantern involves is covered under roof lantern installation, while flat roof rooflights deals with the lower-profile choice.

Plenty of village extensions carry a rooflight that has outlived its usefulness.

A plastic dome that has gone yellow, a glazed unit with condensation trapped between the panes, a stain spreading across a ceiling beside the frame: these are the usual signs. A whole replacement, frame and glass together, is notifiable under the Building Regulations, so we arrange that notification. When just the sealed glass has gone, the frame beneath may be perfectly sound; misted and failed rooflights sets out when the glass can be swapped alone.

Replacement is often the quietest job we do, because the opening already exists. The old unit comes out, the kerb is checked and made good, and the new one goes in on a sound base. The work is faster and the disruption inside the room is small.

A village home is usually a lived-in one, with children and dogs and the washing, and the fitting is planned around that.

Before a single tile is lifted, floors, stairs and furniture are sheeted over and the work area is closed off wherever the layout lets us. One team does the job from beginning to end, so you do not meet a fresh face each morning. Come evening the roof is closed up and watertight, and the rubbish goes with us instead of piling up in the garden. You get a plan for each day, so nobody is guessing which rooms are in use.

The hidden work is done with the same care as the visible parts: trimmers, upstands, flashings, membranes and insulation. The handover is a walk round the finished job. You receive the maker's product details and warranties and the 10-year workmanship guarantee, plus the Building Control certificate for notifiable work.

There is no fee for the survey, and the quote that follows is itemised.

One of us visits the house, studies the roof from the garden and from inside, and goes through the choices with you. The same visit can take in neighbours such as Knottingley and Snaith, and for a house over the boundary, Askern has its own page.