Skylights & Rooflights in KnaresboroughFor steep streets above the Nidd and the homes behind them

Knaresborough drops from the market place to the River Nidd, and almost every roof job here begins with the question of how to reach it.

The town sits above a limestone gorge, with the castle, the viaduct and the river giving it a shape unlike most places we work in. Streets run up and down the hill, houses stand shoulder to shoulder, and gardens at the back fall away. A roof that looks simple from the road may be reached only from a narrow side passage or from a garden several steps below the street.

That is why we start with access. Before any rooflight is priced, we look at where a tower can stand, how materials will travel from the van to the roof and where the skip can sit without blocking a neighbour. We are about 17.7 road miles west of York here, so the drive is short, and what slows a job down is access to the roof and the day-by-day plan, not the miles.

Planning in Knaresborough is run by North Yorkshire Council, and the old part of the town is a designated conservation area.

The council has handled planning for the town since April 2023. Houses inside a conservation area keep their permitted development rights for a rooflight unless an Article 4 direction has taken them away on a particular street, and only the council can say whether yours has. Our page on skylight planning permission sets out the height and position conditions that apply everywhere.

In practice the roof slope you choose decides how easy the answer is. A window on a back slope that faces a garden is rarely noticed. A window on a street-facing slope is the case where a slim conservation rooflight and an early call to the council are worth the time.

The back of a hillside house is often the best-hidden roof in town, and the easiest to glaze.

From a survey in Knaresborough

A terrace in Knaresborough usually has a deep roof slope at the back and a loft that has been waiting for a window.

Older terraces here are built in stone or brick, with roofs of slate or clay tile depending on the street. Their lofts are often used for storage, with a hatch and a ladder, yet the roof above is tall enough for a bedroom or a study. One window high on the back of the roof gives light and a view of the sky, and a pair in a wider house spreads it across the room.

Inside, the work is small but needs care. Terrace walls are often shared, so we avoid cutting near the party wall and tell you if a Party Wall matter might arise. The opening is framed between rafters, insulated and lined, and your landing and stairs are covered through every day.

Georgian and Victorian houses in and around the old town carry large roofs, and light is the missing ingredient.

These houses were built with high ceilings and tall rooms, but their upper floors and attics were often not meant for long use. When a family wants to use the top floor, light is the first thing that is needed, and a roof window is the simplest way to provide it. On a hip or a mansard-style slope, we choose a frame and flashing that suit the covering, with tiles or slates lifted by hand and refitted tightly around the new frame.

Because the roofs are large, a pair of windows can make sense, set at the same height so they read as part of the roofline. If a house is listed, the roof needs listed building consent before any change, and we will say so plainly at the survey instead of letting you find out later.

Away from the old centre, the question is usually how to put daylight into a kitchen or dining room built out at the back.

Knaresborough has newer housing around its edges, and many of those houses have been extended with a single-storey room at the back. The room is bright beside the garden doors and dim at the far end, so a lantern or a flat rooflight in the middle of the extension roof makes a difference to how the whole house feels.

A lantern stands up from the roof on an insulated upstand, which usually puts it above the permitted development height, so on an existing house it is worth talking to the council before you commit. A flat rooflight sits lower and often stays within the limits. Our pages on roof lantern installation and flat roof rooflights explain how they differ.

Plenty of Knaresborough homes already have a rooflight, and some of them are due for replacement.

Extensions from earlier decades often have plastic domes or early double-glazed units that have clouded, yellowed or begun to mist between the panes. A roof window with a stiff hinge or a gap round the sash is another sign. Swapping the entire unit, frame and glass together, is a controlled fitting, so the Building Control notification is part of the job, and the new unit has to meet the thermal figures in Part L. If only the sealed glass has failed, the lighter option is described under misted and failed rooflights.

Where the old opening is sound, the new frame often drops into the same space, which keeps the mess down. Where the kerb or the timbers beneath have deteriorated, we put those right first so the new glass is not fitted onto a weak base.

The hardest part of a hillside job is the carrying, and the most important part is leaving the house tidy.

On a steep site we move materials in smaller loads, and we keep the working area clear of paths and gates. Inside, stairs and floors are covered, furniture is moved or sheeted, and the work is screened off so dust stays in one place. If the job runs past one day, the roof is closed up before we leave, with a covering that does not rely on the weather behaving.

A survey in Knaresborough costs nothing and ends with a quote that explains itself.

On the visit we study the roof from the loft and from outside, measure the room and talk through the planning position for your street. The quote that follows lists every cost individually, alongside a plan for each day of the fit. If Building Control needs to know, we make the notification, and at handover you are given the manufacturers' details, their warranties and our workmanship guarantee, plus photographs of the structural work that is now covered.

We also work in Harrogate, Spofforth and Pannal if you would like to see how other nearby homes have been handled. To get a date in the diary, fill in the form at the foot of the page.

On a sloping plot it also helps to know which side of the house takes the wind. We check the rear slope for shelter, since a roof window fitted in the lee of the chimney stack or a neighbouring gable is easier to keep weathertight while the old covering is open. Tell us about any shared passage or wall too, so we can plan around the neighbours.