Skylights & Rooflights in ThirskGeorgian frontages, brick terraces and quiet back roofs

Thirsk has an old centre, so the first question is which designation, if any, your house sits under.

Planning in Thirsk is dealt with by North Yorkshire Council. Until April 2023 the town came under Hambleton District Council. A detached or terraced house can normally take a rooflight without an application, provided the conditions on the planning permission page are met. People in flats cannot rely on that, and a listed property needs its own consent before the roof is touched.

The buildings around the Market Place include many fine older frontages, and a conservation area can carry an Article 4 direction that removes permitted development on particular streets. The council confirms this, and a short email before you order saves a costly surprise.

Thirsk is a racing town as well as a market town, and visitors come through the Market Place for the racecourse and for the town's literary connections. Roofs that can be seen from those streets are part of the town's face, so a change to one deserves care.

A Georgian frontage on a market square is read by everyone who walks past, so the street slope is the one to be careful with.

From a survey in Thirsk

Where a roof is part of the look of the street, the right rooflight is the one that disappears into it.

A conservation rooflight sits close to the roof plane and has a thin frame and a single bar, in the manner of a traditional cast-iron rooflight. On an older roof, that restraint is what keeps the street scene intact. Our conservation rooflights page explains the options.

The roof under the glass has to be sound before the new frame goes on. Old timbers may be uneven, and old tiles can be brittle, so we lift them by hand and keep the good ones. The new frame is bedded against a roof that may have settled a little, and the flashing is shaped to follow it.

The terraced streets away from the Market Place are made of homes with narrow footprints, where a roof window can make a large difference.

A typical terrace has a pitched roof over the main house and a lower one over a back addition. The gap between them is often a dark landing or a small box-room. A single roof window on the rear slope of the main roof lights a box-room well, and it can be fitted without disturbing the rest of the house for long.

If there is a loft, a roof window also gives a loft room that people can use, rather than a store. Remember that a window in the roof is not an escape route from a two-storey house, because the 4.5m rule applies, and a loft room on that sort of house needs a protected stair.

Many of these terraces have a long, narrow back bedroom whose only window looks onto a neighbour's wall. A roof window above the bed end changes how that room feels, because the light comes from overhead and reaches the far corner. Where the loft above is boarded and used for storage, the opening also gives a sense of how much space is there.

Our work in a terrace is mostly about neighbours and access. Houses share a roof line, so we tell the people next door when the scaffold goes up, and we keep the front step and the pavement clear. Materials come in through the house on protected floors rather than across the garden when the garden is small.

The newer homes, and many bungalows at Thirsk's edges, have a flat-roofed room at the back that is crying out for daylight.

A flat rooflight or a roof lantern goes onto an insulated upstand, usually at least 150mm above the finished roof. Lanterns usually stand higher than 150mm, so adding one to a roof that already exists may call for an application, or at least the council's answer in writing that none is needed. When the extension itself is new, the lantern is judged as part of that scheme.

We look at the roof covering at the survey. If the roof is old, we advise renewing it as the rooflight goes in, so the upstand and the new membrane are built together as one job.

A rooflight job goes more smoothly when everyone knows what will happen, and when.

You are given a written plan for each day before work starts. Dust sheets go over the floors and stairs, furniture is wrapped, and sheeting can screen off the working space where the layout permits. Whatever the forecast, the roof is sealed against the weather before we leave each evening. We take the rubbish with us, and the crew that arrives on day one is the crew that finishes.

Behind the plaster, the work is just as careful. Trimmers, upstands, flashings, membranes and insulation are done properly and photographed, and the photographs are given to you at handover.

It helps to think of the fit as a series of small handovers between rooms. The loft or the extension is the worksite. The stairs are a corridor that is covered and kept clear. Your kitchen and living room, if they are not under the opening, stay yours. We keep a tidy line between the two, and the dust sheets are vacuumed rather than shaken, so the dust does not travel.

The glass you choose affects warmth, noise and summer comfort, and the right answer depends on the room.

For an overhead rooflight we choose laminated inner panes, because they hold together if broken. Building Regulations do not require this under Part K, so it is our own choice for safety over a room. Heat loss is governed by Part L 2021. A roof window in an existing home needs 1.4 W/m²K or Window Energy Rating Band B. A rooflight has its own limit of 2.2 W/m²K.

Noise is worth a thought too. A thin plastic dome drums in heavy rain, while a glazed unit with a thicker outer pane is quieter, and laminated glass dulls sound further. In a bedroom under the roof on a wet night that is the difference between sleeping and listening. We talk this through at the survey and show you the glass options on the day.

A south-facing loft bedroom may want a blind as well as good glass. Sizes and opening types are set out on the roof window installation page.

Thirsk is about 23.6 road miles north-west of York, and we come to you for the survey at no cost.

On the day we examine the roof, take measurements and go through the planning question with you. The written quote that follows lists every cost separately. When the fit is done you get a walk-through, plus the manufacturers' warranties and specifications, our 10-year workmanship guarantee and any Building Control certificate the work called for.

We also cover the places around Thirsk, including Boroughbridge, Easingwold and Ripon. Fill in the form below to book.

At the survey it helps to know which way the slope faces and what lies beneath the tiles. In an older Thirsk house the rafters are often irregular, so the opening is measured on site rather than taken from a drawing. We check the ceiling below for wiring and pipework, and we note where a light shaft will need to run through the loft before a frame size is chosen.