Ashton-in-Makerfield roof windows, kitchen rooflights and sun tunnels

Ashton-in-Makerfield skylights and rooflights for Bryn, Landgate and Town Green homes

Ashton-in-Makerfield has long made locks and hinges, and it sits on the Lancashire Coalfield. Whatever your house, the survey asks the same plain things: which room, who opens the window, and how the outside glass gets cleaned.

Bryn, Landgate and Town Green addresses checked with Wigan Council first
Sun tunnel or roof window weighed up for a landing with no daylight
A flat rooflight over a rear kitchen, with the blind and cleaning explained

28 road miles west of Stockport

Ashton-in-Makerfield is a market town of about 26,000 people. The Wigan side of it forms the Bryn and Ashton Township, made up of six neighbourhoods: Bryn, Ashton, Ashton Heath, Landgate, Stubshaw Cross and Town Green. The town has long been a centre for making locks and hinges, it sits on the Lancashire Coalfield, and mills such as the Record Mill on York Road and the Makerfield Mill on Windsor Road took over from work done at home. As late as the 1970s the district still had coal spoil tips, and reclamation schemes have since changed the landscape.

For a rooflight, the history matters less than the rooms. A loft room under a slope asks who will open the window and how high it sits. A landing with no daylight asks whether a window or a sun tunnel is the better answer. A kitchen built out at the back asks about the blind and about reaching the outside of the glass. We begin the survey with those answers, and the fixed written quote follows from them.

Fitting a terrace, a semi or a kitchen

These cover the loft, the dark landing and the extended kitchen. Each page covers how the window opens, how it is cleaned and what it asks of you from day to day.

Close-up of a white roof window handle with its key lock

Living under one in Ashton-in-Makerfield

A loft window set above head height wants a rod, a remote or a solar motor. We settle that with you before anything is ordered.
A loft bedroom usually wants blackout. A kitchen rooflight often does better with a pleated blind that softens a bright afternoon.
Flat and pitched roofs are cleaned differently, and a tilting window changes the answer again. We explain which applies to yours.
VELUX fits a rain sensor to its electric and solar roof windows, so the window shuts when drops land on the glass. That helps in a house that is empty all day.

What Ashton-in-Makerfield streets ask of a rooflight

Dark landings, kitchens built out at the back, a town of hinges and a conservation area at its heart. These are the questions we hear when we survey here.

The landing in our terrace has no window at all. Sun tunnel or roof window?

Ashton-in-Makerfield sits on the Lancashire Coalfield, and in 1867 there were 13 collieries in the district. A house with its stair and landing in the middle of the plan can leave the top of the stairs dark even at noon, because it sits away from the outside walls. A rooflight can fix that, and the choice comes down to what you want from it.

What a sun tunnel does

A sun tunnel is a small dome on the roof joined by a tube through the loft to a diffuser in the landing ceiling. It brings in daylight and nothing else. It does not open, it gives no view, and there is nothing to reach or clean on the inside. It suits a landing, a bathroom or a hall with loft space directly above. Our guide to which rooms suit a sun tunnel lists the rooms it works in.

What a roof window does

A roof window needs a way through the ceiling and a short light shaft down to the landing. It gives a view of the sky, and it can open to clear steam or cooking smells from a stairwell. It also sits high, so the opening method matters. A rod will do for a window you seldom open. A remote or a solar motor is easier if you will open it daily.

Who is it for?

Think about the people on the stairs. A landing used by a child or an older relative is helped by steady daylight on the way down and little else. A landing where you hang washing in winter may call for a window that opens. We look at the loft from above during the survey and tell you which of the two your roof will take. Our guide to roof windows for loft rooms covers the other route.

For a landing

Choose the sun tunnel for daylight alone, and the roof window when you want to open it or look out.

We built out the back kitchen. What will a flat rooflight ask of us each week?

A rear kitchen with a flat roof is the usual home for a flat rooflight. It sits on an upstand and lets daylight reach the middle of a room that the back window alone does not cover. Once it is in, three habits decide whether you enjoy it: the blind, the opening and the cleaning.

The blind

A flat rooflight faces the sky, so a bright day can make a kitchen glaring. A pleated or roller blind on the inside takes the edge off. Some can be worked from a switch on the wall or by remote, and that is worth asking about if the glass is out of easy reach above a worktop or an island.

The opening

A fixed rooflight lets in light and nothing else. An opening one, worked by a switch, lets out steam when you cook. If you want that, an electric flat rooflight is a button press, and VELUX makes electric and solar versions with a rain sensor. The electric or solar opening guide explains the difference.

The cleaning

Leaves, pigeons and rain marks gather on a flat pane. On a single-storey extension you can usually reach the glass from a ladder at the eaves or from a lower roof, and we tell you plainly if the position makes that awkward. A roof covering past its best is better renewed before the rooflight goes in, and our guide to upstands and roof coverings explains why. Our guide to the best rooflight for a flat roof goes through the types.

A kitchen rooflight, week to week

Blind: Pleated or roller, on a remote if the glass is out of reach
Opening: Fixed for light only, electric if you want steam let out
Outside glass: Cleaned from a ladder or a lower roof, agreed at survey
Roof below: Covering checked before the upstand goes in

This is a town of hinges. Which way should a roof window swing?

Ashton-in-Makerfield has long made locks and hinges, so it is fair to ask how a roof window turns. There are two main ways, and they feel different in daily use.

Centre-pivot

A centre-pivot window turns about the middle of its frame. You lift the handle at the top, push, and the sash swings round so the outer pane faces into the room. That is the useful part: the outside glass can be wiped from indoors. It suits a loft room or a landing where a ladder on the roof is not a pleasant idea. The sash does swing into the room, so the space below it needs to stay clear when it is open.

Top-hung

A top-hung window is hinged along the top edge and swings out and up, like a skylight in a stable door. It leaves the room clear, and it can be set a little higher on the slope. The price is that the outer pane is not reached from inside. Our guide to centre-pivot or top-hung roof windows sets the two side by side.

Children and fingers

For a child's room, ask about restrictors and a handle that sits out of reach. Our guide to child-safe opening rooflights covers what the makers offer. A hinge is a small part of the job, and we go through it at the handover along with the blind and the cleaning.

Part of the town sits in a conservation area. Does that change my rooflight?

Planning.data.gov.uk records a conservation area named Ashton-in-Makerfield, designated in 1989. In England a conservation area does not by itself remove permitted development for a rooflight. What can change the position is a condition on an earlier planning permission for the house, so we check your address with Wigan Council as part of the survey, before we quote.

Listed buildings

Historic England lists buildings in the town, among them the Roman Catholic Church of St Oswald and St Edmund Arrowsmith at Grade II*, and Home Farmhouse and Old Mill Farmhouse and Barn at Grade II. Should yours be a listed house, listed building consent will almost certainly be needed for a new or altered rooflight, and that consent decides the job. The guide to rooflights on listed homes sets out how that works.

The planning position

For most houses a rooflight is usually permitted development, within limits that the planning guide sets out, and it is worth reading before you decide where the window goes. Where a loft room is being added, the Building Regulations apply to the whole job, including how you get out of the room. Our Building Regulations guide explains that, and we handle the notification for the roof windows we fit whenever it is needed.

Terms the council may use

Conservation-area status: An area the council designated for its character. Alone, the label does not remove rooflight rights.
Consent for listed homes: Consent needed to change a listed building in a way that affects its character.
Permitted development: Work that needs no planning application because national rules already allow it.

Across the six neighbourhoods

Ashton-in-Makerfield

On the coverage map, Ashton-in-Makerfield sits within the 30 miles we work across.

Is your postcode on our list?

We survey across Ashton-in-Makerfield, 28 road miles west of Stockport, from Bryn and Landgate to Stubshaw Cross and Town Green. Enter your postcode to check and book.

Nearest town pages

Ashton-in-Makerfield rooflight questions

Which council deals with planning for an Ashton-in-Makerfield house?

Wigan Council deals with planning for the Wigan side of the town. Either the council's building control team or a registered building control approver can sign off the work, and we set out both at the survey.

Can a sun tunnel brighten a landing in a house with a pitched roof?

Usually, if there is loft space above the landing. The tube runs through the loft from a small dome on the roof to a diffuser in the ceiling. It brings in daylight only. See sun tunnels for the options.

Is there a way to clean a roof window we cannot reach?

A centre-pivot window turns so the outer pane faces into the room, which lets you wipe it from inside. Other types need a different plan, and we talk that through before you choose. The guide to centre-pivot and top-hung windows shows the difference.

Is a kitchen rooflight going to make the room too bright?

It can on a clear day, and a blind is the usual cure. Solar control glass cuts glare and heat as well, though it changes the colour of the light a little. Our solar control glass guide explains the trade.

Do you swap an old window for a new one in the same opening?

Often, when the new window is the same size as the old. That keeps the lining inside as it is. See new opening or same opening for how we decide.

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