Bredbury rooflights, from 1930s growth to the canal

Skylights and rooflights for Bredbury's estates, canal-side streets and converted garages

Bredbury became a residential edge of Greater Manchester from the 1930s. Where a house has a flat-roofed extension or a converted garage, we choose a rooflight to match the room and whoever uses it each day.

Flat-roofed extensions and converted garages suit a flat rooflight or lantern
Canal-side addresses checked with Stockport Council before we quote
Blind and glass cleaning talked through before you pick a rooflight

3 road miles east of Stockport

Bredbury sits in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, a town on the lower southern slopes of Werneth Low, between the valleys of the Tame and the Goyt. It became an important residential area on the edge of the Greater Manchester urban area as growth accelerated from the 1930s and after the Second World War. The Shakespeare Estate is an overspill development built by Manchester City Council, and the site of Bredbury Steelworks has since been redeveloped for housing.

So Bredbury is not one kind of house. Estate homes, newer streets on the old steelworks site and houses near the canal each ask something different of a rooflight. On a low-pitched tiled roof the questions are the flashing, the blind and the sun in summer. Over a flat-roofed extension or a converted garage they are cleaning, shade and whether the glass opens. We start every survey by asking who uses the room and what they do in it.

What Bredbury's houses tend to need

These five suit the mix here, from low tiled slopes and flat-roofed additions to older roofs near the canal.

What Bredbury asks of a rooflight

From estate roofs to the canal, these are the questions that come up when we survey in Bredbury.

Which kind of roof window suits the low-pitched roof on our estate house?

Council estates of the 1950s and 1960s in England typically have concrete interlocking tiles on low-pitched roofs, and some have flat-roofed blocks. Bredbury has the Shakespeare Estate, built by Manchester City Council as an overspill development. Whether your own house is one of that kind, we see from the street and the loft at the survey, because the roof decides what can go in it.

The covering sets the kit

A roof window is fitted with a flashing kit made for the covering around it. Interlocking concrete tiles need a different kit from slate, and the wrong one lets water in. That is why we look at the tiles before we suggest a model, and why the guide to flashing on slate and tile roofs is worth a read.

A shallow slope in summer

The shallower the slope, the more directly the glass faces the sky. A room under it can run warm on a sunny afternoon. A blind on the inside takes the edge off, and solar control glass is a further option. The guide to solar control glass sets out what it does.

Reaching it

On a low roof the window can sit closer to head height, which suits a hand-operated one. On a landing or stair where you cannot reach, a rod or remote is the answer. We note where you will stand to work it, and whether anyone shorter than you will need to use it too.

Some blocks have flat roofs

Where a flat-roofed block or a flat-roofed part of a house is the place for the light, a flat rooflight or a lantern is the choice, and the questions become cleaning and shade rather than flashing. The guide to upstands and roof coverings explains how the covering is checked around the opening. If the block holds flats rather than houses, a rooflight on a flat goes through a planning application, and the freeholder usually has to agree as well, as the planning guide explains.

A low-pitched tiled roof, point by point

Covering: Concrete interlocking tiles need their own flashing kit
Window: Sized to the rafters, hand-operated or by remote
Summer: A blind inside, or solar control glass
Paperwork: Building Regulations notification handled where the work is notifiable

We turned the garage into a playroom. Can we bring light in from above?

A garage conversion can leave a room with one window at the front and a flat roof overhead, and not much daylight in the middle of the floor. If that is your playroom, the roof is the obvious source of more light. A flat rooflight or a small lantern lets the room borrow the sky without losing a wall to a new opening.

Open or shut

In a room children use, think about the opening first. An electric flat rooflight opens at the touch of a button, so nobody climbs on a chair, and a restrictor stops it going beyond a set point. Our page on child-safe opening covers how the makers handle this. A fixed rooflight needs no operating at all and suits a room where fresh air is not the aim.

Glare on the screen

A playroom usually has a television or a tablet. Overhead glass can put glare on a screen at some times of day, so a blind inside is worth having. We sit in the room at the survey and look at where the screen is.

The conversion itself

A garage becoming a habitable room is building work in its own right, and the rooflight is chosen to suit it. We handle the Building Regulations notification for the work we carry out where it is notifiable. Cleaning the outside is easy on a single flat pane, which can be reached from a ladder. A lantern has more edges, and the extra height lets in more sky, which some rooms want. Ask yourself which you would rather live with in a room that gets muddy shoes and spilled paint. The guide to putting a skylight in an existing flat roof explains what happens to the roof covering around it.

Our street runs along the Peak Forest Canal. Does the conservation area change what we can do?

The Peak Forest Canal, opened in sections from the 1790s, had a striking effect on Bredbury and brought mills along its banks. planning.data.gov.uk records a Peak Forest Canal conservation area in Bredbury, designated in 2000, and Stockport Council has more on its conservation areas pages. We look up your address in both before we quote.

What the area means in practice

Living within a conservation area is not a ban on rooflights. Whether a given roof is affected depends on the house and its history, and the planning guide sets out the rules we work from.

How the town came together

The coming of the railways fused separate settlements into Bredbury, and coal mining, which went back to the 17th century, ended when the last colliery closed in 1926. Brick-making was carried on here too, and Jacksons Brickworks on Ashton Road survived into the 1970s. With a past like that, we look at each roof as it stands rather than assume.

Listed buildings nearby

Bredbury's entries on the Historic England list include Pear New Mill, which is Grade II*, the Church of St Mark and the canal's Number 12 Bridge. Where a Bredbury house is itself listed, a rooflight there almost always brings in listed building consent, so the design is agreed with the council rather than decided by us. A conservation rooflight is built for older roofs, sitting low in the slope with a slim frame, and the guide to what a conservation rooflight is explains.

Terms from a canal-side survey

Designation: The council's formal marking out of an area for its special character.
Consent for a listed home: Permission to change a listed building in ways that affect its character.
Starred listing: A listing grade for buildings of more than special interest, above Grade II.
Low-profile rooflight: A slim, low-profile rooflight made for older roofs.

We want a loft bedroom in our 1930s house. What do we settle before the plans are drawn?

Bredbury grew quickly from the 1930s, and a house of that age may have a loft worth converting, and the question then is how it will be used. A bedroom up there is a different job from a store room. The roof windows are part of the design, so their positions are worth fixing before the stair, the dormer or the partition walls are drawn.

Which slope gets the windows

The back slope is usually the easiest place for a roof window. If your roof is hipped, with a slope facing the side as well, that slope brings conditions of its own, which the planning guide lists. Knowing that early saves redrawing the room.

A way out, and who signs it off

The new floor needs a safe way out, and our Building Regulations guide sets out how it is assessed. Building control can be done by Stockport's own team, with a registered building control approver as the alternative. The roof windows we fit come with the notification handled where the work needs it.

Sleeping under glass

A bedroom wants a blackout blind, and a window that does not need a chair to open. For a teenager's room, a remote on the bedside table does it. For a child's room, ask about restrictors. Our page on roof windows for loft conversions covers sizes and positions.

When the loft is a study

A study asks less of the window than a bedroom does. A blackout blind is not needed, and a light fabric that cuts glare on a screen is often enough. The window can stay hand-operated if the desk sits under it. The question to answer is how often you will open it, and from where.

Settle first

Where the bed goes decides where the window goes. Draw the furniture before you draw the roof.

Across Bredbury, from estate to canal

Bredbury

Bredbury falls within the straight-line ring the map draws around Stockport. Our cover is set in road miles, so we confirm each postcode before booking.

Check your Bredbury postcode

We cover the whole of Bredbury, 3 road miles east of Stockport, from the Shakespeare Estate to the canal. Enter your postcode to confirm it and ask for a free survey.

Nearest town pages

Bredbury homeowners' questions

Which authority sets the planning rules for a Bredbury house?

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Bredbury is part of the borough, in Greater Manchester, not Cheshire. We check your address with the council as part of the survey, whatever the roof is.

Is a lantern or a flat rooflight better over a kitchen extension?

It depends on the room. A flat rooflight is low and easy to keep clean. A lantern gives more height and sky and suits a wider room. Either can be fixed or opening. See choosing for a flat roof.

Our hall and landing are dark. Is there a simple fix?

A sun tunnel can be, if the loft sits over the landing. It is a tube from the roof to a panel in the ceiling. It stays shut and shows nothing of the sky. See which rooms a sun tunnel suits.

Can we replace a tired roof window without redoing the plaster?

Often, provided the new window suits the existing hole. The old frame carries a size label. Our page on keeping or changing the opening explains how we decide.

Do you only fit rooflights on newer houses in Bredbury?

No. We fit them wherever the roof allows, from the redeveloped steelworks site to the streets near the canal. The survey looks at the covering, the structure underneath and what the room is used for. Older roofs may call for a different flashing and a slimmer frame.

What happens at handover?

We show you how the controls work, how the blind runs and how the outside glass is cleaned. Our written 10-year workmanship guarantee applies to the fitting itself, and makers' own guarantees on the products differ.

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Tell us about the room and the roof. We visit, measure and send a fixed written quote for the job in Bredbury.

Fixed written quote
We handle the Building Regulations notification where the work is notifiable
10-year workmanship guarantee

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