Gatley: 1930s streets, old halls and a village core

Gatley skylights and rooflights for 1930s streets, old halls and rear extensions

Gatley is a suburb of Stockport, with old halls and the streets begun on High Terrace of the Mersey in 1934. We fit the rooflight that suits your room and show you how it opens, shades and cleans.

Flat-roofed rear extensions: flat rooflight or lantern weighed up at the survey
Gatley Village conservation area: your address checked with Stockport Council first
Dark landings and bathrooms: a roof window or sun tunnel compared in your loft

4 road miles south-west of Stockport

Gatley is a suburb of Stockport. Gatley Carrs was lower, marshy ground running down to the Mersey, and a system of land drains protected them when the river burst its banks. The Stockport to Altrincham railway line cut across the Carrs in 1864. House building began on High Terrace of the Mersey in 1934. Gatley also has older buildings: Gatley Hall and Gatley Hill House may have been built in the mid-eighteenth century by local cotton manufacturers, and the mansion High Grove House was built for a member of a wealthy hatting family.

That mixture asks different things of a rooflight. A large old house has a big roof and a landing a long way from the floor. A 1930s house that has been given a back extension with a flat roof raises a different question: the choice is a flat rooflight or a lantern, and the daily questions are the blind and the cleaning. We start with who uses the room and how, then price the work in a fixed written quote.

Rooflights that suit Gatley's mix of houses

These five cover extensions, lofts and older roofs. Start with the room you want lighter, and read the page for the product that fits it.

Gatley questions: extensions, old halls and the village core

Four questions from the streets near the Mersey, the older houses and the conservation area: what to put in a flat roof, how to open it, and what to check first.

Our 1930s house has a flat-roofed extension at the back. Flat rooflight or lantern?

House building began on High Terrace of the Mersey in 1934, and a house from the 1930s that has had a kitchen or dining room built on the back may have a flat roof over it. That roof is the natural place for light. The choice is between a flat rooflight, which sits low on an upstand, and a lantern, which stands up in a pitched glass frame.

How each one feels in the room

A flat rooflight gives clean light and a tidy line from the garden. It suits a narrow room, a utility space or a galley kitchen. A lantern gives the ceiling extra height and shows more sky, so it suits a wider room where the table sits underneath. Either can be fixed or have an opening section, and an opening one is worked from a wall switch or a handset kept in the kitchen drawer. Our comparison of flat rooflight types sets the options side by side.

Planning, in a sentence

A flat rooflight on a house is usually permitted development, but a lantern on a roof that is already there normally needs planning permission unless the council confirms otherwise. The planning guide explains why, and we confirm your position before you commit to a design.

Blinds and heat

An extension full of glass can run bright in summer. A blind beneath the rooflight shades it, and some makers offer solar control glass. Decide on the blind when you choose the rooflight, because its fixing is part of the frame.

Cleaning

A low flat pane is simple to keep clear. A lantern has bars where leaves and dirt settle, so work out how you will wipe it before you buy.

Back-extension rule

A narrow room wants a flat rooflight. A wide room with the table in the middle can carry a lantern.

Does living near Gatley Village conservation area change what we can put in?

Stockport Council designated the Gatley Village conservation area in 1979. Stockport Council has more on its conservation areas pages. Being inside one is not, on its own, a bar to adding a rooflight to a house. What can matter is the roof slope the rooflight goes on and what the planning rules allow for your house. The planning guide sets out what changes the position.

Why we check the address

A boundary is drawn on a map, and only the address tells you which side of it a house stands. We check each address with Stockport Council before we quote, and we tell you what we found rather than assuming. You can search the dataset yourself on planning.data.gov.uk.

Gatley Hall and the church

Historic England lists Gatley Hall and the Church of St James, both at Grade II. If your house is listed, listed building consent will almost always be required before any rooflight work begins, and it sets the design. Our page on listed homes and rooflights explains how that works.

A rooflight that sits quietly

On an older roof a conservation rooflight lies low in the slope and can have a slim central bar, so from the road it barely stands out. Choosing one is a question of how the room is used and what the roof is covered with.

Terms from a village-core check

Conservation area designation: An area the council has designated for its special character. Being in one does not, on its own, take away the usual rooflight rights.
Consent for a listed house: Consent needed to change a listed building in ways that affect its character.
Conservation rooflight: A low-profile rooflight made for older roofs, with a slim frame.

We have a big old house with a high landing. How do we reach the roof window?

Gatley has grander houses as well as the streets built from 1934. High Grove House, a mansion, was put up for one of a wealthy hatting family, and Gatley Hall and Gatley Hill House may date from the mid-eighteenth century. A house on that scale has a large roof space, and a landing or stair under it can put a window out of reach.

Choosing how it opens

A manual window can be reached with a rod, which is fine for a window you open twice a year. If someone will open it every day, electric opening, worked from a wall switch or a handset, is easier to live with. Solar opening needs no cable, so it suits a room where the plaster is already finished. Our electric and solar opening page compares them.

The blind, the same way

If the blind is out of reach, it stays where it was left. Pick one that runs from the same handset as the window. A bedroom may want blackout, while a stairwell may want none.

Loft rooms

If the loft becomes a bedroom, the new floor is building work and needs a safe way out. The Building Regulations guide covers it, and if our roof windows need notifying under the Building Regulations, we do that.

Matching the roof

An older roof may be slate or clay tile, and the flashing kit has to suit the covering. We read the roof first and choose the kit before we settle the window size.

Who uses the stairs

Think about the people in the house as well as the building. A teenager in the loft bedroom, a grandparent who uses the stairs each day and a young child on the landing will each want something different from the same window. Tell us at the survey, and we pick the opening, the restrictor and the blind around them. Our page on child-safe opening lists the options.

Is it worth choosing the glass carefully for a kitchen extension roof?

The glass in a rooflight faces the sky and takes the sun from above. In a kitchen or dining room extension that means summer glare and warmth, and in winter it means a cooler pane over your head. Makers offer a range of glazing for the same rooflight.

Sun and shade

Solar control glass is made to cut the amount of the sun's warmth that comes through. A blind under the rooflight does a similar job from inside, and you can choose either or both. Our page on solar control glazing sets out what the coating does and where it helps most.

Self-cleaning coatings

Some makers offer a coating on the outer pane that helps rain wash dirt away. It reduces the need to clean, though it does not remove it. A lantern with several bars still deserves a plan for its outside.

Condensation

Moisture from cooking collects on cold glass. Better glazing helps, and so does a window that opens. If condensation worries you, the condensation page explains the causes plainly.

The decision at the survey

We look at the room, ask how it is used and give you the options with the reasons. The choice is yours, and a fixed written quote follows.

Gatley streets we visit

Gatley

Gatley is inside the Stockport borough and well within the ring we draw around Stockport, so every street here is in our area.

Is your Gatley postcode in our area?

Gatley is 4 road miles south-west of Stockport, and we survey homes across the suburb, from the 1930s streets to the village core. Enter your postcode to check.

Nearest town pages

Gatley rooflight questions

How do you decide between a rod, a remote and solar opening for a loft window?

We ask who opens it, how often and how high the handle sits. A window opened now and then can use a rod. One opened daily suits a switch or handset, and a room with finished plaster suits solar. We explain the controls on the day.

Which council handles planning for a Gatley house?

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. We check your address with it before quoting, and for building control you can use its own service or hire a registered building control approver.

Can I put a lantern on an existing flat roof?

Yes, though the lantern is the one that normally needs planning permission, unless the council confirms otherwise. A flat rooflight usually does not. Our page on adding a lantern to an existing roof explains the steps and the structure behind them.

Is a sun tunnel an option for a dark landing?

It can be. A small dome on the roof leads through the loft to a diffuser in the ceiling, so it suits a landing or bathroom with loft space above. It brings daylight but does not open. See sun tunnels.

Is Gatley's ground a problem for a flat roof rooflight?

No. The rooflight sits on the roof, not in the ground, and low ground does not make it harder to fit. What matters is the roof covering under it. A tired covering is better renewed before the rooflight goes in, and we say so at the survey.

Do you check whether my road is in the village conservation area?

Yes. Your address goes to Stockport Council as part of the survey, and the result comes back to you in plain words. If you want to look yourself, the council's page for Gatley Village is the place to start.

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