Old Trafford rooflights, for Victorian streets that stayed

Skylights and rooflights for Old Trafford's Victorian terraces and larger houses

Old Trafford's Victorian terraced streets were renovated rather than cleared, and larger houses came with the botanical gardens. We match the rooflight to the loft, the landing or the back addition.

Victorian terraces under Welsh slate: loft rooms and rear slopes looked at first
Back additions with flat roofs weighed up for a rooflight, a blind and cleaning
Empress conservation area addresses checked with Trafford Council before we quote

10 road miles north-west of Stockport

Old Trafford is an area of Trafford, in Greater Manchester. In the 1820s John Dalton chose it as the site for a Royal Horticultural and Botanical Gardens, and the gardens' popularity led wealthy people to build large houses nearby. It grew into an urban area after the Manchester Ship Canal was built in the 1890s and Trafford Park was developed in the early 20th century. Some Victorian housing was cleared in the 1960s and early 1970s, but residents preferred renovation to demolition, so Victorian terraced streets remain. The River Irwell, canalised as the Manchester Ship Canal, forms its northern boundary, which leaves the area close to a peninsula.

What those streets ask of a rooflight is mostly practical. Victorian brick terraces in north-west England are typically roofed in natural Welsh slate, with a loft that could be a bedroom, a back addition under a flat roof and a landing in the middle with no window. The larger houses have taller rooms, where the window is the problem of reach. At every survey we begin with who uses the room and how, then put a fixed written quote in front of you.

Four jobs for Old Trafford roofs

Roof windows and VELUX windows for the lofts, sun tunnels for dark landings, and flat rooflights for the back additions, each chosen with the person who lives under it.

Victorian streets and larger houses: the Old Trafford questions

Lofts under Welsh slate, back additions, taller rooms in the bigger houses and the Empress conservation area are the subjects we are asked about most here.

Is it worth turning the loft of a Victorian terrace into a bedroom?

The Victorian brick terraces that remain here are typically roofed in natural Welsh slate. The back slope of a terrace is usually the place for the window, away from the street and with the least to disturb. Before we say anything about size, we look at the slate, because the flashing kit has to suit it, and at the rafters, which set the window width.

Picture the room first

A loft bedroom is a low room with a sloping ceiling, so where the bed goes decides where the window can go. A window above the bed head can catch the early sun, so it needs a proper blackout blind. A window on the wall side is easier to reach, which suits an older child who opens it for themselves. Think about the people first and the glass second.

Wiping the outer pane

A slate slope is no place for a ladder, and a loft window high on the back slope is out of reach from the garden. Some roof windows pivot so the outer pane can be wiped from the room, and we show you how on the model you pick. This is a small point that decides whether the glass is still clear in two years.

Opening and blinds

If you want the window open every day, ask about a motor. A rod works for occasional use. The blind should be worked from the same control, so it is not forgotten. The blinds and controls guide explains what is available, and the child-safe opening guide covers households with young children.

Everything else a loft involves

A loft conversion is building work, with a safe route out of the new floor as part of it, and the Building Regulations guide sets that out. Placing the windows is covered in loft conversion roof windows.

For a terrace loft

Put the bed first, the window second. A handle you can reach lying down is worth more than an extra hand's width of glass.

What suits the flat roof over our back addition?

A Victorian terrace may have a lean-to or flat-roofed addition at the back, and the room underneath it is often the kitchen or the bathroom, which is also the part of the house that gets the least light. A flat rooflight on that roof solves most of it.

What a flat rooflight is like at home

It lies low on a raised upstand, so it does not stand out from the garden. Over a kitchen it gives light to the work surfaces and the sink. Over a bathroom a fixed or opening rooflight does the same. You can have it fixed, or opening with a handle or a motor. The opening kind is where you should think about reach, because a flat rooflight at ceiling height is not always within an arm's length. Our guide to choosing for a flat roof compares the types.

Keeping the glass clean

The outer pane gets leaves, dust and rain marks. On a low back addition you can often see the glass from an upstairs window and reach it with a long-handled brush from outside. We explain what suits your roof, and how any coating on the glass behaves, at the survey.

Rain and an empty house

Rain sensors are offered on VELUX electric and solar roof windows and close the window at the first drops. Over a bathroom or a kitchen that is shut up for the day, that is a quiet comfort. Our rain sensor guide says which models have one.

Under the rooflight

A tired felt roof is best renewed before a new rooflight goes in. New glass in an old covering makes little sense, and the page on fitting into a flat roof already there explains what the work involves.

If your home is a flat

If your home is a flat, the planning rules and your lease both come into it: a rooflight there needs planning permission, and the freeholder's consent is usually required too, so start by asking them. The planning guide explains the position.

Our house is one of the larger Victorian ones. How do we reach a window in a tall room?

The popularity of the botanical gardens led wealthy people to build large houses in the area. If your Old Trafford house is one of the larger Victorian ones, you probably have generous ceilings and a staircase that rises a long way. Those are lovely to live with and awkward for a roof window, because the glass can end up several steps above the nearest floor.

Three honest options

A manual window can be opened with a pole from the floor. That is fine for a landing window you open now and then. For a room you use every day, an electric window is worked by a switch or a handset. A solar window needs no wiring, which makes it easier to add to a finished ceiling. The two types are weighed up on our electric and solar opening page.

Blind to match

On a high window the blind is the point where homes give up. If you cannot reach it, you will not close it. We prefer one that runs on the same motor or remote.

Who lives in the room

A tall bedroom for an older relative, a teenager or a young child each ends up with a different window and control. We ask at the survey, because the right answer for one household is not right for the next. Where children are about, a restrictor is worth discussing.

Older glass, newer glass

If an old roof window is being replaced, the new one often fits the same opening. Check the label for the size, and see replacing an old VELUX window for how it works.

Opening a window out of reach

Now and then: A manual window and a pole
Every day: Electric, from a switch or remote
No wiring wanted: Solar, with its own power
Blind control: Run from the same remote

Does the Empress conservation area matter for a rooflight?

Old Trafford has a conservation area called Empress, designated in 1995. Standing in a conservation area does not alone rule out a rooflight on an English house. The address decides, so we check it with Trafford Council before we quote. If you are not sure whether your street is in Empress, the council's maps and planning.data.gov.uk both show boundaries.

Protected buildings nearby

Historic England lists buildings in the area, including Trafford Road Bridge and Trafford Town Hall. Neither is a house, but a listed house would be a different matter: changes to its roof almost always need listed building consent first, and the consent decides the design. Our page on conservation rooflights on listed homes explains the process.

Planning for an ordinary house

For an ordinary Old Trafford house the questions are simpler than the heritage list suggests.

A rooflight on a house here usually falls within permitted development, inside limits. The planning guide describes the limits, and notes that a slope facing the side brings extra conditions.

A rooflight that blends

On a Welsh slate roof near a conservation area, a conservation rooflight lies flush with the slate and has a slim bar. Even where nothing demands it, the look can be worth having. What a conservation rooflight is explains the type.

Old Trafford, house by house

Old Trafford

Old Trafford lies comfortably within the circle around Stockport on the map, drawn as the crow flies, while our reach is counted in road miles.

Check an Old Trafford postcode

Old Trafford is 10 road miles north-west of Stockport, and we work across it, from the Victorian terraced streets to the larger houses. Enter your postcode to confirm cover and book a survey.

Nearest town pages

Old Trafford: questions people send us

Which council deals with planning in Old Trafford?

Trafford Council. We check each address with it before quoting. For the building work, building control may be done by the council or by a registered building control approver, and where the job is notifiable we make the Building Regulations notification.

Can a sun tunnel light a landing in the middle of a terrace?

Often, when the roof space above allows. The tube runs from a roof dome down to the ceiling, where the diffuser fits an opening cut for it. It brings daylight but does not open. See which rooms suit a sun tunnel.

Will the survey tell me what the roof can take?

Yes. The survey is free, and it covers the roof covering, the rafters, the room below and how you will use it. On a Victorian terrace that means looking closely at the Welsh slate and the back slope, and on a back addition, at the state of the flat roof.

Can a fixed roof window be swapped for one that opens?

Often, yes. A fixed window in a loft or landing can be replaced by an opening one, electric or manual, when the new window suits the existing opening. The roof around it and the height of the handle both need checking first. Our page on swapping a fixed rooflight for an opening one explains how it is done.

Is the fitting guaranteed?

Our roof window or flat rooflight work in an Old Trafford house carries a 10-year workmanship guarantee, and makers' guarantees on the glass and motors differ from model to model.

Free survey

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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 Old Trafford.

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

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