Rooflights for Pendlebury's terraces and newer estates

Skylights and rooflights for Pendlebury's slate-roofed Victorian terraces

Pendlebury is a mixed town of old terraces and newer streets in the City of Salford. We start with who opens the window and how high it sits, then choose the rooflight that suits the room.

St Augustine's conservation area checked with Salford City Council before we quote
Long slate rear slopes: window positions decided with the rafters, not by eye
Newer estate houses: any earlier planning condition looked for before you commit

19 road miles north-west of Stockport

Pendlebury is a town in the City of Salford with a mix of industrial and residential areas, even though its mines and most of its cotton mills have closed. Industrialisation swept through the Irwell Valley at the end of the 19th century, and coal was dug here until Agecroft Colliery closed in the 1990s. The colliery site is now Agecroft Commerce Park, and a recently built housing estate stands on Agecroft Road.

That gives two broad kinds of roof. Victorian terraced houses tend to be roofed in natural slate, often as a single long rear slope, and the newer houses have roofs of their own to check. In daily use the questions are the same: who opens the window, how high does it sit, can the outside be cleaned, and what happens when it rains with nobody home. We answer those at the survey, and a fixed written quote follows.

Five fits for terraces and newer streets

A long slate slope wants roof windows, a dark stair wants daylight from above, and a flat-roofed rear extension wants a flat rooflight. These five cover that range.

Pendlebury roofs and the questions that follow

Slate terraces, newer estates, a conservation area and a Grade I church give Pendlebury surveys four recurring questions, set out here.

Where along a long, unbroken rear slope should the windows go?

Pendlebury's Victorian terraces tend to be roofed in natural slate, frequently laid as one long rear slope without breaks. That is a generous place to put roof windows, because nothing in the way forces the position. The freedom is also the trap. A neat row of windows along the slope can end up over the wrong parts of the rooms below.

Start from inside

We begin in the loft room and the landing, not on the roof. Where will the bed go? Where is the desk? Where do you stand to look out? A window above the foot of a bed lights the room as well as one above the head, and usually gives a better view of the sky. Then the rafters tell us how wide the window can be, and the slate tells us which flashing kit goes with it.

Height and handle

On a long slope the lower edge of a window sits a good way above the floor, and the handle may be out of arm's reach. Choose the method with the window: a pole for a window opened occasionally, a remote or a solar motor for one opened daily. The blind should work from the same control. Our page on blinds and controls for high windows shows what is on offer.

Who uses the room decides the rest

A loft bedroom for a teenager, a spare room for visitors and a study for someone working from home can sit under the same slope and still want different windows. A bedroom wants blackout. A study wants a blind that cuts glare from the screen, and an opening that does not need a stretch. A spare room that is used twice a year can have the simplest handle there is. We ask these questions in the room, with the slope above us, and the answers go straight into the quote.

Slate and the join around it

Slate is laid in overlapping courses, and the flashing has to sit among them. The page on flashing a window into slate or tile explains why a kit chosen for the covering matters.

Planning a window on a rear slope

Position: Set by the room below and the rafters
Covering: Natural slate, checked on the survey
Opening: Pole, remote or solar, by how often you use it
Blind: Blackout for a bedroom, worked from the same control

Does a house on a newer estate follow different rules for a rooflight?

Pendlebury has a recently built estate on Agecroft Road, and other newer streets besides. For a house of that age the planning history deserves a look. In England a rooflight on a house is usually permitted development, within limits the planning guide sets out. A condition attached to the original planning permission for an estate can remove those rights, and the council's records show whether yours has one.

What we check first

We ask whether the house is on its original permission, and then we look at the council's record for the address. If a condition has taken the rights away, a planning application comes first and the rooflight second. If not, we move on to the design. Salford City Council is the planning authority, and it is who we ask.

Light for the landing

A newer house can have a landing or a bathroom that borrows light from a stairwell. A sun tunnel can brighten such a room: a roof-top dome joined to a ceiling diffuser by a tube through the loft, which means the ceiling has to be opened for the diffuser. The page on where a sun tunnel works well lists the likely rooms. A roof window is the better choice where you want the room to open or to see the sky.

Roof lofts that are used

If the loft is being used as a room, the roof windows are part of the conversion. The Building Regulations guide explains what the new floor needs for a safe way out, and we notify the work where it is notifiable.

On a newer estate

Look at the planning history before you look at windows. A condition on the original permission can change the order.

We live near St Augustine's. Does the conservation area change what we can fit?

St Augustine's conservation area was designated in 1981, and the Church of St Augustine is listed Grade I. By itself, living inside a conservation area leaves the usual permitted development for a rooflight in place. What can alter that is an Article 4 direction, which withdraws particular rights, and they apply in some parts of the town. What each direction restricts is not something we assume. We check your address with Salford City Council before we quote.

Listed buildings nearby

Besides the Grade I church, Historic England lists Christ Church, the Church of St Anne and the Church of St John the Evangelist, each at Grade II. These are churches, and a listing applies to the building itself. If your own house were listed, a new or altered rooflight would almost always call for listed building consent. The page on listed homes and rooflights sets out how consent works.

Looking it up yourself

Boundaries are public. You can see them on planning.data.gov.uk, and the council also publishes its own designations. The dataset may be incomplete, which is why a call to the council about your address is part of our survey.

If a low profile is wanted

Where the street is old and the slope faces the road, a conservation rooflight with a slim frame can look right even if nobody insists on it. Our page on choosing between conservation rooflights compares them.

Words from a council letter

Designation: A council marking out an area as a conservation area. St Augustine's dates from 1981.
Article 4 area: An order withdrawing particular permitted development rights in an area the council names.
Grade I: The highest listing grade, held by the Church of St Augustine in Pendlebury.
Low-profile rooflight: A roof window with a slim frame that lies close to the roof covering.

Is a flat rooflight enough for a back extension, and should it open?

A flat-roofed extension at the back is where a house gains a kitchen or dining room and loses its daylight. A flat rooflight is the plain, low answer. It sits on an upstand in the roof, looks tidy from the garden and brings the light down into the middle of the room.

Fixed or opening

A fixed rooflight is the simplest and has nothing to forget. An opening one lets you open the roof of the room, which in a kitchen can be handy on a warm day. Electric models open from a wall switch or a remote, so nobody climbs on a chair. If one is left open and rain arrives, certain VELUX electric and solar models are sold with a sensor that shuts the sash. Not every product has one. The page on what rain sensors do and do not do goes through it.

Keeping the glass clean

A flat rooflight at roof level of a single-storey extension is the easiest outside glass in the house to reach. A long-handled brush from a safe position, or a wipe from a ladder fixed properly, usually does it. We explain how for your roof at handover. Dirt shows more on a flat pane than on a steep slope, because rain does not run off as quickly.

When a lantern is the alternative

A lantern rises above the roof in a glazed frame, and gives a wider kitchen more height and sky than a flat pane can. It is also a bigger addition, and it is judged differently, so planning is a separate question from the one for a flat rooflight. The planning guide describes where the lines fall, and we confirm the answer for your house before you commit. Cleaning is more work, because a lantern has more bars and more edges. For a narrow extension, a flat rooflight is usually the better fit.

Check the roof underneath

The covering is part of the job, because it is dressed up the sides of the upstand. The page on upstands and roof coverings explains why the covering and the upstand are done together.

Pendlebury, street by street

Pendlebury

On the map, Pendlebury falls well within the circle drawn round Stockport.

Pendlebury postcode, quick check

We cover the whole of Pendlebury, which is 19 road miles north-west of Stockport. That takes in the older terraces and the newer streets by Agecroft Road, and a postcode check takes a moment.

Nearest town pages

Pendlebury homeowners ask

Which council handles planning in Pendlebury?

Salford City Council. Building control can be done by the council or by an approver registered for building control. For work that is notifiable, the Building Regulations notification is something we take care of.

Can the old window in a slate roof be replaced like for like?

It can be. If the new window matches the old one in size, it fits the existing opening and the plaster lining inside stays. The label on the old window shows its size code. Same opening or new explains the test.

Is a roof window safe in a child's bedroom?

It can be. Some makers offer restrictors that limit how far the sash opens, provided an adult can still open the room's escape window fully, and electric models can be controlled from a remote kept out of reach. We go through the options at the survey. See child-safe opening rooflights.

Can you put a rooflight in a flat above a shop or a flat-roofed block?

A rooflight in a flat needs planning permission, and usually the freeholder's consent as well. We would start by finding out who owns the roof. If you own the whole house, this does not apply.

Do you give a price from photographs of the roof?

No. We survey first, free of charge, then give a fixed written quote. The covering, the rafters and the use of the room decide the window, and a photograph does not show them all. If you send photographs, they help us plan the visit, nothing more.

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