Farnworth rooflights for terraces, semis and their extensions

Farnworth rooflights and skylights for terraced lofts and semi extensions

Most Farnworth homes were semis or terraces at the 2011 census, with a sizeable minority of flats. A long back slope, a dark landing or a flat-roofed kitchen extension each asks something different of a rooflight, and we start with how you live.

Greenside addresses checked with Bolton Council before we put a price on paper
Terrace loft room: roof window, blind and who can reach both
Dark landing in a semi: sun tunnel or roof window weighed up honestly

20 road miles north-west of Stockport

Farnworth is a town in the Bolton borough, set on the River Irwell and the River Croal. It grew quickly in the 18th and 19th centuries around coal mining, with iron foundries and cotton mills alongside. The homes that followed are mostly semi-detached and terraced houses, according to the 2011 census, with a sizeable minority of purpose-built flats and few detached houses.

That mix sets the questions. A Victorian terrace in northern England usually has a natural slate roof with a long, unbroken rear slope, which is generous ground for a roof window and an awkward place to reach the glass. A semi may have a later flat-roofed addition behind it, where the choice is between a rooflight and a lantern, and where the question to settle is who will clean the outside. We begin each survey by asking who uses the room, and a fixed written quote follows.

Rooflights that suit Farnworth's terraces and semis

These five cover the long rear slopes, the dark landings and any flat-roofed extensions at the back, each matched to how the room is lived in.

Farnworth's terraces and semis, and what they ask

Four questions from homes shaped by the mining and mill years, from the loft under a long slate slope to the kitchen extension at the back.

Should a dark terrace landing get a sun tunnel or a roof window?

Farnworth grew around its pits, foundries and mills, and a terrace from those years can have a stair landing that never sees daylight. A semi can have the same trouble, with a landing running through the middle of the house. The two usual answers are a sun tunnel and a roof window, and they are different things.

What a sun tunnel does

Daylight enters a small roof dome, travels through the loft in a tube and comes out of a ceiling diffuser. It brings daylight into a landing, bathroom or hall that has loft space above it. It does not open and it gives no view, which for a landing is usually fine, because nobody lingers there. There is nothing to reach, no blind to work and little to clean beyond the dome.

What a roof window does

A roof window needs a way through the loft floor and ceiling, so it suits a room that is already a room, such as a converted bedroom. It opens, it lets you see the sky and it can carry a blind. The price of that is a window to reach, shade and clean, which is why the first question is who will use the space.

Choosing on the landing

If the landing only needs light, the sun tunnel is the lighter job, with no moving parts to learn and nothing to shade. If the loft above is going to be a room, the window you fit for the room may also throw light down the stairs, and one opening can do the work of two. We would rather ask you what the loft is for than sell you the first thing that fits. Our room-by-room sun tunnel guide goes through the options.

Terms for a stairwell that needs light

Dome: The clear cap on the roof that gathers daylight for a sun tunnel.
Diffuser: The frosted panel in the ceiling that spreads the light through the room.
Roof void: The loft space a sun tunnel passes through on its way down.

Where does a flat rooflight earn its keep in a semi's back extension?

At the 2011 census, Farnworth's homes were mostly semis and terraces. Some semis have a rear extension with a flat roof. Where the house has one, that flat roof is the obvious place to bring daylight into a kitchen or dining room that sits deep behind the original walls.

Flat rooflight or lantern

A flat rooflight stays low, on a short upstand. It is tidy from the garden and suits a narrow room. A lantern is a glazed frame raised above the roof, adds height and sky, and suits a wider room with a table beneath. Both can open, and an electric opener works from a switch or a remote, which is a gentler habit than climbing onto a worktop to reach a catch. In a kitchen, an opening rooflight lets the steam out after cooking, and in a dining room it lets you shut the weather out again with one touch.

The outside of the glass

People tend to ask about cleaning only after the glass is dirty. A single flat pane on a low roof can be wiped from a ladder. A lantern has more bars and more edges. We would rather talk it through before you pick than leave you with a view of moss. Some makers offer a coating on the outer pane to help the rain do the work, and we describe that as the maker's feature. A rooflight above a worktop also saves you switching the lights on for a dull afternoon of cooking.

Check the roof first

If the felt on the extension roof is tired, it is usually better to renew it when the rooflight goes in. The reason is set out in our upstands and roof coverings guide, and the planning guide covers the permissions for a flat rooflight or a lantern.

How do we shade and reach a loft room under a long slate slope?

A Victorian terrace in northern England normally has a natural slate roof, often with a long rear slope that runs without a break from ridge to eaves. In a loft bedroom that long slope is a gift: there is room for a window or two, and the light comes in over the bed. It also means the glass can sit higher up the slope than a person can reach.

Opening

If you open the window each morning, an electric or solar roof window saves the stretch. VELUX makes both, and the solar one needs no cable. A manual window can be hooked open with a rod. Our electric and solar opening guide compares them.

Shading

A bedroom wants a blackout blind, and a blackout blind only helps if someone can pull it down. Choose one that works from the window's remote, or one the rod can reach. A study or spare room may be happy with a lighter blind or none. Whatever the shade, pick it with the person who will pull it, standing in the room, before the order goes in.

Fitting into slate

The flashing kit is matched to the covering, so we look at the slates and at where the rafters fall before choosing a size. Our guide to roof window flashing for slate and tile shows what is involved, and the one on roof windows for loft conversions deals with sizes and positions.

A window high on the slope

A window high on a long slope is not one you want to lean out of. Some roof windows pivot, which brings the outer pane inside for wiping. Others are cleaned from a ladder or by a window cleaner with a pole, and we tell you which yours is before you choose, so the cleaning is not a surprise in the first spring.

A terrace loft bedroom, specified

Roof: Natural slate on a long rear slope
Window: Roof window sized to the rafter spacing
Opening: Solar or electric if used daily
Blind: Blackout, worked from the same remote

Will Greenside, or a listed neighbour, change what we can fit?

Greenside is a conservation area in Farnworth, designated in 1974. Farnworth also has listed buildings, among them the Town Hall, the Church of St Thomas and the Shakespeare Public House, all Grade II. Neither fact tells you what applies to your own roof. For that we look at the address, the age of the house and the roof it has today. Two houses on the same road can have different answers, and only a check will show which applies to you.

What a designation means

A conservation area is a place the council has marked for its character. The designation alone leaves the permitted development right for a rooflight in place, and the planning guide explains what can remove it, so we check the address before ordering. Should your house be listed, listed building consent is needed for a new or altered rooflight in nearly every case, and it also decides how it looks. The listed homes guide sets out how that works.

Where the planning rules sit

For a house, a rooflight usually counts as permitted development, inside limits the planning guide sets out. We confirm the position for your house before you commit. Bolton Council is the planning authority for the town.

Loft work and the paperwork

If the rooflight is part of a loft conversion, the work is building work and the escape route from the new floor is part of it. The Building Regulations guide explains that, and for a notifiable job, the Building Regulations notification covering our windows comes from us.

Before you order

Give us the address first. A short check with Bolton Council costs nothing and saves a redesign.

Reaching Farnworth and its streets

Farnworth

Farnworth sits north-west of Stockport, inside the map's ring. That ring is a straight-line 30-mile radius, and the town is comfortably within our 30 road miles too.

Check your Farnworth postcode

We work across Farnworth, 20 road miles north-west of Stockport. Enter your postcode and, if you are inside our area, we will book a free survey with you.

Nearest town pages

Farnworth houses, short answers

Does Bolton Council handle planning for a Farnworth house?

Bolton Council. It handles planning; building control is your choice between the council's team and a registered building control approver. Your address goes to the council for a check before we quote, which spares you from finding out first.

What do you show us before the job is finished?

How the window opens, how the blind and any remote work, and how the outside glass gets cleaned. We go through it in the room with you, so the controls and the cleaning are part of the handover and not left to a leaflet in a drawer.

Will replacing an old window in a slate roof mean redoing the room?

Often, yes. Where a new window matches the old one's size, it can take the old opening and the inside lining stays put. Its label gives a size code, and that settles the match; see new opening or same opening.

Do we have to use a ladder to clean a roof window?

Not always. Some roof windows pivot so the outer pane can be wiped from inside, and a low flat rooflight can be reached from a ladder. We explain the cleaning for your chosen unit at handover, so you know how before we go.

Can a loft room in a terrace have a roof window and a blind that works?

Yes. On a high window we choose a blind that runs from the window's own remote or that a rod can reach. Our guide to VELUX blinds and controls lists the options.

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