Mill-town terraces and conservation-area streets in Bolton

Skylights and rooflights for Bolton's slate-roofed terraces and Queens Park streets

Bolton filled up with houses during its cotton boom, and its Victorian terraces usually have long slate roofs ready for a loft window. We help you choose one you will actually enjoy using.

Long terrace back slopes: we settle the height of your window first
Queens Park, Deane Village and other conservation addresses checked with Bolton Council
Sun tunnel or roof window weighed up for a dark landing

22 road miles north-west of Stockport

Bolton boomed in the nineteenth century. Cotton spinning made it one of the busiest mill towns anywhere, and the large multi-storey mills and their chimneys dominated the skyline, and some of them survive today. The Victorian terrace is the house type of that northern England world, and its roof is usually natural slate, often with one long back slope that nothing interrupts.

That long slope is where a loft window goes, and it raises everyday questions. How high will the handle sit when you stand beside the bed? Who will open it each morning? Will the afternoon sun make the room too bright to rest in? Parts of the town, the centre among them, carry conservation areas and listed buildings, which add one check before we quote. We start with how the room will be used, and the fixed written quote follows from that.

Five fittings that suit a Bolton roof

These match the slate terraces, the older streets in conservation areas and the dark rooms in between. Each page explains the product the way you would meet it at home.

A fitter fixing a timber trimmer beside a roof window opening in a loft, insulation between the rafters

Using a rooflight in a Bolton terrace

A terrace loft window set low opens by hand. One set higher on the long slope is easier with a rod or a motor.
A bedroom under a slate slope usually wants a blackout blind. A stair landing often needs only a light-filtering one.
The outside of a pitched window is cleaned from inside on many designs. We show you how yours turns, before we go.
We look at the room and ask who uses it before suggesting anything at all.

What Bolton's roofs ask of a rooflight

Four questions that come up around the slate terraces, the conservation areas and the dark landings of Bolton, answered the way we would at your kitchen table.

Our terrace has one long back slope. Where should the loft window go?

A Victorian terrace in northern England usually has a natural slate roof, and the back slope is often one long run with nothing breaking it up. That is good news for a loft window. You have room to pick a height and a spot instead of fitting it wherever the space allows.

Position before size

Stand in the loft room and picture the bed, the wardrobe and the door. A roof window set low lets a seated person look out and reach the handle. One set higher spreads more light across the ceiling but puts the handle beyond your arm. For a room used every day, decide the position first. The slate covering decides which flashing kit goes with the window, and the rafters decide how wide it can be, so we check both at the survey.

Opening it day to day

A top handle on a low window works with your hand. On a higher one a telescopic rod handles an occasional open. If the room is a bedroom that you open every morning, electric or solar opening saves the rod and the stretch. VELUX makes both kinds, and our guide to electric and solar opening sets out the differences.

A way out of the new floor

When a loft becomes a bedroom, the new floor needs a safe means of escape. Our Building Regulations guide covers that, and it is one more reason to settle the position early.

What the survey looks at

We go up into the loft and look at the rafters, the state of the slates and the head height under the slope. Then we ask who will sleep or work there. A teenager's bedroom and a spare room for visitors can end up with different windows on the same roof, and that is a sensible outcome rather than a problem.

Bolton loft rule

Put the handle where your hand already goes, then ask how big the glass should be.

Queens Park is down our road. Does a conservation area change what we can fit?

The national planning map shows conservation areas across Bolton, among them Queens Park and Deane Village. Standing inside one is not a bar on a new rooflight. Bolton Council holds the detail for each address, and we confirm it with the council before we put a price on anything. The planning guide sets out what does change the position, and it is worth a read before you talk to us.

Listed houses

Bolton has listed buildings of high grade, among them Hall i' th' Wood, which is Grade I, and the Town Hall, listed Grade II*. Your own house may well be unlisted. If it is on the list, a new or altered rooflight almost always needs listed building consent first, and the design follows what is granted. The page on rooflights on listed houses walks through it.

A low profile suits an older roof

A conservation rooflight sits close to the slates, usually with a slim central bar, and from the street it reads as part of the roof rather than an addition. That makes it worth a look on any older house, even where nothing demands it. Modern ones are normally double glazed. It will not always be the right choice, and the survey is where we weigh it against an ordinary roof window.

What to bring to the survey

If you know the street is in a conservation area, tell us. If you have a letter from the council about your house, bring that too. It saves a step before the written quote.

Words from the planning letter

Conservation area: A place the council has marked out for its special character. In England it does not by itself remove the right to add a rooflight.
Consent for a listed house: Permission needed to alter a listed building in a way that affects its character, indoors or out.
Permitted development: Work that needs no planning application because national rules allow it.

The landing in our house has no window. Would a sun tunnel do?

A landing or a bathroom with a pitched roof above and a loft in between is where a sun tunnel fits best. A small dome on the roof catches daylight, a tube carries it through the loft, and a diffuser in the ceiling spreads it. Nothing opens, nothing needs a blind, and nobody has to climb up to it. Our guide to which rooms suit a sun tunnel goes through the cases.

Roof window instead?

If you want to look out, or the room is a loft you plan to use, a roof window is the better answer. It lets in more light, can open and takes a blind. A sun tunnel will not do any of that. On a landing nobody lingers in, though, a sun tunnel is often the plainer and tidier route.

Flat roofs at the back

Where a house has a single-storey part at the rear with a flat roof, a flat rooflight over the kitchen or utility room is the usual answer. It sits low on an upstand, is simple to look after, and can be fixed or electric. Pick the position by where you stand to cook or wash up, because that is where you will notice the light. If the roof covering is tired, it is better to renew it as the rooflight goes in, and our guide to upstands and coverings explains why.

Cleaning the outside

A dome is a small target and is easy to reach for a wipe from outside. A flat rooflight is reached from a ladder or, on some designs, cleaned from the inside. We talk through which applies to yours at the survey.

How do we shade and clean a roof window in a loft bedroom?

Both come down to the same thing: where you can stand and what you can reach. Think about them when you choose the window, not after the fitting.

Blinds

A bedroom wants a blackout blind. It runs in side channels so it sits flat against the glass, and the best are fitted from the start so they match the window. A landing or study needs less, and a pleated blind that softens bright light is enough. A blind on a high window should work from the same remote as the opening, or from a rod. A blind out of reach stays open. Our guide to blinds and controls covers the options.

Cleaning the glass

Many roof windows turn on a pivot, so the outer pane swings to the inside where you can wipe it. Others are top hung and open only a little, and then the outside is cleaned with a long-handled tool or a ladder. Some makers coat the outer pane so rain does more of the work. Ask what yours is before you buy.

When it rains and nobody is home

VELUX makes electric and solar roof windows with a rain sensor that closes the window when it senses rain. That helps when you have left for work with the window open, and our rain sensor guide describes how it behaves.

Handover

Before we leave, we show you the controls, the blind and the way to clean the glass, so nobody has to work it out from a leaflet at bedtime.

A loft bedroom checklist

Opening: Hand, rod, electric or solar
Blind: Blackout in side channels
Cleaning: Pivot turns, or a long-handled tool
Wet days: Rain sensor on electric and solar models

Across Bolton

Bolton, Greater Manchester

The ring on the map is 30 miles from Stockport, and Bolton sits inside it, a good way from the edge.

Is your Bolton address covered?

We work across Bolton, 22 road miles north-west of Stockport, from the terraces to the older streets in conservation areas. Type your postcode and we will tell you.

Nearest town pages

Bolton roof questions

Who is the planning authority for a house in Bolton?

Bolton Council is the planning authority. On the Building Regulations side, sign-off can come from Bolton Council building control or a registered approver, and where the job is notifiable we deal with that notification for the rooflight we fit.

Can I check if my street is in a conservation area?

Yes. The boundaries are published on planning.data.gov.uk, and Bolton Council holds the detail. We check your address as part of the survey, so you do not have to chase it.

Our slate roof is old. Can a roof window go in without redoing the slates?

Usually the slates around the opening are lifted and relaid with a flashing kit made for slate. The kit is chosen to match the covering. See flashing for slate and tile for how it works.

Is a sun tunnel worth it for a bathroom?

It can be, if there is loft space above. It brings daylight into the bathroom but does not open and gives no view, which suits a room you use for ten minutes at a time. See sun tunnels for what they do.

What stands behind the work once it is in?

A 10-year workmanship guarantee backs the fitting, and it is a written document, not a phrase on a leaflet.

Free survey

Book your free survey

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

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

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