Atherton rooflights for terraces, landings and back kitchens

Skylights and rooflights for Atherton's terraced streets, back kitchens and dark landings

Older terraced housing surrounds the middle of Atherton, and a terrace roof asks plain questions: who reaches the window, how it is shaded and how the glass gets cleaned. We settle those first, then choose the product.

Market Place and Howe Bridge conservation areas looked up with Wigan Council first
Long terrace rear slopes judged for loft windows you can actually open
Dark landings lit by a sun tunnel or a small roof window, as the loft allows

24 road miles north-west of Stockport

Atherton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, historically part of Lancashire. It grew with coal mining and nail making, and its cotton mills came out of a cottage spinning and weaving trade that was widespread across the district. The last deep coal mine closed in 1966 and the last cotton mill in 1999. What the town built along the way is still the starting point for housing: older, mostly terraced streets surround the centre.

Victorian terraced houses in northern England usually have natural slate roofs, often with a long uninterrupted rear slope. That long slope is good news for a loft window, because there is room to place it where it suits the room. The harder questions are about daily use. Who opens it, how high does it sit, what does the blind do and how will the outside be cleaned? We ask these at the survey, and the fixed written quote is built on the answers.

Rooflights that suit an Atherton terrace

Most of these answer a terrace with a loft room, a dark landing or a kitchen added at the back. Which one fits comes down to how the space is used.

A sitting room with a dog asleep on the rug and French doors onto a frosty garden

Living under an Atherton terrace roof

A long rear slope lets the window sit low enough to open by hand, or high enough to need a rod. Choose which, on purpose.
The loft bedroom wants blackout. The landing and the back kitchen can usually go without a blind.
A back-kitchen rooflight is wiped from a ladder, so a low flat one is the kinder choice for the outside glass.
If the house is empty all day, VELUX makes electric and solar windows whose rain sensor closes them for you.

Four questions from Atherton's terraced streets

Long slate slopes, landings with no window, back kitchens and conservation areas near the centre. These are the points that decide a rooflight in an Atherton house.

Where on a long rear slope should a loft window go?

A long, uninterrupted rear slope is the friendliest roof a loft conversion can have. With the slope uninterrupted, the window can go where the room wants it rather than where the roof allows.

Height up the slope

A window set low gives a view from a chair or the bed, and its handle is easier to reach. A window set higher puts light deep into the room, but the handle rises with it. If you choose high, plan the opening method at the same time: a rod, a remote or solar opening. A window you can only open with a stepladder is a window that stays shut.

Slate and the flashing

Natural slate needs a flashing kit made for it, and the kit is chosen when the window is ordered. The page on flashing for slate and tile explains the difference. The rafters matter too, because they set how wide the opening can be without extra framing.

Blinds in a bedroom

A loft bedroom on a long slope can get sun for much of the day. A blackout blind is the usual choice for sleeping, and one that runs on the window's own remote is the one that gets used. The blinds and controls page sets out the types.

If it is a conversion

Turning the loft into a room counts as building work, and everyone on the new floor must have a safe route out, which is settled in the design of the stair. The Building Regulations guide explains what to expect. The window positions follow from that. Our page on roof windows for loft conversions goes into sizes and positions.

A loft room on a terrace rear slope

Roof: Natural slate on a long rear slope
Window position: Low for the view, high for deep light
Opening: Rod for now and then, motor for every day
Blind: Blackout for sleeping, worked from the remote
Flashing: Slate kit, chosen when the window is ordered

How do you bring daylight onto a landing that has no window at all?

In a narrow terrace the stairs and landing often sit in the middle, away from an outside wall. That can make the landing the darkest part of the house, lit by a bulb whatever the weather. The remedy is on the roof, above the landing.

A sun tunnel for a quiet landing

A sun tunnel carries daylight from a roof dome along a tube and into the landing through a ceiling diffuser. It is the lightest job of the options we fit: no frame cut into the rafters and nothing to open. It needs loft space above the landing and a clear route through it, and we look at that from the hatch at the survey. For the rooms where it works, see which rooms suit a sun tunnel.

A roof window if the loft is in use

If the loft is being converted, the stair is often being reworked anyway, and a roof window over it brings far more light than a sun tunnel. It also opens, so you can let a warm stairwell air out. That brings the daily-use questions back: the handle may be well above reach, and a blind on a stairwell window is rarely needed. A rod stays in a cupboard on the landing and the problem is solved.

Keeping the choice simple

A landing seldom needs a blind and no cleaning routine beyond an occasional wipe of the outer glass. We would rather fit the simpler product where it gives the right light, and say so at the survey.

For a stairwell

If nobody will open it, a sun tunnel is the easier life. If the loft is being used, a roof window earns the extra work.

Flat rooflight or lantern for a kitchen built onto the back of a terrace?

A terraced yard is small, and a kitchen built out into it often takes most of the space. The room ends up deep and narrow, with a window at one end and dim light at the other. The flat roof above is the one place left to bring daylight in.

The narrow-room case

In a long thin kitchen a flat rooflight sits low on the roof and spreads light along the room. It is also the easier of the two to look after. You can see it from the back door, wipe it from a short ladder, and there is little on it to collect leaves.

The roof lantern case

A lantern stands proud of the roof as a glazed box and gives the room height. It suits a room wide enough to hold a table. In a tight yard it can dominate, so we talk through the proportions at the survey rather than guess from a photograph. The page on lantern sizes and kerbs shows what the choice involves.

Opening, or fixed

A fixed unit is simplest. An opening one is worth having if the kitchen gets steamy, and it is a button on the wall rather than a ladder job when it is electric. Ask for a rain sensor if the house is empty in the day.

Planning, in a line

Whether a lantern needs an application depends on how it arrives with the house, and our planning guide sets out the position. We confirm it for your address before you commit.

We live close to Market Place. Will a conservation area stop a rooflight?

The planning data records conservation areas in Atherton such as Market Place and Howe Bridge. Wigan Council keeps a page of conservation areas with their boundaries. Whether your house is inside one is the first thing we establish, because everything else depends on it.

What the position usually is

The householder route to a rooflight survives inside an English conservation area unless something else has removed it. What matters is the rest of the rules, and they are set out in the planning guide. We check how they apply to your roof at the survey, and we do it before the quote, so any extra step is known before you see a price.

Listed houses

Atherton has listed buildings on Historic England's register, from Chowbent Unitarian Chapel and Alder House at Grade II* to buildings at Grade II. If your own house is listed, a new or changed rooflight on a listed house almost always calls for listed building consent, and that consent decides the design. The page on rooflights on listed homes walks through it.

Why it is worth asking early

A roof in a terraced street is usually an ordinary one. Even so, asking at the start costs nothing, and it removes the one surprise that can hold up a job. It also means the conversation at the survey can stay on the things you will notice every day, such as the handle, the blind and the glass.

Planning terms for an older street

Designated street: A patch of town the council protects for its look. Inside one, a rooflight can still be possible.
Listed building: A building on Historic England's register, with extra protection for what makes it special.
Consent: Listed building consent from the council, needed as well as the usual planning position when a change affects a listed house's character.
Notification: The Building Regulations paperwork for work that is covered, which we handle for notifiable jobs.

Across Atherton and out from the centre

Atherton

The ring is drawn as the crow flies, and Atherton falls inside it. Our service area is counted separately, in road miles.

See if we cover your Atherton street

We cover Atherton, 24 road miles north-west of Stockport, from the terraced streets around the centre to the rest of the town. Type your postcode to confirm and we will book a survey.

Nearest town pages

Atherton homeowners ask

Which council do we deal with in Atherton?

Wigan Council. Building control for the job can sit with Wigan's own team or with a registered building control approver, and on notifiable work the notification is one we make for you.

Can a rooflight go into the flat roof of a kitchen built onto the back of a terrace?

Usually, yes. A flat rooflight or a roof lantern sits on a raised edge built into the flat roof. The roof covering is dressed up around it. See choosing for a flat roof.

Our old roof window is stiff and the glass has misted. Do we have to start again?

Not always. A matching replacement can go into the same opening, and the lining inside stays. Our page on replacing an old VELUX window says how we tell.

Is a rain sensor worth having on a loft window?

It helps in a house that stands empty during the day. Some VELUX electric and solar windows carry a rain sensor and close themselves at the first drops. See rooflight rain sensors.

Do you explain how the controls and blind work before you leave?

Yes. Controls, blinds and cleaning are explained at handover, so whoever lives under the window knows how to use it. The loft or landing window you use every day is fitted under our written 10-year workmanship guarantee.

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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 Atherton.

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

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