Sandstone houses and cold rooms in Buxton, up on high ground

Skylights and rooflights for Buxton's sandstone houses on high ground

Buxton is a spa town of locally quarried sandstone, beneath Axe Edge Moor. We pick rooflights that suit older roofs, shrug off a wet upland day and are easy to open, shade and clean.

Conservation areas and listed houses checked with High Peak Borough Council first
Glass chosen with cold upland rooms and condensation in mind
High ceilings get a rod, a remote or a motor for opening

19 road miles south-east of Stockport

Buxton is a spa town in the borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, known for its spa. It is built on the River Wye and beneath Axe Edge Moor. The early settlement was largely limestone, while the present buildings, of locally quarried sandstone, mostly date from the late 18th century. Joseph Paxton contributed the layout of the Park Road circular estate, and John Carr's Buxton Crescent and Henry Currey's Buxton Baths are among its historic buildings.

For a rooflight, that means three questions before any glass is chosen. Is the house in a conservation area or listed? How cold does the room get on a winter morning, about 290 metres up? And can the person who lives there reach the window, the blind and the outside glass? The survey answers all three, and the fixed written quote follows.

Choices for a stone-built spa town

These five suit older roofs, cold rooms and tall ceilings, and each is picked for how the room is used.

Close-up of a white roof window handle with its key lock

Living with it through a Buxton winter

A motor and a wall remote spare you a rod on a landing with a tall ceiling.
On high ground a window left open in a shower is a real risk, so a rain sensor on an electric or solar model is worth asking about.
A bedroom under the roof wants blackout, but a stairwell can go without a blind at all.
A window whose sash turns, giving access to the outside glass from indoors, saves a ladder on a steep roof.

What Buxton's roofs ask of a window

From the conservation areas to the cold of a house about 290 metres up, these are the questions that come up at Buxton surveys.

Our street is in a Buxton conservation area. Does that change what we can fit?

planning.data.gov.uk lists Buxton Central and Buxton The Park among the Buxton conservation areas, and High Peak Borough Council publishes maps of them. We look up your address against those maps before we quote. Living inside an area is no bar to a rooflight on its own, and our planning guide sets out what does change things for a house.

What the stone tells us

The early settlement here was largely limestone, while the present buildings, built of locally quarried sandstone, mostly date from the late 18th century. We do not guess what is on top of a house of that age. At the survey we look at the covering and the timbers under it, because the flashing is matched to the covering. On an older roof a conservation rooflight, which sits low in the slope with a slim frame, may be the better fit.

Streets planned as a whole

Joseph Paxton contributed the layout of the Park Road circular estate. On a street laid out as one design we check the address in the same way as any other, and we talk through which slope the window would face at the survey.

If the house is listed

Buxton's Historic England entries include The Crescent, at Grade I, and the Old Hall Hotel and 1 to 6 The Square, both Grade II*. Few homes are in that league, but if yours is listed, consent for listed buildings will almost always be involved in a new or altered rooflight. The page on rooflights for listed homes explains the process.

Before you fall for a design

In an older stone street the address comes first, then the rooflight. Check the area, then choose the window.

We are about 290 metres up. How do we keep a bedroom window dry and the glass from steaming?

The centre of Buxton sits about 290 metres above sea level. On high ground, exposure and wind-driven rain are fair things to plan for. That does not rule out an opening roof window. It does mean the day you leave it ajar and go out matters more than it would in a valley.

Rain when nobody is home

On VELUX electric and solar roof windows a sensor can close the window the moment the glass gets wet. A manual window has none, so there the safeguard is the habit of shutting it before you leave. A remote by the door helps. Our page on rain sensors on rooflights describes how they behave.

Steamed-up glass

Condensation forms when warm, damp air meets cold glass, so a bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen under a cold roof are the rooms where it shows. The cure is partly the glass and partly the way you use the window. Opening it a little each morning clears the damp. Our guide to condensation on rooflights sets out the causes, and the page on triple glazed rooflights covers a further option.

Open a little, not wide

In a shower, a window open a few centimetres lets in less rain than one flung wide, and a restrictor holds it there. Some owners like that for a child's room as well, as long as an adult can still open it fully. It also suits the winter habit of cracking the window to clear steam without chilling the room.

Reaching it every morning

A window you open daily should be one you can open without stretching. If it sits high, an electric or solar motor with a remote is the comfortable choice. A rod suits one you open now and then. We ask who gets up first and what they can reach.

A cold loft bedroom, point by point

Opening: Electric or solar, from a remote by the bed
Rain: A sensor on the models that carry one
Glass: Chosen to keep condensation down
Blind: Blackout, run from the same remote

We have a flat-roofed extension behind a stone house. Lantern, flat rooflight or neither?

A modern kitchen or dining room added to the back of an older stone house can be the darkest room in it, because the old house stands between it and the light. The flat roof above is where the daylight can come from, and the choice is mostly about the way the room is used.

Low glass, low profile

A flat rooflight is low, neat and easy to wipe clean from a ladder. It suits a narrow room or a galley kitchen, and it stays low-key beside a stone elevation, since it sits low on the roof. It can be fixed or opening. Our guide to a skylight in an existing flat roof covers what happens to the covering.

Glass that stands up

A lantern is a box of glass that rises from the roof, bringing more height and more sky into the room. It suits a wide room with the table underneath. The glass has more edges to keep clean, and the sun through it in summer can be strong. A blind inside, or solar control glass, takes the heat out. The page on lantern sizes and kerbs explains what a lantern needs to sit on.

Next to old stone

If the house is listed or in a conservation area, the checks in the first chapter apply to the extension roof too, and the planning guide sets out the position for a rooflight on a house. We confirm what applies to your address before you commit to a design.

Our rooms are tall. How do we open, shade and clean a window we cannot reach?

If your house has tall ceilings and a steep roof, a window in the slope can sit well above head height. Over a stairwell it may be out of reach altogether. In a house with generous rooms, the practical question is how a person actually works the window, day after day, from the floor.

Three ways to open it

A telescopic rod will work a manual window with a handle near the top. That suits one opened now and then. For a bedroom or study that you open daily, electric or solar opening is easier to live with. Electric windows run from the mains, which is simplest while a ceiling is open anyway. Solar windows need no cable, so they suit a replacement where you would rather leave the plaster alone. The page on electric or solar opening helps you choose.

Blinds you can actually work

On a high window, pick a blind that runs from the window's own remote, so closing it takes no effort. Blackout is the usual pick for a bedroom, and a landing may need nothing. The guide to blinds and controls shows what each one does.

When the person using it is older

A grandparent who stays in the loft room, or an older relative who lives with you, needs controls they can work without strain. A wall remote at a sensible height beats a rod that must be lifted. We ask at the survey who will use the room, and set the controls up for that person, not for the fittest one in the house.

Wiping the outer pane

A centre-pivot window turns, which lets you wipe the outside glass from indoors and saves a ladder on a steep roof. We check at the survey whether the model you are looking at does that. If it is a fixed window, the cleaning plan is something we agree with you before you order.

Buxton and the roads we fit in

Buxton, Derbyshire

Buxton sits inside the straight-line ring on the map. Our own service area is measured in road miles, so a postcode check settles it.

See if your Buxton postcode is covered

We cover Buxton, 19 road miles south-east of Stockport. Put your postcode in the box to see whether you fall inside our area, then ask for a survey.

Nearest town pages

Buxton, asked and answered

Which council handles planning for a Buxton house?

High Peak Borough Council. Your address goes through its records as part of the survey, whether or not the street is in a conservation area. A registered building control approver is an alternative to the council for building control, and where the work is notifiable we deal with the paperwork for it.

How do I find out whether my road is in a conservation area?

The council publishes maps, and the boundaries are also on planning.data.gov.uk. We also check your address as part of the survey.

Is a conservation rooflight worth having on an older roof?

On a stone-built house it often suits well. It sits low in the slope with a slim bar, so from the road it looks like part of the original slope. Modern ones are usually double glazed. See choosing a conservation rooflight.

Can an old roof window be replaced without opening up the room?

Often, provided the new window suits the existing hole. The old frame carries a label with the size. See replacing an old VELUX window.

Will a rooflight make a cold stone house colder?

It depends on the glass and the fitting, which is why we discuss the specification at the survey. Makers offer double and triple glazed units, and a well-fitted one is chosen with the room in mind. The condensation page above explains the daily signs to watch.

What do you show us when the work is done?

Controls, blinds and cleaning the outer glass are all explained before we leave. The fitting stays under our written 10-year workmanship guarantee, while makers' own guarantees differ.

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