Haydock extensions, loft rooms and colliery-era terraces

Skylights and rooflights for Haydock's post-war estates and old colliery terraces

Haydock grew with its coal, its canals and its railways, and then spread again after the war. We fit rooflights into both kinds of house, and we start with who will open, shade and clean the window.

Post-war estate extensions: lantern or flat rooflight, weighed up for the room
St Helens Council checked on your address before a quote is written
Older brick-and-slate terraces: a replacement window planned around the slate

29 road miles west of Stockport

Haydock was found to be rich with coal, and it grew in importance during the Industrial Revolution, helped by canals and railways. Deep-pit mining went on for over a century and ended when Wood Pit colliery closed in 1971. After the war the village grew again. Large post-war residential development followed, and most of the estates and commercial property are built either side of the A599. English Martyrs Church, from 1978, was founded to serve the expanding population. Haydock has about 16,000 people.

Two kinds of roof come out of that history. Post-war estates in Merseyside typically carry concrete interlocking tiles on lower pitches, and the older colliery-village terraces are more often brick with slate. On an estate house the job can be an extension rooflight, with a blind and a plan for cleaning the outside. In an older terrace it can be a replacement window or light for a loft room. In both cases the survey starts in the room, not on the roof.

Rooflights for the way Haydock homes are used

Five choices fit the estates and the older streets, from a lantern over a rear kitchen to a motorised window in a loft room.

A man holding a sample of triple glazing at his kitchen table

Using a rooflight in a Haydock house

A rear kitchen with a glass roof wants a pleated or roller blind for bright afternoons, electric if it is out of reach.
An electric flat rooflight opens at the press of a button, so nobody has to climb onto a chair.
Rain washes a flat pane, but dust and leaves collect at the edges, and we show you the safe way to wipe them.
A rain sensor on a VELUX electric or solar model shuts the window when the weather turns, which helps if you are out all day.

What Haydock's houses ask of a rooflight

Rear extensions on the estates, loft rooms in post-war houses and swaps in the older terraces set the questions on this page.

Should the roof of our estate-house extension have a lantern or a flat rooflight?

Most of Haydock's estates sit either side of the A599, and an extension at the back is one way to add space to a house on them. The roof over a new kitchen or dining room can be flat, and what goes in it matters more than almost any other decision in the project.

Two shapes, two rooms

A flat rooflight stays low on a kerb and suits a narrow room or a galley kitchen. A lantern stands up from the roof in a pitched glass frame and gives a wider room more height. If you cannot decide, it helps to sit in the finished room in your mind and ask where the light should land. Our guide to lantern sizes and kerbs sets out what a lantern needs from the roof beneath it.

Shade, glass and cleaning

A glass roof over a kitchen can warm up on sunny afternoons. A blind is the simple answer, and solar control glass is the other. The outside of the glass needs a clean once in a while, and a lantern with more bars takes longer than a single flat pane. We tell you which you are buying.

Planning for a lantern

On a new extension, the lantern is assessed together with the extension, and we check that position with the council before work starts. Haydock houses follow the same national rules as anywhere in England, set out in our planning guide.

What to decide at the survey

Three things settle the rest. First, the width of the room under the roof. Second, whether you will want the glass to open. Third, who will do the cleaning and how they will reach it. Once those are answered, the choice between a flat rooflight and a lantern usually makes itself, and the quote is written to match.

Two ways to light a rear kitchen

Flat rooflight: Low on its upstand; neat from the garden
Lantern: Pitched glass; more height in a wider room
Opening: Fixed, or opening from a wall switch
Shade: Blind, or solar control glass
Cleaning: Single pane is quicker than a barred lantern

Who can reach the window in a loft room of a post-war house?

A loft room is another way to give a post-war house more space. With concrete interlocking tiles on a lower pitch, the roof gives less headroom than a steep one, and that affects the window as much as the layout of the room.

Window type on a low pitch

The two main kinds of roof window are centre-pivot, which turns on a bar at the middle, and top-hung, which opens from the top. On a lower pitch the choice affects how the window sits relative to your head and how far it lets you see. Our guide to centre-pivot or top-hung roof windows explains both.

Opening

If the window is above head height, a rod does for an occasional opening, and a motor suits daily use. An electric window needs a cable and a solar one does not, so the finished state of the room often decides it. Our electric or solar comparison goes through the trade-offs.

The new floor and the paperwork

A loft bedroom is a new floor, and it needs a safe way out as a matter of course, as the Building Regulations guide explains. Where a notification is needed, we make it for the roof windows we fit. The window, the blind and the controls are then explained to you at handover.

Blinds for a sleeping room

A loft bedroom under a pitched roof is bright early in summer. VELUX makes blackout blinds that run in side channels to keep light from the edges, so the room stays dark until you want it light. If the window is high, an electric blind can run from the same remote as the opening, so one handset does both jobs. Our guide to blinds and controls shows the options.

Children in the room

If a child sleeps in the loft, we talk about restrictors and reach before anything is ordered. See child-safe opening rooflights for what is available.

The colliery-era terrace we live in has an old roof window. Can we replace it?

When coal was at its height, canals and railways helped Haydock to grow, and the older colliery-village terraces from that time are more often brick with slate. A roof window fitted into one of those slate roofs some years ago may be at the end of its life.

Same opening

If the new window can go into the old opening, the work stays at the roof and the room below can be left largely as it is. The size code on the old frame tells us what fits, which our size-code guide explains. When the opening has to change, see new opening or same opening.

Slate and flashing

The flashing kit is chosen to suit the roof covering, and slates beside the window are lifted and replaced. It is careful work, and our page on flashing for slate and tile shows why the kit matters.

Without scaffolding

Some replacements can be done from inside the house. We look at the access and say plainly whether a tower is needed. See replacing a skylight without scaffolding for how that works.

Use the swap to improve the window

A like-for-like swap is also the easiest moment to improve how the window is used. A handle that was hard to reach can become a rod or a motor, and a bedroom that never had a blind can have one fitted in the same visit. Ask about both at the survey.

We back onto the country park and the canal. Does that change anything?

The old mining tip and spoil areas have been developed into the Lyme and Wood Pits Country Park, and the Sankey Canal, built between 1755 and 1757, traces the boundaries of the township. A house beside either can get leaves, seeds and bird droppings on its roof, and a view that is worth a window.

Cleaning the glass

Debris collects on a flat rooflight more than on a steep window. A wipe now and then is enough, and we show you the safest way to do it. Some makers offer a self-cleaning coating on the outer pane, which helps between wipes.

Rain while you are out

If you leave the window ajar for air, a rain sensor is the safeguard. VELUX fits one to its electric and solar models. Our page on rain sensors explains how it works.

Listed buildings and the council

Pear Tree Farmhouse in Haydock is on Historic England's list, and a listed house almost always needs listed building consent before a rooflight goes in, as the guide to rooflights on listed buildings explains. Public records do not show a conservation area in Haydock, but they can be incomplete, so we put your address to St Helens Borough Council before we quote.

A view worth a window

Haydock sits on low, level ground, about 50 metres above sea level. Open ground outside makes a roof window in a loft or stairwell worth having for the view alone. Think about where you will stand or sit when you look out, because that decides how high the window should sit in the slope.

For a house by green space

Plan for leaves and rain from the start, and the window will take care of itself.

Haydock and our reach

Haydock

By road Haydock is close to the edge of the area we cover, while the straight-line ring on the map reaches past it.

Enter your Haydock postcode

Haydock is 29 road miles west of Stockport, and we cover the whole village, from the estates beside the A599 to the older streets. Pop your postcode in the box and we will tell you if it is in range.

Nearest town pages

What Haydock owners want to know

Which council deals with planning and building control in Haydock?

St Helens Borough Council. For building control, St Helens is one route and a registered building control approver is another. The national rules on rooflights are in our planning guide.

Can a rooflight go into a flat-roofed garage that has become a room?

It can. The glass sits on a kerb or upstand on the flat roof. If the garage is now a habitable room, the conversion comes under the Building Regulations, and the rooflight is chosen to suit that.

Is there a rooflight that opens by remote from the sofa?

Yes. Electric flat rooflights and roof windows open from a wall switch or remote. Solar versions need no cable. See electric opening rooflights for the choices.

Does the guarantee cover the window and the fitting?

Our 10-year workmanship guarantee covers the installation. Makers' own product guarantees differ from one maker to another. The guarantee page explains ours.

Will you quote before I commit to anything?

Yes. The survey is free, and afterwards you get a fixed written quote. Our costs guide explains what moves a price, so the figure makes sense when it arrives.

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 Haydock.

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

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