Skylights and rooflights for Lowton's newer estates and its mining-era past

On a modern development the extension at the back can be where the family lives, and when it has a flat roof, that roof is the plain place to put daylight. Two shapes cover the choice, and they behave quite differently once the novelty has worn off.

The flat unit

A flat rooflight sits low on a raised upstand. It looks tidy from the garden and takes little room above the roof. Because the glass is flat, you can wipe it from a short ladder, or with a pole from an upstairs window if the angle allows. It suits a galley kitchen, a utility room or a narrow dining area where the aim is a patch of light, not a feature.

The lantern

A lantern is a glazed box with a pitched top. It brings light in from several sides and gives the room height. In a wider kitchen with a table under it, it is a real change to how the space feels. It also gets more sun and more weather, so a blind and a plan for cleaning matter more. The glazing bars take longer to wipe. Some makers coat the outer pane so rain helps clear it, though that does not remove the need to look at the glass now and then. If the room is used all day, with a laptop on the table and children doing homework, glare is also worth planning for before you choose.

Shade and warmth

Glass overhead warms a room in summer. A pleated blind softens it, and solar control glass is available from makers if the room faces the garden. An opening unit lets the cooking heat out, and an electric one works from a wall switch. Our guide to picking a rooflight for a flat roof goes through the options in detail.

A developer's roof, a newer extension

A house on one of the modern developments that replaced the old works sites has a newer roof. That helps an extension, because the line of the new roof can follow the old one without fuss. The survey still looks closely at where the rooflight will sit against the wall, and at the covering, before anything is ordered.

Planning for each

Fitted to an existing flat roof, a lantern usually stands too far proud to count as permitted development, so planning permission is normally needed unless the council says otherwise. On a new extension, the lantern is assessed with the extension; we confirm the position with the council before work starts. For a Lowton house the planning guide explains the difference before you commit to either.

Away from the newer streets, Lowton has older buildings. Historic England lists buildings in the area, among them the Church of St Luke, a sundial at its west entrance and Fair House Farmhouse. If your home stands in that company, you should confirm its status before anything else. On a listed building, glazing in the roof almost always needs listed building consent, a step separate from planning and from Building Regulations.

Putting it to Wigan

Whether a conservation area touches your road is not something we guess. We put every address to Wigan Council ahead of the quote and pass the answer on. For a house that is not listed, the planning guide sets out the usual position, and a condition on an earlier permission can change it.

Old roofs, short rafters

An older farm building can have a roof that has been patched more than once, with rafters at uneven spacing and a covering of mixed age. A roof window has to be placed where the structure is sound, which is why the survey does the real work. We look at the roof from outside and inside the loft, and we talk through the room beneath it. A roof like this is also seen from the ground, so we pay attention to how a new window will sit against the existing covering, and to whether the old tiles can be cut back neatly around it.

Choosing for the setting

Where a roof is seen from a lane or a churchyard, a slim, flush window keeps the line of the roof. A conservation-style window is made for this, and the page on picking a conservation rooflight shows how the frames differ. The listed buildings guide, rooflights and listed buildings, explains consent step by step.