Platt Bridge rooflights for lofts, landings and extensions

Platt Bridge skylights and rooflights for lofts, landings and rear extensions

Platt Bridge is a residential suburb on low ground beside Bryn Marsh and Ince Moss. Loft rooms, dark landings and rear extensions are where a rooflight helps most, and who uses the room comes first.

Address checked with Wigan Council before any price is put on paper
Dark landing or bathroom: sun tunnel set against a roof window
Rear extension: flat rooflight or lantern, with the cleaning settled first

27 road miles west of Stockport

Platt Bridge is a residential suburb of Wigan, once part of the Hindley Urban District. The name comes from a word for a footbridge, and the first mention of the place in documents is from 1599. Its parish church, St Nathaniel's, was built in 1905. Close by lies Bryn Marsh and Ince Moss, a Site of Special Scientific Interest of fen, swamp, mire and woodland. The West Coast Main Line passes through the suburb, though its own station on the Manchester and Wigan Railway closed in 1969. Platt Bridge itself sits on low ground, about 30 metres above sea level.

We do not guess at the house types here. We ask. Whether yours is a terrace, a semi or something newer, the questions are the same ones: is there a loft that could be a room, a landing or bathroom with no daylight, or an extension with a flat roof behind? Each has a different answer, and each starts with the person who will use the space. A fixed written quote follows once we have seen the roof.

Rooflights for lofts, landings and extensions

These five suit four jobs a suburban home can need: a loft room, a dark stairwell, a flat roof at the back and a window that has seen better days.

What each job asks of you day to day

A loft room needs an opener matched to how often you air it: a rod now and then, a motor every morning.
A bedroom under the roof wants blackout, run from the window's remote so nobody stands on a chair.
A flat rooflight on a rear extension is wiped from a ladder, so the reach is agreed before you order.
A dark landing is a job for a sun tunnel only if the loft above has a clear run.

Four jobs a Platt Bridge house might need doing

A suburban home usually asks the same few questions: the loft, the landing, the extension at the back and the paperwork around them.

Should a loft room get a roof window, and where on the roof?

A loft that is becoming a bedroom, a study or a play room has one big need, which is daylight where none was planned. A roof window is the usual way to meet it. The rear slope is normally the easiest place to put one, because it faces away from the road and leaves the front of the house as it is.

Who opens it

A window within reach opens by hand. One higher on the slope wants a rod, a remote control or a solar motor. If you air the room every morning, a motor is kinder than a rod. If it is a spare room used now and then, a rod will do. The solar version needs no cable, which suits a swap where you would rather not open up the ceiling. The differences are set out in our page on electric or solar opening.

Blind and shade

For a bedroom, blackout is the usual choice, and it should run from the window's remote. A study may prefer a light-filtering blind that takes the glare off a screen. Our blinds and controls guide lists what the maker offers. A loft window can also be left open by a child or a teenager, which is another reason to choose an opener that is simple and a blind that is easy to find.

Escape from the new floor

A loft conversion is building work, and the way out from the new floor is part of its design. The Building Regulations guide explains the principle. We look at the roof, the rafters and the covering first, because they decide the window size and the flashing. In Platt Bridge, as anywhere, the sensible approach is to look at your roof and not assume it matches the one next door.

A loft bedroom, specified for daily use

Position: Rear slope, where the rafters allow
Opening: Rod, remote or solar, set by how often
Blind: Blackout, run from the window's remote
Cleaning: Pivot window, wiped from inside

Can a landing or bathroom with no window borrow daylight from the roof?

A stairwell in the middle of a house, or a bathroom with no outside wall, can be dark all day. If there is loft space above, a sun tunnel can fix that, and it does so without the work a roof window needs.

How it works

A sun tunnel has a small dome on the roof, a tube that runs through the loft, and a diffuser in the ceiling. Daylight travels down the tube and spreads through the room. You cannot open it, and it shows no sky. Nothing needs reaching, there is no blind to pull down and the dome is the only outside surface to clean. Our guide to rigid and flexible tubes explains the choice of tube.

When a window is better

If the loft above is going to be a room, the roof window you fit for the room may also light the stairs, and one opening does the work of two. If the loft stays as storage, a sun tunnel is the lighter job. A bathroom that needs steam to escape wants a different answer from one that only needs light, and we talk that through at the survey. It helps to know before we come whether the landing is lit by anything at all, and whether the loft hatch sits above it or off to one side, because that decides how straight the run can be.

What we need to see

A sun tunnel needs a straight run between roof and ceiling, so we check the loft before promising anything. Joists, pipes and insulation all affect the route, and so does any boxing-in that was added to the ceiling years ago. If the run is awkward, a flexible tube can bend round an obstacle, and we say plainly when a roof window would be the more sensible answer instead. The page on which rooms suit a sun tunnel shows what works well and what does not.

Flat rooflight or lantern for the roof of a rear extension?

Extending at the back under a flat roof is a familiar way to add a kitchen or dining space. The roof is the obvious place for light, since the walls at the back may face a fence or a neighbour. The choice is between a flat rooflight and a lantern.

Two shapes

A flat rooflight rests low on its upstand and looks tidy from the garden. It suits a narrow room. A lantern lifts a pitched glass frame above the roofline, adds height and sky, and suits a wider room with a table below. Either can be fixed or opening. An electric one opens from a switch, which beats climbing onto a worktop.

Wiping the glass clean

A single flat pane is easier to wipe than a lantern with several bars. Some makers offer a coating that lets the rain wash the pane, and we describe that as the maker's feature and not a guarantee. We would rather talk cleaning through before you choose, and we show you how it is done when the work is finished. A kitchen that looks out through the glass on a grey afternoon is only pleasant while the glass is clear.

Sun in the room

A kitchen with a lot of glazing on the roof can get warm on a bright afternoon. Solar control glass or a blind answers that. Our solar control glass guide explains the glass.

Planning

A lantern fitted onto an existing roof will normally need planning permission, and the lantern planning guide explains why. For any house the planning guide sets out the rules, and we confirm your position at the survey.

Rear-roof rule

Decide who will clean the outside before you decide how many glazing bars it has.

Who looks after the paperwork for a rooflight in Platt Bridge?

Planning for Platt Bridge sits with Wigan Council. The address is put to the council before we quote, so any conservation area or other control is known before you commit. Our guide to rooflights on listed homes covers a listed house.

Where permitted development fits

For a house, adding a rooflight normally needs no planning application, within limits the planning guide sets out. We confirm the position for your own house before you commit, so you are not guessing.

Building control

For building control, Wigan Council's team and a registered building control approver are both options. If the rooflight is part of a loft conversion, the Building Regulations apply to the whole job. Where the work is notifiable, the Building Regulations notification for our windows is handled by us.

In writing

You get a fixed written quote after the survey, and the fitting carries a 10-year workmanship guarantee. Before we leave, we show you how the opener, remote and blind work, and how the outside gets cleaned. Our page on the guarantee sets it out.

Our reach across Platt Bridge

Platt Bridge

Platt Bridge lies west of Stockport, inside the map's straight-line ring, yet by road it is near the edge of the 30 miles we travel, so check your postcode first.

Does our area take in your road?

We work across Platt Bridge, 27 road miles west of Stockport. Put in your postcode and we will confirm that your address is in our area and offer you a free survey.

Nearest town pages

Platt Bridge, in short answers

Is Platt Bridge a village or a suburb?

It is a residential suburb, historically part of the Hindley Urban District, and Wigan Council now deals with planning. The place is first mentioned in documents in 1599. This page covers the suburb itself, and the postcode box tells you quickly whether your address falls inside our area.

Does living near the marsh change which rooflight I choose?

Not on its own. Platt Bridge sits on low ground at about 30 metres above sea level, and Bryn Marsh and Ince Moss, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, lie close by. We choose a window for the room, the person using it and the roof, not for the view of the marsh.

Is it possible to replace a tired roof window and keep the room as it is?

Often, yes. A replacement of the same size can take the old opening, and the inside lining is left alone. A size code on the old window's label lets us match it. See new opening or same opening.

Do I need a blind on a sun tunnel?

No. A sun tunnel is a fixed dome and diffuser, so there is nothing to shade and nothing to open. It brings daylight to a landing or bathroom. If you want a view or fresh air, a roof window is the better choice. See sun tunnels.

How tall a stepladder do I need to clean a roof window?

With some roof windows, none: they pivot so you wipe the outer pane from inside. Others need a ladder or a long pole, and we say which type we are fitting before you order. Cleaning is explained again when the job is done.

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 Platt Bridge.

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

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