Poynton: commuter-town houses, estates and extensions

Poynton skylights and rooflights for a commuter town of extensions and post-war estates

Private house building gathered pace in Poynton from the 1870s, and it gradually became a commuter town. We fit rooflights that bring light into the rooms you add or change, and show you how every control and blind works.

Garage conversions with flat roofs: rooflight and upstand planned together
Out-of-reach stair windows: electric opening explained before you commit
Poynton addresses are checked with Cheshire East Council before we quote

6 road miles south of Stockport

From the 1870s private house building gathered pace in Poynton, and the place gradually became a commuter town for Manchester workers. It was also a coal-mining village, and the Anson Colliery site is now the Anson Engine Museum. Since the Second World War several housing estates have been built by both local authorities and private developers. Poynton is in Cheshire East, not in Greater Manchester, and about 13,000 people live here.

Houses that people stay in get altered. A garage becomes a playroom, a kitchen gains an extension, a loft becomes a bedroom. Each change brings a roof with a question attached. Who opens the window above the stairs? What happens to the glass over the garage when the afternoon sun swings round? We start with the room and the household, and the fixed written quote follows once we have seen the roof.

The rooflights Poynton houses tend to ask for

These five suit the loft rooms, extensions and garage conversions of a commuter town. Choose the closest to your room and read on.

A fitter fixing a timber trimmer beside a roof window opening in a loft, insulation between the rafters

Using rooflights in a commuter-town house

A stair window you cannot reach from the landing suits an electric or solar motor better than a rod you forget.
A playroom made from a garage often wants a blind that softens a bright afternoon, worked from a wall switch.
VELUX electric and solar roof windows have a rain sensor that closes them, which helps when the house is empty all day.
We ask how the household uses the room before we suggest a window, then price what we have seen.

Poynton questions: stairs, garages and planning

Four questions that suit a town of altered houses: the window above the stairs, the flat roof over the garage, the blinds and the address check.

The window above our stairs is out of reach. Is electric opening worth it?

Houses with a staircase that rises to a landing under the roof put a window high up. Standing on the top step with a rod is not a pleasant way to open it, and a window you cannot open is a window you stop noticing.

Three ways to reach it

A manual roof window with a top handle can be worked with a telescopic rod. That suits a window you open occasionally. An electric window is wired to the mains and opens from a wall switch or a remote. A solar window needs no cable and suits a replacement where you would rather not disturb the plaster. Our guide to electric and solar opening compares them.

The blind comes with the window

A blind out of reach is a blind you never close. Choose one that runs from the same remote. On a landing a light-filtering blind is usually all you need.

When nobody is in

VELUX makes electric and solar roof windows with a rain sensor that closes the window when it feels rain. That helps in a household that is out at work for the day. See the rain sensor guide for what it does and does not do.

Putting the switch where you will use it

A wall switch is only useful if it is where your hand goes. Beside the light switch at the foot of the stairs is a natural spot, and a handset kept in a drawer on the landing is another. Tell us which you prefer and we plan the wiring or the remote around it. Solar windows skip the wiring altogether, which makes them a good fit for a house where the plaster is fresh.

Children on the stairs

If young children use the stairs, ask about restrictors and how the window is locked in the closed position. Our child-safe opening answer goes through the options.

Stair window rule

Open it daily and it wants a motor. Open it twice a year and a rod will do.

Our garage conversion has a flat roof and a dull room underneath. What goes in it?

A garage can become a playroom, a study or a utility room without much trouble, and a house on a post-war estate may well have one to convert. The one thing it lacks is daylight. The flat roof is where it comes from.

Flat rooflight or lantern

A flat rooflight sits low on its upstand, which suits a low ceiling and a small room. A lantern rises above the roof and suits a wider space, but it needs headroom to look right. Either can be fixed or opening, and an opening one gives you a way to change the room's mood without moving furniture. The guide to the best rooflight for a flat roof explains the trade-offs.

A habitable room is building work

When a garage becomes a living space, the conversion comes under the Building Regulations, and the rooflight is chosen to suit it. We handle the notification for the rooflight we fit where the work is notifiable.

The roof underneath

A tired felt roof is best renewed as the rooflight goes in. Our guide to upstands and coverings explains why. Think too about how the outside glass is reached. A garage roof has no stair to it, so plan a way up, or choose a coating that lets the rain do more of the work.

Choosing where it goes

Stand in the room and look up. A rooflight over the middle of the floor lights the whole room evenly. One over a desk or a sofa gives a pool of light where you sit. Over the door end, it brightens the dullest part. We suggest marking the spot with a chair or a piece of tape on the floor, so you can see how it feels before it is cut into the roof.

Light and heat

A room that was a garage can heat up under glass on a bright afternoon. A blind or a solar control glass cools it down, and you can add either at the start.

A playroom, a study and a bedroom: do they each want a different blind?

They do, and choosing the blind with the window saves a second visit. The three rooms in an altered house ask three different things of the same glass.

The playroom

A playroom under a rooflight is bright all day, which is part of its charm. A pleated or roller blind that filters the sun stops the glare on a screen and keeps the room comfortable in the afternoon. It does not have to be dark, and a wall switch or remote that adults control keeps the blind away from small hands.

The study

A study wants steady light. A blind that diffuses the sun is better than one that blacks it out, because you want to see the page and not the sky. If the window faces the desk, a blind in side channels stops reflections on the screen.

The bedroom

A bedroom wants a blackout blind. Fit it in side channels so no gap shows at the edge, and choose a remote so you can close it from the bed. A bedroom is where a window out of reach hurts most, because you want to change it without getting up. Our guide to blinds and controls shows what the makers offer.

Keeping it simple

One remote can run the window and the blind together. That means one handset on the shelf, not two, and nobody has to learn which button belongs to which. We set it up and show you how it works before we go, so the first person to use it is not working it out alone.

Blind for each room

Playroom: Filtering, worked from a switch
Study: Diffusing, in side channels
Bedroom: Blackout, from a remote

Poynton has no conservation area on the map. Does that mean we can fit what we like?

Poynton has no conservation area on the planning data map, but the map can be incomplete, so we never claim there is none. We check your address with Cheshire East Council before we quote. The council that holds the detail is Cheshire East, because Poynton is in Cheshire and outside Greater Manchester. The planning guide sets out the general position for a house in England.

If yours is a listed house

Historic England lists buildings in Poynton, such as Brook House Farmhouse and the Church of St George, both Grade II. If your house is on the list, listed building consent is almost always required to add or alter a rooflight, and that consent settles the design. We explain the process in the rooflights and listed buildings page.

Building control

Where the work is notifiable, we handle the Building Regulations notification. The sign-off can come from the council or a registered approver, and the escape route from a new loft floor is set out in the Building Regulations guide.

What you can do before we come

Look at the roof from the garden and the road, and note where you would like the light. Think about who will use the room. Bring any paperwork from the council about the house. That is plenty to start the survey well. We do the rest on the day: the roof covering, the rafters, the loft hatch and the way up. If you have a lantern or flat rooflight in mind, say so. If you only know the room is dark, say that instead, and we will suggest.

Poynton, close to the centre of our reach

Poynton

The ring marks 30 miles from Stockport, and Poynton sits deep inside it, a short drive from the middle.

Put in your Poynton postcode

We cover Poynton, 6 road miles south of Stockport, from the older houses to the post-war estates. Enter your postcode and we will confirm it quickly.

Nearest town pages

Poynton homeowners ask about

Which authority covers Poynton for planning?

Cheshire East Council. Poynton is in Cheshire, not in Greater Manchester. For Building Regulations, the council's building control or a registered approver can sign off the work, and we handle the notification where the job is notifiable.

Can a rooflight go over a kitchen extension with bi-fold doors?

Yes, a rooflight over the kitchen is a sensible partner to bi-fold doors, because it lights the back of the room. Choose between a flat rooflight and a lantern by the height and width of the room, and think early about how the doors and the glass above them share the light. See adding a roof lantern.

How do we replace a roof window without scaffolding?

Sometimes the work can be done from inside and from a safe position on the roof. See replacing a skylight without scaffolding.

Is a rain sensor worth having?

For a window that may be left open, yes. It is available on VELUX electric and solar roof windows and closes the window when rain starts. It does not help a manual window.

What happens at handover?

We show you the controls, the blinds and the cleaning for the window you chose, and a 10-year workmanship guarantee backs the fitting. See living with a rooflight.

Free survey

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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 Poynton.

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

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