Skylights and rooflights for Stretford's houses from the canal and railway years

A landing with bedrooms on both sides has no outside wall, so daylight can only come from above. What sits above the ceiling decides which of two routes makes sense.

Under an empty loft

A sun tunnel brings daylight through a dome in the slope, a reflective tube across the loft and a frosted panel let into the landing ceiling. We cut a neat opening for the panel and finish the edge. Nothing about it opens and no sky shows through it, so it cures darkness and nothing else. The rigid or flexible guide explains the tube, and the rooms guide shows where it falls short.

Under a loft room

If the loft has been converted, a roof window in that room can send light down the stair, or the stair can borrow light through an internal glazed panel. A roof window opens, but a handle over a stairwell can be a long way up. Pole, handset or solar cell: pick before you order.

Who uses the stair

A stair is shared by the whole house, which favours the option with nothing to operate. A sun tunnel has no handle and no motor. Where a window is wanted for the opening, the electric or solar comparison helps choose the control.

The usual mistake

It is easy to choose the window first and the control afterwards. Reverse that: decide who will open it, how often and from where, and the window follows.

Another mistake is to put a fixed light where an opening one was needed, or the reverse. We ask what the landing is like in summer, since a stairwell can hold heat, before we recommend either.

A child's room under the roof raises more questions than any other room, because the same window has to suit a young child now and a teenager in ten years. The right answer is a window that does a modest job well.

Handle and restrictor

The handle should sit out of a young child's reach, and a restrictor keeps the opening small. Our child-safe opening guide covers the fittings. As the child grows, the restrictor can stay in place or be released, and on the room's escape window, if it has one, an adult must always be able to open it fully.

Blackout, and a blind they can reach

A blackout blind helps with sleep, and a blind on the window's own handset avoids a stool. A parent can close it from the door. Our blinds and controls page compares the options.

Which slope

The rear slope can be the simplest place for the windows. A slope that faces the side carries its own conditions, which the planning guide explains, so look at that before the layout is fixed.

Building Regulations

A bedroom in a loft has to be designed with a way out for anyone on the new floor, and the Building Regulations guide covers it. Where the work is notifiable, the Building Regulations notification for our roof windows is ours to handle.