Arlesey white brick cottages welcome a skylight or rooflight
A Bedfordshire town on the edge of Hertfordshire, once known for its pale Gault-clay bricks and now for its railway line. The sections below pair each kind of Arlesey roof with the opening that serves it best.
Pale brick, brickworks history and homes near the railway
Say it ARL-zee: Arlesey, a Central Bedfordshire town and civil parish, lies 26.4 road miles from Milton Keynes. It stands near the Hertfordshire border and about six miles south of Biggleswade. Two things shaped its streets: a brickmaking trade that ran into the twentieth century, and the railway that arrived in 1850.
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Cottages and terraces in Arlesey White brick
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Homes around the station and the newer estates
Arlesey was famous for its brick. The Gault clay beneath the town made the pale bricks known as Arlesey White, and five brickworks were running round the town by 1900. Brickmaking stopped there in 1992, but the walls it built are still standing. A house in that pale brick can have a steep roof and a lofty attic room with one small gable window. Fitted into the rear slope, a roof window lights that room from above. Where the front slope faces the street, the frame can sit low so the roof keeps its line.
The Great Northern Railway built its London to York main line through Arlesey, and a new station opened in 1988 with services towards London. Housing has gathered around that line, with later houses and plots that have been extended at the back. A rear extension can have a flat roof, and there a flat rooflight, or a taller roof lantern lights the room from overhead. The garden wall or fence beside it may take away the side light, but the sky above still stays open.
Two Arlesey rooms short of daylight
A cottage loft with one gable window
A good room, held back by a single pane of glass.
Sideways
An attic room in an older brick cottage starts with one advantage: height at the ridge. It starts with one problem too, which is a single small window at the gable end. The glass is set in a thick wall, so the reveal throws a shadow on one side. If a neighbour's fence or a shed stands a few steps from that gable, even that light is cut down.
The result is a room that is bright by the window and dim by the eaves. The bed fits, the desk fits, but nobody wants to read at either.
Cottage lofts also stay cold in the places the light never reaches, and a corner that stays dark for years gathers a stale feel. Daylight is a small thing with a large effect on how a room smells and sounds.
Straight up
A roof window in the slope puts a second source of light in the middle of the room. Straight up is clear, and a pane in the rafters faces the sky, not the fence. Daylight then falls across the floor and up the sloped ceilings, which is the surface a low attic most needs lit.
On a cottage roof we keep the frame low and the flashing neat. If the property sits in a conservation area, ask about the slim-framed conservation rooflight with its single glazing bar. The council can tell you whether that applies at your address.
A cottage loft has real depth to it, so the position of the window matters more than the size. Set too high in the slope, it floods the ridge and leaves the eaves dark. Set too low, it shows the view and loses the sky. At the survey we stand in the room and mark the spot where the light lands on the floor where you will use it.
A steep stair is part of the plan too. We check the head height, the route up and the space for a long frame to be carried in, so nothing on the day comes as a surprise.
Older brick can also mean older timber. Rafters in a cottage roof may be cut to a width that suits the house and not the catalogue, so we measure each bay before we promise a size. A frame sized to the real spacing sits square, seals well and needs no packing.
Heat-loss allowances for new glazing
- 1.4 W/m²K
- the cap on a roof window in an existing dwelling, or reach WER band B instead
- 2.2 W/m²K
- the cap on a rooflight over a flat roof, in Approved Document L
A bathroom bounded by a garden wall
No view worth having, and none that you want.
Sideways
A bathroom can be pushed to the side or the back of a house, where space is tight. The window looks at a brick wall: the neighbour's, or your own boundary. The glass has to be frosted because of the privacy, and the wall takes the daylight that frosted glass would have let in.
A small, grey, damp room is the result. It needs a fan, a lamp on all day and a window that stays shut. The brick, handsome in the street, does the bathroom no favours at all.
Straight up
When the bathroom sits under a slope, a roof window brings light from the sky. When it sits under a flat roof behind the house, a flat rooflight does the job from an upstand, with the glass set at a gentle fall. Neither looks at the wall. Both look at the open sky, so the room is bright and the privacy stays intact.
Heat loss matters in a damp room, so we choose glazing that meets the Part L limits and a frame that keeps the inner pane warm. The result is less condensation and a room that dries faster after a shower.
We also look at what will go beneath the opening. A shower tray, a bath and a basin all have different clearances, and the lining inside the shaft needs a damp-proof finish. We plan that at the survey so the work finishes cleanly.
Because the wall that blocks the old window stays where it is, the new opening is the only part of the bathroom that changes its relationship with the day. Morning light, midday light and the grey of a wet afternoon all arrive from overhead and move across the room as the hours pass.
| Roof | Fits | Know |
|---|---|---|
| Steep brick cottage | Roof window | Low frame keeps the roofline |
| Older roof, council area | Conservation rooflight | Slim bar, ask the council |
| Flat rear extension | Flat rooflight or lantern | Upstand with a slight fall |
| Bathroom under a slope | Opening roof window | Lets steam out at the top |
Planning with Central Bedfordshire Council
Planning for Arlesey is the business of Central Bedfordshire Council. Its planning and building pages cover looking up an address and applying when you need to. Ask the planners if your street lies within a conservation area; a short email will do. Send them the address and wait for the reply before you order anything.
Our planning guide holds the permitted development position for roof openings in full. A conservation area does not by itself remove permitted development, but an Article 4 direction can, which is why the question to ask is about directions rather than boundaries alone. Listed buildings follow different rules and need consent for roof changes.
Planning is one track and Building Regulations another. Where a job is notifiable we lodge the notice ourselves, and the work meets today's standards. Central Bedfordshire describes the public process on a building control page, and a registered building control approver handles the same checks in private.
If the council finds a restriction on your house, that need not end the plan. The answer can be a change of product, such as a slimmer frame, a different position or a rear slope rather than the front. We would rather learn that before the quote than after it, because the written figure then covers exactly what will be built.
Getting to Arlesey from Milton Keynes
Travel east from Milton Keynes for 26.4 road miles and you reach Arlesey in about 37 minutes, so a survey slots into a morning. The town is near Stotfold, Henlow and Lower Stondon, and a household in any of them can ask for the same visit.
When you write, tell us which room you want lit and send a photograph of the ceiling or the roof if you have one. A picture of the outside from the garden helps us decide on frame sizes and flashing kits before we arrive. For an older brick house with a steep roof, mention the ridge height and the position of the loft hatch.
Expect the fitting of a typical rooflight to take a day or two, on a date you agree. We protect the floors, keep the dust to the room, and finish the inside so you can use it the same evening.
Arlesey is easy to plan a visit to: the railway runs through the town, and the streets on either side of the line are easy to read on a map. Whichever side you live on, the route in from the main roads is straightforward, and we can plan the day so the work starts when we arrive.
What we check at an Arlesey survey
Our survey costs nothing and is carried out in your house. We measure the room, inspect the roof outside, then climb into the loft, and check the rafters, the roof covering, the wiring and the ceiling height. Then we explain what we would fit, where we would put it and why.
The written quote is fixed before we start and stays as agreed, and the workmanship is guaranteed for 10 years in writing. Reach us on WhatsApp 07880 284133 or at info@vertexskylightsmiltonkeynes.co.uk, and name the room you have in mind.
A workshop or a shop unit can have a rooflight as well, with a visit and a written quote handled in just the same way. Begin with our quote form, or look through the services to see what each rooflight does for a room.
On the day itself we cover the floor and the stair, cut the opening, set the frame, seal the flashing and fit the lining. On a flat roof we build the upstand and set the glass at its slight fall. Then we sweep, take the waste away and show you how the window opens, cleans and closes.
Afterwards you are left with a room that works. The lining is painted-ready, the floor is clean and the new glass is explained: how it opens, how it is cleaned and which blind suits it. If the loft or the bathroom is a room you plan to sleep or bathe in, we talk through blackout and moisture-resistant blinds at the same visit, so the finished room is comfortable from the first night.
Asked in Arlesey, answered here
Do I need to check for a conservation area in Arlesey before I order?
Yes, it is a sensible step. The planners at Central Bedfordshire Council will confirm if your street is inside one and whether an Article 4 direction applies. Send us the answer and the quote will reflect it. Our planning guide covers the permitted development rules.
Can a roof window fit into a steep roof on an old brick cottage?
It can, once the rafters and the covering have been checked. A steep slope suits a roof window well, because the glass looks up at a good angle. We choose a low frame and a neat flashing so the roofline stays close to how it was.
Will a rooflight make my bathroom colder?
Modern glazing is built to meet the Part L limits for heat loss, and the frame is insulated to match. A rooflight in a bathroom also helps the room dry, because the air can leave at the highest point. We talk through the glazing options at the survey.
Is Arlesey within easy reach for a survey?
Milton Keynes to Arlesey is 26.4 road miles, and a 37-minute run. Name a day that suits you and we will fit the visit in. A couple of snapshots, one indoors and one from the garden, help when you write.
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