Dark Dunstable landings and hallways lit by skylights or rooflights
A priory town on an old Roman and Saxon crossing, now a place of mid-century estates, terraces near the centre and later cul-de-sacs. Dark landings, windowless bathrooms and hallways are where a skylight or rooflight earns its keep.
Estates on the downs and streets near the old crossing
Dunstable is south-east of Milton Keynes, a 16.4-mile run by road. It is a market town on the east side of the Chiltern Hills and about thirty miles north of London. The Romans put a posting station here and probably called it Durocobrivis. The Anglo-Saxon name means a marker post or a market below the downs, and Dunstable Priory was founded by Henry I in 1131. What stands on that long history today is a town of distinct neighbourhoods, each built in its own decade and each with its own roof.
-
Estate houses from Beecroft to the Lake District streets
-
Town-centre terraces and the conservation area
Dunstable grew outward in estates. Houses went up around Worthington Road and then out to Westfield Road and Aldbanks in Beecroft. To the north is the French's Gate estate, to the west the houses on Lancot Hill, and the Lake District estate has every street named for a Cumbrian place, with shops on Langdale Road. The Lake District estate was originally called the Croft Golf Course estate and was built by Laing Homes, and roofs on an estate of that kind are often the easiest to work with, with regular rafters and plain slopes. Roofs of that kind are plain pitched slopes, with a loft above the landing. For a loft room choose a roof window; for a landing or a bathroom with no outside wall, a sun tunnel carries the daylight in.
Nearer the centre, the buildings are older, tighter and more varied, with shops and homes sharing walls. The council has a conservation area on its list for Dunstable, so ring the planning team about a front slope on an older building before you settle on a design. A rear slope is the usual place for a slim conservation rooflight. Extensions behind these terraces take a flat rooflight over a kitchen or a dining table, where the side wall allows no light at all.
Three Dunstable rooms that live in the dark
A landing with a tree outside the only window
The stairhead window looks at leaves.
Sideways
In a Dunstable estate house the landing is a small square of carpet with doors on three sides and a narrow window above the stairs. Many estate streets were planted with trees when they were built, and by now some have grown to the height of the bedroom windows. One of them stands where your landing window looks.
In summer the leaves turn the daylight green and thin. In winter the bare branches do little better, because the sun is low and the house opposite blocks it. The landing and the hallway below it run on a lightbulb.
Straight up
The tree shades the window from the side. A roof window above the stairhead looks up past it. A loft space that is too low, or a roof too complicated, still suits a sun tunnel: a small dome on the roof, a reflective tube below it, and a diffuser in the landing ceiling. Straight up is clear, and the roof is above the canopy of a tree that is shading the wall.
The stairwell then spreads that light downward, so the hall gains as well as the landing.
A landing opening is often one of the quicker jobs. We check the loft from inside, find a clear run between the rafters and pick the shorter of the two routes. The ceiling is lined and painted over so the opening looks planned.
Once the light is in, you may find you want to redecorate the stairs. Pale walls and a bare handrail look different when the sun comes in from above, and a landing that used to feel like a cupboard becomes a bright place to stop and read.
Verdict: for a landing shaded by a street tree, a small roof window over the stairhead, or else a sun tunnel, lights the whole stairwell from above the leaves.
A bathroom with a neighbour's wall for a view
Privacy glass, and still no daylight.
Sideways
Bathrooms get the awkward corner of a house. In Dunstable's terraces and semi-detached estate houses the bathroom window is small, frosted and facing a side passage, where a neighbour's wall is a metre or two away. It lets in a pale glow and no more.
The extractor fan runs, the mirror steams up and the room is lit by spotlights on a grey morning. A bathroom is where you start your day, and it deserves better.
Straight up
If the bathroom is under the roof, a roof window over the bath or the basin puts a patch of sky overhead, with frosted or obscured glass if you wish. Where the bathroom is below another room, a sun tunnel may be the answer. A rooflight that opens also helps with the damp: warm, wet air rises and leaves through the top of the room.
The wall at the side is still there, but you are no longer looking at it. You are looking up.
Moisture is the practical concern in a bathroom, so the frame, seals and lining are chosen for it. We use glazing that sheds condensation and finish the inside with a moisture-tolerant surface, so the paint does not blister after the first winter.
Terms you may meet during the survey
Roof window
A window set into the slope of a pitched roof, which you can often open.
Sun tunnel
A small roof dome joined to a ceiling diffuser by a reflective tube.
Upstand
The short raised edge on a flat roof that a rooflight sits on.
Flashing
A strip of metal worked into the tiles so water cannot creep in round the frame.
Reveal
The sloping inner sides of the opening, which we line and finish.
A hallway with a wall on every side
The passage everyone uses and nobody lights.
Sideways
The hallway of a terraced house runs between the front door and the kitchen, with a party wall on one side and a stair on the other. The glass in the door is small, and the next door's wall rises a metre away from the side. The hall is the first room a visitor sees and it is the darkest.
Some people give up on it and paint the walls white. White walls help a little, but they cannot make light that is not there.
Straight up
A hall under the roof, or under a single-storey extension, can have a patch of sky brought straight in, whether by a sun tunnel or by a flat rooflight. If the stairs rise through the middle of the house, a roof window above the stairwell lights the hall from the top. Either way, the wall stops mattering.
We choose the opening to suit the roof: a small flat rooflight where the hall is under an extension, and a roof window where the stairs run up into the loft.
Landlords and homeowners ask the same question about security. Rooflights are fixed in the roof, out of easy reach, and an opening unit can be locked. We explain the options at the survey.
A hallway rooflight also changes how the rest of the ground floor feels. When the hall is bright, the doors off it can stay open, and the light flows into the living room and the kitchen without a switch being touched.
| Room | Problem | Glass |
|---|---|---|
| Landing | Tree outside the window | Sun tunnel or roof window |
| Bathroom | Wall at the side | Roof window |
| Hallway | Party wall both sides | Flat rooflight or tunnel |
| Extension kitchen | Fence beside the room | Flat rooflight |
| Old terrace loft | Rear slope only | Conservation rooflight |
Planning in a town with a conservation area
Dunstable's planning authority is Central Bedfordshire Council. Its list of conservation areas includes one named for the town, and the council's heritage pages show where it runs. A conservation area does not remove the permitted rights a house has, though an Article 4 direction can, so ask the planning team what applies to your street.
Dunstable also lies just outside the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 1.1 km from its boundary, so that extra layer of control does not apply to the town itself. The council's planning pages explain the process, and our planning guide sets out the general rules. For the building control side, see the council's building control page.
Getting to Dunstable for a survey
Heading south-east, Dunstable is 16.4 road miles away and roughly 25 minutes by car. Houghton Regis, Kensworth and Caddington are the neighbouring places, and we cover all of them.
The town's first railway opened in 1848, originally at Houghton Regis, as a branch to Leighton Buzzard on the West Coast Main Line. The old route has become the guided busway between Luton and Dunstable. Luton's stations give fast trains to London, but for a survey we come by road, and a visit fits easily into a morning or an afternoon.
Dunstable's neighbours are close enough that one trip can cover a survey in the town and a second in Houghton Regis or Caddington, so tell us if friends or family nearby are thinking about the same job.
Roof windows for lofts and sun tunnels for the dark middle
Dunstable's estate houses share one trait: a loft above a landing and a middle of the house that outside walls do not reach. That is where a roof window and a sun tunnel work best. A VELUX window gives you a familiar frame and a wide range of sizes, and the size codes explained will help when you read a quote.
Where an extension has been added, a flat rooflight takes over. The two words, skylight and rooflight, mean the same to us: the homeowner says one, the trade says the other.
For a loft conversion, the roof windows for loft conversions guide covers the points to settle before you book, from the stair to the escape rules.
What the survey covers
The visit is at your house: roof inspected from outside and from the loft, room measured. You tell us what you want from it, and we tell you what the roof allows. The survey is free.
If the house is a terrace near the centre, we pay attention to the party walls and the shared roof lines, because a rooflight must sit within your own roof and keep clear of the neighbour's. In an estate house the job is simpler, and we look at the rafter spacing and the stair position to find the cleanest line for the light.
A fixed written quote follows, and that figure stands on the day.
Fitting, finishing and the guarantee
The fitting itself is a day or two of work. We finish the inside, so the opening is lined and left tidy. Everything is installed to current Building Regulations, with the Building Control notification made by us where the work is notifiable. A 10-year workmanship guarantee is given in writing. To book, ask for your free survey or send us a message on WhatsApp.
Dunstable questions, answered plainly
Can a sun tunnel really light a landing?
Yes. Daylight is gathered at a small roof dome and handed down a reflective tube to a ceiling diffuser. It works well for a landing, hallway or bathroom that sits in the core of the house. We check the loft route at the survey and tell you whether a tunnel or a roof window is the better fit.
Will the Dunstable conservation area prevent a rooflight?
Not by itself. Ask Central Bedfordshire Council whether an Article 4 direction applies to your street. Agreement is easiest for rear slopes unseen from the road, and a slim conservation rooflight keeps the roofline neat.
Do you cover Houghton Regis, Kensworth and Caddington?
Yes. All three are close to Dunstable and get the same free survey and fixed written quote.
Free survey
Book your free survey
No obligation. We survey before we price.
Or WhatsApp 07880 284133
