Northampton terraces and landings lit by a rooflight or skylight
Northampton is a river town rebuilt in brick and tile after a great fire, then swelled by footwear, canal and railway. Its terraces, landings and extensions each call for their own sort of skylight or rooflight.
Footwear-trade terraces and the New Town estates
Northampton stands on the River Nene, and its council is West Northamptonshire Council. It is a big town with a long record: a medieval castle, a great fire in 1675, a rebuilding in brick, stone and tile, and then a nineteenth century of canal, railway, footwear and leather. In 1968 it was named a New Town, and the growth that followed has carried on into this century. A roof here belongs to one of those chapters.
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Brick terraces from the footwear and leather years
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Extended houses on the New Town estates
When the Grand Union Canal and the railways reached Northampton, the town grew round the trade that made its name, and rows of brick houses went up for the people who worked in it. Such terraces are deep and narrow, with a back wing or outshot behind and a pitched slope above. Upstairs can be dark, with a landing that has no window at all, and the loft is often unused. A roof window in the back slope makes a proper room of the loft, while a sun tunnel serves a landing that has no outside wall.
After the town became a New Town in 1968, new streets spread round the old centre, and a great many of their houses have since been extended with kitchens, garden rooms and wider backs. Those additions usually carry a flat or low roof, and that roof is the opportunity. An extension that borrows its light from the garden doors becomes bright to the back wall once glass goes overhead, with either a flat rooflight or, in a taller room, a roof lantern. Gardens are close-fenced, so the side view is always short.
Northampton: three rooms, and what is overhead
A terraced bedroom walled in by next door
Centuries of history outside and a brick face an arm's length away.
Sideways
A Northampton terrace was built close, and the back wing of one house can stand a short step from the wall of the next. The bedroom window in that wing looks directly at brick. The room is quiet and has a decent shape, but the light is the grey of a lane, and even at noon in summer the curtains are open and the lamp is on.
The loft above could solve this, though it is a space with a single tiny gable window or none. Nobody climbs up there without a torch, so it stays full of boxes while the family queues for a bedroom downstairs.
Straight up
A roof window placed on the back slope looks past the wall instead of at it. Straight up is clear, and that holds however tall the neighbouring wing may be. A bedroom in the loft gets sky from the first morning, and a ground-floor room under a flat roof can have a rooflight above it.
Where the slope faces a lane or a street, a slim conservation-style rooflight keeps the line of the tiles tidy. Where only the garden can see the roof, a standard roof window does the job.
The cost of a dark terrace shows in small ways: a hall light that never goes off, a bathroom with a bulb in the day, a bed pushed to the one wall that catches a little of the sky. A window in the roof removes the cause rather than the symptom.
We survey from the street, the garden and the loft, because an old terrace may have a party wall, a shared chimney stack or an extension roof that changes where the opening can go.
Verdict: for a brick terrace hemmed in by the next house, a roof window on the rear slope gives the upper rooms light that no side wall can.
A landing where no daylight arrives
The most-walked part of the house is the darkest.
Sideways
A landing is a corridor with a stair at one end, and in a Northampton house it often sits at the centre of the plan, far from every outside wall. Any window nearby looks at a tree in the neighbour's garden, which blocks it for half the year. The result is a space that needs the light on all day.
It matters more than it sounds. A dim stair is harder to climb with a laundry basket and a dim landing makes every door beside it feel narrow.
Straight up
A sun tunnel pairs a small roof dome with a reflective tube that crosses the roof space and ends in a diffuser set flush with the ceiling. It brings daylight into a space with no wall to put a window in. If there is a loft room above the landing, a roof window with a light well gives a wider, softer glow. Either way, the tree in the next garden does not matter, because the glass looks up.
The fitting is tidy and the ceiling below is finished and painted, so the landing looks as though it was always bright.
The choice between a tunnel and a window is a matter of the roof space. A clear route through the loft favours a tunnel, a floored loft favours a window, and a pitched slope that already carries a roof window may only need a second one. We check the route on the day of the survey.
| Roof | Suits | Best at | Know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pitched back slope | Roof window | Loft rooms and bedrooms | Needs rafter space and a safe stair |
| Conservation pitch | Slim rooflight | Roofs seen from the street | Slender frame, central bar |
| Flat extension roof | Flat rooflight | Kitchens and utility rooms | Raised on an upstand, glass tilted to shed water |
| Wide flat roof | Roof lantern | Dining spaces and family rooms | Taller, with glazed sides |
| Central landing | Sun tunnel | Halls and stairs | A clear run through the loft |
An extended kitchen behind a tall fence
A new room, with the old room's problem.
Sideways
Extensions have been added to houses across Northampton for years, usually to the back, and usually on a plot that is narrow. The new kitchen has sliding doors at one end and a window in the side wall, and the side window stares at a six-foot fence. Light enters from the garden end and fades away from it, so the work surface by the old kitchen wall stays gloomy.
The room is warm, tidy and well built. It is simply not as bright as the drawing suggested.
Straight up
A flat roof is the plainest place to put the missing light. Daylight reaches the table and the worktop from a flat rooflight placed over the centre of the room, or from a roof lantern where the ceiling gives height. The glass is raised on an upstand and tilted a touch, so water leaves it, and the finish round the edges is neat from below.
Straight up is clear. The fence matters to the side window and not to the glass above the room.
An extension that shuts out a neighbour's brick can still feel open with glass above it. Choose clear glass for a bright room, or a solar-control coating if the room faces south. Opening versions help the kitchen breathe on a warm day, and a rain sensor closes them if the weather turns.
Asking West Northamptonshire Council first
Northampton belongs to West Northamptonshire Council, which handles planning and building control for the town. The council's planning pages are the place to ask whether your plans need a form; the notification side of new glazing in a roof is explained on the building control page.
The council's planning team is the place to ask if your street sits in a conservation area. A listed building or a protected setting changes what you can do, and a quick check before you buy glass saves a delay later. For the general position on roofs, read our planning guide.
Building Control is dealt with by us whenever the job is notifiable, and the finished work meets current Building Regulations.
Nineteen point eight miles up the road
Driving to a Northampton survey takes about 25 minutes, 19.8 road miles north-west of Milton Keynes. A survey on a weekday morning is easy to arrange from here and a start soon after the quote is agreed.
The survey is free. We begin outside on the roof, go up into the loft if there is one, measure the room below, and talk through where the light is missing. You then get a fixed written quote that does not change on the day.
See the areas page for the other places we cover, or message 07880 284133 on WhatsApp with a picture of the room.
Reading a Northampton roof before choosing glass
Brick and tile run through the town, thanks to the rebuilding after the fire and the long Victorian expansion. Tiles and slates over timber rafters take a roof window well, and the surrounding flashing is formed to match the covering. Roofs with a stone or older clay finish need a little more care, and the survey is the point where we find out which you have.
The Welsh House on Market Square and Hazelrigg House in Mare Fair survive from the years before the fire, and they are a reminder of how much older material still lives in the town. We never assume. If a roof looks original, we check what the rafters are made of before we cut.
A modern roof on a New Town house is usually a simpler job, with regular rafters and often a plain flat extension behind. Fitting there is quick and tidy.
Light by the river, the canal and the railway
The Nene valley is low, and the town sits at different heights above it. Some streets drop towards the river; others lie on the higher ground round the edges. The effect on a roof is small but real, because a house lower down can be overlooked by taller neighbours, and one on a slope has a clearer view over the next row of roofs.
Streets near the railway and canal were laid out tightly for workers, which means short gardens and high walls. Those are the houses that gain most from glass above, since the side windows have nothing to look at but brick.
Our straight up is clear page explains the simple idea behind this: a side window sees what stands beside it, and the sky overhead is open.
What the work looks like from start to finish
First comes the survey. Then you receive a quote in writing, with the position, the size and the finish all named. When you accept, we set a date, protect the floors and furniture, open the roof, fit the glass and make it weathertight. Inside, the lining is formed, plastered and painted, so there is no job left for you.
Every installation carries a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing. For a sense of what goes into the figure, see our costs page, and to start the process, use the quote form.
We put homes first, though a small commercial building, a shop unit or a workshop for example, is also welcome. We install new glass and replace old, from a single sun tunnel to a full lantern.
Northampton skylight queries
Can I put a rooflight in a Northampton terrace?
Yes, in most cases the slope can take one, once the rafters and the covering have been checked. A roof window on the back slope lights a loft room, and a sun tunnel lights a landing. If your home is listed or in a protected area, ask the council's planning team first. Our planning guide covers the general position.
Will a flat rooflight leak on my extension roof?
A properly fitted one will not. The glass sits on a raised upstand with a slight tilt, and the surrounding covering is lapped up to the frame and sealed. We fit to current Building Regulations and stand behind the work with a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing.
How quickly can you come and survey a house in Northampton?
The town is 19.8 road miles away, about 25 minutes to the north-west, so a survey can be arranged quickly. Photograph the room, send it to info@vertexskylightsmiltonkeynes.co.uk or to 07880 284133 on WhatsApp, and we will suggest a day.
Do I need a rooflight above a dark landing or a tunnel?
It depends on the loft. A sun tunnel needs a clear run between the roof and the ceiling, and it suits a landing with nothing but loft space above it. If the loft is floored or converted, a roof window with a small light well may be better. The survey settles it.
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