Tring houses in the Chiltern gap take rooflights and skylights
Tring sits in a gap in the Chiltern Hills, with a canal, a railway and an old Roman road all squeezed through the same valley. Houses here tuck close to slopes, walls and trees, and the sky above them is the light worth borrowing.
Houses that grew along the High Street and out towards the hills
In west Hertfordshire, a market town lies 23.0 road miles to the south of Milton Keynes, and its planning authority is Dacorum Borough Council. The town received its market charter in 1315, and the High Street still follows the line of the Roman road known as Akeman Street. Two very different kinds of roof sit on either side of that history, and each asks for a different sort of opening.
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Old-town cottages and terraces beside the High Street
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Family houses and extensions on the slopes towards the hills
A town that has held a market for seven centuries gathers old housing close to its centre. Some are cottages with steep roofs, small dormers and loft rooms that were built to be storage and have since become studies or children's bedrooms. The windows in rooms like these are often small. Next door's gable or a boundary wall is only a few feet from the glass.
For roofs like these, a slim conservation rooflight or a compact roof window in the back slope gives the room an outlook that nothing can obstruct. The street side stays as it was. The room gets a high, clear view of the sky, which is the one thing a cottage loft has never had.
Away from the centre, Tring spreads out in streets of family houses, some with a kitchen or dining room added at the back. The land rises towards the wooded Chiltern ridge, so some gardens slope and mature trees can stand over fences. An extension roof here can be flat, and it is the best place in the house to let daylight in from above.
The natural fit for that roof is a roof lantern, or failing that a flat rooflight. It brightens the heart of the room, around the table and worktop, and it works whichever way the garden faces, since its view is the open sky and not the boundary.
The sky above three rooms in Tring
A garden room in the shade of a big tree
The room that opens to the garden, and is dimmed by it.
Sideways
Tring lies where the Chiltern Hills dip into a low gap, and the green of the hills is never far from any back garden. Big trees stand on boundaries and on neighbouring plots. A terrace room, sunroom or glazed garden room on the garden side of a house looks straight at one of them.
In summer the leaves close over the glass, and by midday the room has turned green and dim. In winter the tree is bare and the light is low and weak. Wide windows do not change this, because the thing blocking them is exactly where they point.
Straight up
Glass set into the roof of the garden room looks over the canopy, not through it. Straight up is clear, however thick the branches are below. The room keeps its view of the garden through the side glass and gains a second, steadier source of daylight overhead.
An opening rooflight also lets hot air leave a glazed room on a warm afternoon. We can talk through which position catches the cleanest patch of sky at your survey, because a tree changes where it throws shade across the day.
If a tree is on your own land, keep it and add the rooflight. The two do not compete. If it belongs to a neighbour, the opening above the room is far simpler than any conversation over the fence.
Terms you may hear on the roof
Canopy
The spread of leaves and branches of a tree, which shades the glass below it.
Kerb
A raised timber frame built on a flat roof to carry a rooflight.
Upstand
The short raised edge of insulated roof that surrounds a flat rooflight and sheds water.
Opening rooflight
A rooflight with an electric or manual mechanism that lifts it to let warm air escape.
Flashing
Thin sheet metal that weatherproofs the joint where a frame meets the surrounding roof.
A cottage loft behind a brick wall
Small windows, thick walls, and a gable next door.
Sideways
Tring's old streets have terraces and cottages built in an age when a roof space was only a roof space. Rooms that now serve as a bedroom or study are narrow, with a low ceiling and one small window. That window faces a wall, perhaps the side of the next house, a few feet away.
The room is quiet and has its charm, but daylight arrives as a thin slice, and the corners need a lamp by mid-afternoon. A larger window is not possible in a thick wall that is shared with a neighbour.
Straight up
The roof slope has no neighbour and no wall in front of it. A slim conservation rooflight sits close to the tiles, so the slope still looks like an old one, and it puts a wide piece of sky into the room. A narrow loft gains the most, because daylight falls across the whole floor and not just by the window.
Where the slope is hidden from the street, a standard roof window is a sound choice as well. We go up into the loft at the survey, look at the rafters and plan the opening around them.
The pair of drawings shows one loft room lit first by a side window and then by the roof.
A kitchen extension with a fence for a view
Plenty of floor, not enough sky.
Sideways
A rear extension is one familiar way a Tring family house gains space. It is a deep room with garden doors at one end and a side window, and that window looks at a close boundary fence. The doors bring light to the back, and the middle of the room, where people actually work and eat, relies on the bulbs.
The extension is warm and well planned, and it is still a room that gets lit by the clock and not by the weather.
Straight up
A flat rooflight above the worktop or the table puts daylight on the very spot that was dim. Rain runs off because the glass is angled slightly, on an upstand that raises it clear of the roof. In a longer room, a line of two rooflights spreads the light along its length. A roof lantern also adds height, which suits a room with a tall ceiling.
We install to the Building Regulations current at the time and send in the Building Control paperwork ourselves wherever the work is notifiable. The room is left clean, with the plaster and paint made good.
On a day you are free, stand in the extension and look at where the light falls. The patch of floor that is always dim is where the opening should go.
Some Tring gardens slope towards or away from the hills, so the fence that blocks a side window may be higher on one side than the other. A rooflight is not troubled by any of that. It also lets you keep the garden doors as they are, with the view you chose them for, while the middle of the room finally gets proper daylight.
Before you book a survey
- Which room feels dim when the lights are off?
- What is outside the side window: a fence, a wall or a tree?
- Is the roof pitched or flat above that room?
- Does the room get hot in summer afternoons?
- Do you know which side of the house faces south?
Planning in Tring and the edge of the Chilterns
Tring's planning authority is Dacorum Borough Council. Whether your street lies inside a conservation area is something the council's planners can settle with a short enquiry, and it is worth asking before you plan a rooflight on a front slope. Listed buildings follow a separate set of rules and need their own consent.
The Chilterns AONB does not include Tring itself, but the designation's boundary lies 0.1 km away and almost encircles the town. A house on the outer edge may sit very close to it. For the general permitted-development position on roof openings, read our skylight planning guide, then check the address with the council.
From Milton Keynes to Tring
Out of Milton Keynes and heading south, it is 23.0 road miles, roughly half an hour (33 minutes) behind the wheel. The A41, the Grand Union Canal and the West Coast Main Line link the town to London, and the railway station stands about two miles to the east of the town. London Northwestern Railway runs regular services between Milton Keynes Central and London Euston along that same line.
That is a short enough drive for us to come out, look at the roof and the room, and give you a fixed written quote at the survey.
Which opening suits which roof in Tring
A steep tiled slope over a loft wants a roof window, or a conservation pattern where the roof faces the street. A flat extension roof wants a flat rooflight, or else a lantern. Under tree cover, a garden room does well with an opening rooflight, which lets warm air out as well as light in.
Tring's homes range from small cottages to large family houses, so the decision rests on the roof in front of you. Both words, skylight and rooflight, describe the same thing, and either will get us to the right product.
A loft in the old town and a lean-to behind a house on the slopes are quite different jobs. One needs a slim frame that respects an old roofline. The other needs a good seal on a flat roof and glass that copes with falling leaves. We bring the right kit for the roof we have seen.
What happens at the free survey
We visit, inspect the roof from outside and, if we can get in, from inside the loft. We measure, check the structure, talk about where the light is wanted and then write you a fixed quote that does not change on the day. The work comes with a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing.
Once the date is set, putting in a typical rooflight takes one working day or the next as well. The old roof is made good, and the room is left clean and finished.
Tring homeowners wonder about this
Does the Chilterns AONB cover Tring?
The town is outside the boundary, though only by about 0.1 km, and the designated area almost surrounds it. If your house is on the edge of town, ask the council whether anything about the location changes what you can do before you finalise the design.
How can a Tring homeowner check if their street is in a conservation area?
The answer sits with Dacorum Borough Council. The planning team can tell you in a short call or email whether your address is inside one and whether any extra controls apply to the roof. Do it before you choose a design, because it can affect whether a conservation pattern is the better fit.
If the council's answer leaves you unsure which opening you need, WhatsApp us a photograph showing the roof and the room, and we will say what we would look at first.
Can a skylight go in a cottage loft with small windows?
Yes, wherever the roof has a clear slope to cut into. The slope above a loft room is separate from the wall and its small window, so the opening can be placed where the room needs light. A slim rooflight suits an older roof, and we check the rafters at the survey.
Will a rooflight help a room under a big tree?
It helps because it faces upwards. Branches that block a side window sit below the line of sight from a roof opening, and the glass is open to the sky overhead. An opening version also lets heat escape in summer.
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