Westoning brick and tile houses open to rooflights and skylights
A Bedfordshire village built on clay, with brick, half-timber and thatch in its pubs and extensions behind its gardens: where a skylight or rooflight fits in Westoning.
Clay, brick and timber in the village
Westoning has a parish council of its own, and as a Bedfordshire village and civil parish it falls in the Westoning and Tingrith ward of Central Bedfordshire Council. The ground is a strong clay subsoil, and a claypit at Westoning Wood End was once worked for brick-making, close to the Midland Main Line. The River Flit flows behind the stud farm. The roofs here suit some rooflights better than others.
-
Older houses of brick, tile and timber
-
Extensions and kitchens added behind the garden gate
The two village pubs show the range. The Chequers is a half-timbered building with a thatched roof, dating to the eighteenth century, and The Bell is an eighteenth-century house of brick and tile. Because a tiled covering is made of small units that can be lifted and relaid around the opening, the roof takes either a slim conservation rooflight or a roof window cleanly. Thatch is a roof of its own kind, so the first question for any house with one is what the covering is, and the survey settles that before anything is specified.
Behind older village homes, extensions have been added for kitchens, dining rooms and family space, with garden fences close at the side. Behind the house, a flat-roofed extension can carry a flat rooflight on an upstand, or a roof lantern over a table in the middle of a deep room. Side windows there face fence panels, so the roof has to carry the daylight for the whole space.
Daylight for a Westoning extension
An extension that backs on to the fence
Plenty of floor, not enough sky at the sides.
Sideways
The new room is large and the doors open on to the garden, yet the back of it is dim by late afternoon. The fence at the side is close and tall enough that the side window looks at timber panels, and the neighbour's extension stands beyond. The room has been built out towards a boundary, so the part furthest from the glazed doors has the least light.
Moving the fence is not an option, and a taller window only shows more fence. The view that stays open sits above the roofline.
Straight up
A roof lantern raises a glazed crown above the flat roof and lets light fall into the middle of the room from several faces. A run of flat rooflights does the same with a lower profile. Either way, the glass sits on an upstand so the roof can shed water around it.
The choice between them comes down to the height of the room, the look you want from the garden and the sweep of the sun across the roof. We talk those through at the survey with the measurements in hand, then fix the quote in writing.
The roof of an extension has to carry the weight of glazed units, so the survey looks at the roof structure and the edge detail before a position is agreed. If a beam needs adding or the roof needs strengthening around the opening, the written quote shows it as part of the job, with no surprise on the day.
Think too about the room at night. A lantern with a lit room below glows like a lamp in the garden, and a flat rooflight looks like a dark pane from outside. Both are drawn at the quote stage so you know the look before you commit. Blinds are available for either, and they change how the room feels in high summer when the sun is overhead.
Position matters as much as size. A rooflight set close to the house wall lights the back of the room, where the doors cannot reach, while one set towards the garden doors mostly adds to light the room already has. We can chalk the outline on the ceiling during the visit and stand under it with you so the position is clear to see.
Terms you will hear on the visit
Upstand
A raised kerb around the opening that the glass or lantern sits on.
Fall
The slight slope worked into a flat roof deck, which carries water off towards the edge.
Roof lantern
A raised glazed structure with sloping sides, standing proud of a flat roof.
Flashing
The weatherproof strip that seals the join between the unit and the roof.
Reveal
The inside faces of the opening, between the glass and the ceiling.
A kitchen at the back of an older house
The kitchen window was fitted for a view that the fence now blocks.
Sideways
In an older house with a kitchen on the back, the window was placed for a garden view that has since been closed in by a boundary fence or a neighbour's new build. The result is a work surface that needs a light on all day, and a room that feels smaller than it is.
Standing at the sink and looking at timber is the daily version of the problem. Above the fence line, the sky is as open as it ever was.
Straight up
A single-storey kitchen gets light onto the work surface and the table, where it is needed, from a flat rooflight or, where the roof is pitched, from a roof window. The unit is fitted with an upstand or a kerb, finished neatly inside, and chosen to meet the thermal limits for existing homes.
Two numbers matter in the regulations, and the table below shows both. Your installer works to them, so you do not need to calculate anything, but it helps to know what the paperwork says when it arrives.
Where the kitchen is open to a dining area, a pair of rooflights spaced along the ceiling spreads the light evenly instead of leaving a bright patch under one unit. A single larger pane can suit a small square room better, and the survey is where the width and length of the glass are matched to the room.
Opening units are worth considering over a hob or a sink, since an electric opening rooflight lets steam out at the highest point in the room. A rain sensor closes it if the weather turns. The wiring is run neatly and the ceiling finished, so the inside is left clean when the work is done.
A pitched kitchen roof takes a roof window instead. If you know the size code of an existing window, tell us at the visit; the letter is the width and the digits are the height, and it helps us match a replacement to the opening that is already there.
Two heat-loss ceilings for an existing home
- 1.4 W/m²K
- highest figure allowed for a new roof window, or alternatively band B in the window's energy rating
- 2.2 W/m²K
- ceiling for a new rooflight such as a flat unit or a lantern
Planning in Westoning
Central Bedfordshire Council handles planning here, and the village sits in the Westoning and Tingrith ward. Whether your street lies in a conservation area is for the council to answer, through its planning and building pages; get that answer before you place an order. If a listed building is involved, changes to the roof need listed building consent, which is a separate route from planning permission.
Whether a roof opening needs consent depends on conditions that our planning guide explains in full. Read it before you start, and bring any questions to the free survey.
Building control is separate again. Its building control page sets out how the council works, and a registered building control approver is the private alternative. The notification, where the work is notifiable, is ours to make, and the installation meets current Building Regulations.
Reaching Westoning across the clay
A survey visit means about 19 minutes by road from Milton Keynes, 15.7 road miles heading east. Harlington is the next village along, with Flitwick and Flitton close by, so a visit to one is easy to combine with another. See Harlington, Flitwick and Flitton for the same service in each.
The nearest railway station is at Harlington, 1.3 miles south of the village, and Flitwick station is 1.4 miles north. Neither matters for a survey, which happens at your door, but they place Westoning on the map between the two.
The survey and the fitting are two separate visits, and the fitting is one or two days of work on site, finished inside before we go. The quote stays as written.
Which roof suits which room here
On a brick and tile roof with a loft, a roof window is the straightforward choice, and a conservation style frame keeps the roofline slim where you want it. On a flat-roofed extension, a flat rooflight suits a low room and a lantern suits a taller one. A sun tunnel is the smaller roof opening and the smaller job, and it suits a dark landing or a bathroom with no outside wall.
The village sits close to the Midland Main Line, with the River Flit behind the stud farm, and its buildings run from the old pubs to homes that have grown extensions at the back. A spare bedroom in the roof of an older house, a utility room with no window, a porch that is dim in winter: each has its own answer, and the right answer becomes clear once we have seen the room.
If you cannot decide, the survey is where we compare them against your actual room and roof, rather than against a drawing. Our straight up is clear idea explains why: the side of a room looks at what is beside it, and the roof looks at the sky.
The survey and the quote
Nothing is charged for the survey, which covers the roof covering, then the timbers under it, then the ceiling below. We measure the room, check the rafter spacing and note which way each slope faces. You receive a fixed written quote that does not change on the day, a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing, and tidy work with the inside finished.
Residential work comes first, and a small commercial job is just as welcome, whether it is a shop, an office or a village hall that needs daylight from above. Nothing in the quote is left open: the unit, the fitting, the finishing and the Building Control notification, where the work is notifiable, are all listed.
Westoning sits on its own parish council and has been written about since the Domesday Book, which means plenty of the buildings around you have had their roofs altered more than once. A new opening is one more change, and it is made carefully, with the covering relaid around it and the finish inside left clean for you to paint.
To arrange a visit, ask for a survey, or reach us through info@vertexskylightsmiltonkeynes.co.uk or WhatsApp on 07880 284133.
Westoning, your questions
Does Westoning sit inside a conservation area?
Whether your street falls inside one is a matter for the council's planning team to settle. Our planning guide covers how that affects a rooflight, so ask first and order afterwards. Even inside a conservation area the position can vary from one address to the next, so the answer for your house is the one that counts.
Can a skylight go in a thatched roof?
A thatched roof is a different case from a tiled one, and the covering decides what is possible. Before any money is committed you receive a written answer, and the survey begins by establishing what the roof is made of. By contrast, a brick and tile roof is simple to open up, and it will take a conservation rooflight or an ordinary roof window.
Where does a Westoning planning application go?
To Central Bedfordshire Council, which also handles building control through its building control page.
How far is Westoning from Milton Keynes?
About 19 minutes by road, covering 15.7 road miles to the east, which keeps a survey visit simple to book and means the fitting team reaches you the same day it is scheduled.
Nearby
Free survey
Book your free survey
No obligation. We survey before we price.
Or WhatsApp 07880 284133
