29.2 road miles west of Derby, where the road crosses the Blithe.
A house gathers round its table, yet that corner can be the dullest in the room. Say where yours stands and we plan the light from that spot.
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Where the room sits under a pitched roof, VELUX windows and roof windows reach the table; a rear extension takes a lantern or flat rooflights; and a dark hall beyond the dining room can borrow from a sun tunnel.
A family table does more than serve meals. It carries homework, bills, jigsaws and the talk that happens last thing. Because it is used at all hours, its light matters more than the light on a shelf or a landing. We begin by working out where the table stands, now and after any plan to move it, then look at what the roof offers directly above. In a room with a pitched ceiling that may be a VELUX. In one with a flat roof it may be a lantern or flat rooflight. Roof and spot decide it between them.
The full guide
Few rooms are lived in as much as the one with the table in it. This guide takes a VELUX window from the tabletop upward, through the options that change the quote, the styles on offer and the rules that apply in this part of Staffordshire.
Callout 1
A dining room called dark is often a table in the wrong place for the light. The edges of the room, near doors and windows, may be fine, but the middle can be a dim zone where the family sits for hours. Fitting the unit above the table sends daylight onto the tabletop itself, where plates, books and faces are.
The survey begins with the table. We note its size, how many chairs it takes at full stretch and whether it can move. A rooflight is most useful when it sits above the table or just beside it, so we mark the position on the floor, usually with the table in place. Tape on the ceiling shows where the opening would fall in relation to the pendant lights and wall lines.
Sky view matters. A slope with a clear view of the sky gives bright, steady light across the table. A slope shaded by a neighbouring roofline or a tree gives less, which we say plainly, then size the unit to suit. Evening is another point. At night a rooflight is a black square unless the room has a blind, and a blind closes it away when the lights go on.
Consider who sits there. Homework wants steady light across the page, a laptop wants no glare on its screen, and a guest opposite wants to see your face without squinting. A rooflight to one side of the table and a little ahead of the seats serves all three better than a patch of light straight overhead, and we show the options on a floor plan before the quote is written.
Table height also affects the feel of the light. Daylight arrives from above and at an angle, and a table lamp still has its job after sunset. The two work together rather than competing.
The edges of the room may be fine. The middle is where the family sits for hours.
Callout 2
Two homes with the same room can receive very different quotes, and the reasons are mostly down to the roof and the unit. Because the fixed figure is written after the survey, it reflects your house. The table below shows the main things that move it, in plain terms and without any numbers, since the numbers belong in your own quote.
Opening width heads the list, because a bigger unit means longer trimmers, a wider light well and more plasterboard. The second is the depth of the void between roof and ceiling. A shallow void gives a short well, a tall loft gives a long one. The third is the roof covering, since slate, tile and other coverings each need their own flashing.
Access is the next. A house with a clear approach and a hatch beneath the opening is quicker to work on than one where scaffolding or a long carry is needed. Fourth, the choice of unit. A fixed pane, a manual opening one and an electric one are all available, and they differ in cost.
Weather and exposure count too. A roof that takes the wind needs well-secured flashing, and a slope that holds snow for longer needs a unit with a suitable seal and frame. We note the exposure of your roof at the survey and allow for it in the specification.
Finally, finish. If the well is to be plastered and painted, that is part of the job, but if you are decorating the room anyway, the quote can reflect that. We write what is included on the quote, so nothing is left to assumption.
Callout 3
A VELUX is not one product, and the style you choose affects both the view and the comfort. Over a dining table, the main question is whether you want it to open, how, and who can reach the handle. The comparison below sets out four styles in short form.
A centre-pivot unit turns about a bar at its midpoint, so the upper half tips inward and the lower half tips out. A top-hung unit hinges at the head and pushes out at the bottom. A fixed unit does not open at all, which suits a high position where nobody could reach it. An electric unit opens by remote or wall switch, and some can close themselves when it rains.
Size codes help when comparing. Take MK04 as an example. M is the width, 04 is the height. We use the code to match a unit to the opening that the rafters allow, so you can see what is being proposed.
Roof windows must also meet the energy rules for windows in Approved Document L. We name the figure in the quote so the unit and its rating are clear.
| Style | Suits | Mind |
|---|---|---|
| Centre-pivot | Reachable, mid-slope | Handle sits low |
| Top-hung | Higher in the slope | Needs clear outside |
| Fixed | Out of reach | No fresh air |
| Electric | Hard to reach spots | Needs a power route |
Callout 4
Blythe Bridge falls under Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, whose website, staffsmoorlands.gov.uk, is the source for planning on any particular street. Nothing on file places a road here in a protected area, and no Article 4 direction is on record, so none is supposed. Your address goes to the council ahead of our visit, and the reply comes straight to you.
On an ordinary house, rooflights normally sit within permitted development. For the conditions, see our planning guide, which links to the official wording. Flats and maisonettes follow other rules, and a listed property has to win consent before most changes.
Separately, a new opening counts as roof structure work, and approval for it has to come from the council or from a registered building control approver. Where the job is notifiable, we do the notifying. Replacing an old unit with the same kind follows the energy rules for that type.
With the survey done, the price is set out in one written, fixed figure, and on the slope itself, one plain unit generally occupies us for one or two days. Workmanship carries the 10-year guarantee, in writing. Start from the survey form, saying where the table stands.
Close to 6,800 people live in Blythe Bridge, a village named for a bridge over the River Blithe. The village spells its name differently from the river. A station opened here in 1848, built by the North Staffordshire Railway, on what is now the Crewe to Derby route, though its old buildings and signal box have been demolished. The Foxfield Light Railway runs north of the village.
The Uttoxeter Road was once a main route linking the M1 and the M6, until the A50 dual carriageway took some of its traffic. Along and around it, housing has been added over time. Two pubs, the Smithfield and the White Cock, were demolished to make way for housing estates, and nearby the former Meir Aerodrome closed in 1973 and became the large Meir Park estate.
A rooflight job does not depend on history, though. What counts is the house in front of us. A village with estates of different ages will have different roofs, ceilings and lofts, and we survey each one on its own terms.
A newer estate is likely to have regular roofs with evenly spaced rafters and straightforward loft access, which makes the opening easy to place over a table. An older house may differ, with timbers at uneven spacings and ceilings of varied height. The survey tells us which we have.
Photographs of the roof, taken outside and from the loft, come before any drawing, so the plan follows what is actually there.
Whatever the age of your house, start at the table. Where it stands decides where the daylight should land, and everything else follows.
It can if the unit is oversized or faces a strong sun, which is why size and blind are decided together. A blind fitted to the frame softens or shuts out the light. A slope facing north or east gives a gentler result. We talk through the options with the table in view.
It is shorthand for the size of the opening. With MK04, for instance, width comes from the letter and height from the digits. Our choice of code comes from measuring your rafters and the spot over the table, and the written quote lists it, so you can see exactly what is proposed.
Very little. The outer glass can be cleaned from inside on pivot models, or left to the rain on fixed ones. The written workmanship guarantee covers the fitting. If the glass ever mists between the panes, the unit is beyond repair and is replaced.
The main difference is the energy figure. Under Table 4.2 of Approved Document L, the window limit applies to a roof window, while a rooflight answers to its own number. For a table in a pitched room, a roof window is usual. For a flat-roofed extension, a flat rooflight or lantern is the likely choice.
Describe the room and send a photograph or two. The spot is often clearer from outside the room than inside. We ask where the family sits and what they do there, then confirm the answer in the free survey, with the roof in view.
Where do you want the light? Tell us in the form: the worktop, the stair, the desk.
No obligation. We survey before we price.
We cover Derby and 30 miles around.
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