Brick detached house with a rear orangery extension

Groby

A Groby desk or stair lit by skylights and rooflights

27.3 road miles south-east of Derby, a village once worked for granite.

Groby has an older centre and newer streets around it. If your desk, stair or kitchen sits in shade, we start the survey at that spot.

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Loft desks and back rooms without daylight

Loft bedroom with two roof windows above the bed — A loft bedroom with two roof windows above the bed, and shadow at the sides.

A narrow back kitchen whose single window faces a high boundary wall.

Fitted for Groby roofs

For loft rooms and offices, VELUX windows and other roof windows; for older roofs in the village centre, conservation rooflights; for a dark hall, a sun tunnel; and flat roof rooflights for a rear addition.

Groby is a village of two characters. The historic centre holds cobbled lanes and thatched cottages, and the streets that grew round it hold more ordinary pitched roofs in tile and slate. The first calls for care and a good deal of conversation before anything is cut. The second suits a home-office conversion, and a roof window over the desk is the natural next step. In either case the survey comes first, and the price follows it.

The full guide

A Groby home office, from the desk up

Working from a loft room is a good use of space, until the light fails. A desk against a gable wall can sit in half-dark for most of the day. A VELUX or similar roof window, placed with the desk in mind, gives you daylight without glare on the screen.

Seat and sill
Glare and heat
Site checks
Council guidance

Callout 1

Where the window goes relative to the desk

A roof window has to be placed with two things in mind, where you sit and where the screen faces. Daylight from directly behind the monitor is hard on the eyes. Light straight onto the screen causes reflections. The best arrangement is light from the side, with the desk turned so the window is at your shoulder.

Two ways a desk window can open

Centre-pivot

Turns on a middle axis
Good for cleaning outer pane
Handle sits at the top

Top-hung

Hinged at the head
Opens outward for headroom
Better view when open

We therefore start by asking which way the desk faces. In a loft room, the sloping ceiling often limits where a desk can go, so the layout is quite constrained. We sketch the room, mark the desk and chair, and then look at the roof slope for the opening. The window might sit higher than expected, so that the sky fills it and the neighbours do not.

Many home offices are not alone in the room. If the loft is also a spare bedroom or a play space, the window has to serve a bed or a rug as well. We note every use in the survey so the opening is not sized for the desk alone, and a blind is chosen that darkens the room when it becomes a bedroom again.

Sill height matters as well. A roof window that ends at desk height lets you rest your eyes on the view when you look up from work. One set too high gives you only sky, and too low puts the opening where the chair back will be.

Opening style is the first real choice. The comparison below sets the two common styles side by side.

Put the window at your shoulder, not behind the screen.

Callout 2

Glass that suits screen work

A loft room can warm quickly in summer, and a roof window that faces the sun makes it more so. The glass you choose, and what you fit inside it, decides how comfortable the room feels at the desk. A clear double-glazed unit gives the brightest light. A solar-control coating softens glare and holds back some heat. A blind, either inside the room or on the outside of the window, lets you adjust throughout the day.

Part L 2021 separates a roof window from a rooflight. A roof window follows the window rule, which asks for Window Energy Rating band B or a U-value of 1.4 W/m²K. A rooflight, lanterns included, follows its own rule at 2.2 W/m²K. Our job is to match the unit to the right one, and winter heat loss and summer comfort are separate matters, so we cover both.

VELUX sizes arrive as codes, and MK04 is a typical one. Width comes first, as a letter, and height follows as digits. You need not choose one yourself, since we measure the rafters and propose a size that fits.

Desk glazing options at a glance

Three ways to handle glare and heat at a roof-window desk.
Option	Glare	Summer heat	Suits
Clear double glazed	Highest	Warms the room	Shaded slopes
Solar-control coating	Softer	Reduced	Sunny slopes
Outside blind	Adjustable	Lowest	Screen-heavy days
Inside blind	Adjustable	Moderate	Privacy and glare

Callout 3

What we measure before quoting

A roof window in a working room has to fit the roof as well as the desk, and the survey turns both into numbers. We take the slope angle, since it sets how much headroom the window adds. We take the rafter spacing, which limits the widest opening, and the ceiling height at the desk, since a low ceiling needs a different lining.

We also look at the outside. The covering, whether tile or slate, decides the flashing kit. The condition of the roof around the opening matters because a new window is only as good as the roof it is set into. If slates or tiles near the opening are loose, we say so at the survey, so the quote covers what the job really needs.

The loft itself matters. If the floor is boarded and insulated, we note what lies under the boards near the opening, as that decides how the lining meets the floor. If the room is already plastered, we look at how the new lining will tie in, since a neat junction with the old ceiling is half of a good finish.

Finally, we look at power and data. If you want an electric opening window or a powered blind, there needs to be a route for a supply, and that is best planned before the lining goes in.

The Groby desk survey sheet

Desk and chair position: marked on the floor plan
Direction you work facing: decides side or rear light
Roof pitch: sets headroom gained
Rafter width check: limits the opening width
Power route: for electric opening or blinds

Callout 4

Groby, the council and thatch

Planning here is decided by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Flats and maisonettes fall outside the householder allowance, anything listed needs consent of its own first, and whether a house needs an application for a rooflight depends on the conditions in our planning guide.

Because the centre still holds historic buildings, check with the council whether your address carries any extra restriction before fixing a date. A short call or email to the council answers it, and we are glad to make that enquiry for you.

A thatched roof is built differently from slate or tile. Whether a rooflight is possible, and in what form, is something to settle at the survey, with the council involved if needed.

Building Control is a further step. Whenever the opening itself alters the roof structure, approval is sought through the council or through a registered building control approver, and we send the notification wherever the work is notifiable.

From granite quarry to industrial estate

Groby is a village in Leicestershire with a population of about 6,500. Grobi is how the Domesday survey of 1086 spelt the name. For much of its history the work here was farming and the granite quarries. One suggested origin of the name is a Viking word for a pit, which may refer to the quarry beside the village. That old quarry in the village centre is now an industrial estate.

The past is still visible. The historic centre keeps some of its old buildings, cobbled lanes and thatched cottages. The former Groby Old Hall had stone-built parts that are thought to have belonged to the castle's outer buildings. St James's church, built in the lancet style by the sixth Earl of Stamford, dates from 1840 and stands in the grounds of Groby Castle. Groby Pool has an origin that is still debated, with theories ranging from monks damming Slate Brook to a Roman clay pit.

For a rooflight in Groby the work starts with the room below and the roof above it. A village that has grown over centuries has homes of mixed ages. Older homes in the centre can carry unusual roof coverings, and the survey is where we check what is above you. Where a roof is a plain pitched slope in tile or slate, a roof window is a routine job, and the planning is mostly about the desk, the stair or the kitchen below it.

It helps to think about daylight in terms of the day you actually have. A home office wants steady light between morning and late afternoon. A stair wants enough to see the top step on a dark winter evening. A kitchen wants the worktop lit while you cook. Each of those is a different place and a different hour, and a rooflight can be placed to serve the one that matters most to you.

The best approach is to treat each roof on its merits. Rafters, covering and the ceiling below get checked first, and then we explain in plain words what is possible. A fixed quote is put in writing before work starts, and nothing is added on the day. Should the work be notifiable, we send Building Control the notification ourselves, and the finished workmanship is guaranteed for 10 years, in writing, from the day we leave.

We are a long drive out here, 27.3 road miles, so we fix a survey slot with you and plan the journey around it.

Home office and loft questions from Groby

Will a roof window make my loft office too hot?

It can on a sunny slope, which is why the glass and blind choice matters. A solar-control coating and an outside blind both hold back heat. We talk through the direction of the slope at the survey and suggest a combination for the room, so the desk stays comfortable in summer.

What does a VELUX code like MK04 mean?

In MK04 the letter is the width and the digits are the height, so the code describes size only, not colour or finish. We measure the rafter spacing and the opening you need, then pick the size that fits.

Can a rooflight go into a thatched cottage?

Thatch is built differently from slate or tile, so nothing is promised before the roof has been seen. On the visit we examine the structure, talk through what could work, and suggest you ask Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council about extra consent for your address.

Can I add a window to a loft room without moving the desk?

Usually yes. We start from where the desk is and choose where the window goes in the slope, so the light arrives at your shoulder. If the desk position is poor for daylight, we say so and show you a better one on the floor plan.

Is it worth replacing a cloudy roof window in a loft room?

Cloud between the panes means the seal has gone, so the window insulates badly and the outlook is dull. A unit built to today's limit is clearer and warmer. Frame and flashing are inspected during the survey, and the quote covers whatever the window needs, so new glass never goes into a tired surround.

Do I need an electrician for an electric opening window?

An electric opening window or blind needs a power supply routed to the frame, which is best planned before the lining goes in. We explain what is needed at the survey, so the power route is settled and the quote covers it.

Nearby

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Where do you want the light? Tell us in the form: the worktop, the stair, the desk.

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We cover Derby and 30 miles around.