Rear view of red-brick terraces with a flat-roofed outrigger and bins

Jacksdale

Brightening Jacksdale landings with skylights and rooflights

15.1 road miles north-east of Derby; the pit once set the pace here.

Jacksdale grew in a hurry around its pit, and some of those houses never got much daylight past the front room. Show us the dark spot.

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Colliery rows, narrow stairs, rooms with one small window

Loft bathroom with a roll-top bath under a roof window — A loft bathroom with a roll-top bath, shaded beneath the roof window.

A back kitchen whose single window looks onto a brick wall a few steps away.

Roof choices for pit-era homes and newer estates

Where the street side must stay untouched, conservation rooflights; for bedrooms and lofts, a VELUX or similar roof window; for a landing beneath a loft you cannot clear, sun tunnels; and over the back extension, a flat roof rooflight.

Fast growth rarely leaves one roof type behind. Houses put up for pit and ironworks families sit near later building, so we choose the product after we have seen the roof, not before. Where the loft is full and nobody wants it disturbed, a sun tunnel is the tidy answer. A roof window gives a bedroom headroom and a view of the sky. Over a rear kitchen, a flat rooflight lets you cook with the lights off.

The full guide

A Jacksdale house, from the top stair up

In a two-storey house built for a colliery family, the darkest place is usually the landing. The roof sits only a short way above it, so it is the easiest dark spot to fix, and the one people tolerate longest. What follows covers the spot, the slope and the paperwork in turn.

Top stair
Jacksdale slopes
Council checks
Daylight reach

Callout 1

Starting with the landing, not the catalogue

Jacksdale consisted of only three farms in 1811. Then the pit and the ironworks arrived, and houses went up fast for the people who worked in them. Rows built that way were planned around the front room and the kitchen. The stairs and the landing took whatever was left, and a landing in a house like that can be dim even at noon in June.

What shifts the quote for a landing job

Height of the stairwellA tall stairwell needs more scaffold or tower time inside.
Loft above the landingA full loft means clearing a route and building a lined light shaft.
Rafter and trimmer layoutRafters in the way mean extra framing around the opening.
Roof coveringSlate, concrete tile and felt each need their own flashing detail.
Unit typeA fixed rooflight and an electric opening one are very different fittings.

When we survey, we stand on the dark spot first. We note where your feet go, how high the ceiling is and what sits above it. A landing with a loft over it is a different job from a landing with a bedroom over it, and both are different from one where the slope comes right down to the floor.

Why the position matters more than the size

A rooflight set a metre too far up the slope lights the loft hatch and leaves the stairs in the dark. We mark the opening from the landing floor, then check it from the roof side, so the daylight lands where somebody stands. A modest unit set well often beats a big one set badly.

What the survey is for

Nobody mentions money at the free survey. We inspect the dark spot, the ceiling over it and the slope above, then send a fixed written quote that holds on the day. If rafters or a chimney breast block the obvious position, we tell you at the survey, not halfway up a ladder.

A landing is the cheapest room to brighten and the one most people put up with longest.

Callout 2

Which slope, and what is on it

Slate may still be on the roof, or concrete tiles from a later re-roof. The covering sets the flashing kit, the fixings and the hours on the roof, so we identify it before choosing the unit.

For the front slope, in view of the road, the discreet choice is a conservation rooflight. It lies almost flat to the slates on a narrow frame, so the street still sees the roof it always saw. Round the back, out of sight, an ordinary roof window does the same job with less fuss.

North, south or in between

A rear slope that faces north gives steady light and little glare. A south-facing one brings sun and heat into a loft room, and the survey covers glass choices and blinds. Neither is better. The point is to know which you have before the unit is ordered.

Fitting day on the roof

One plain unit means a short stint for the roof crew, a day or two. The slope is opened, the opening framed, the unit set and weathered, and the inside finished after.

Callout 3

Ashfield District Council and the paperwork

Planning decisions in Jacksdale rest with Ashfield District Council. For a house, rooflights often fall within permitted development, with the conditions listed in the planning guide, not here. Anyone in a flat or maisonette starts without those householder rights. A listed building wants listed building consent before most changes. A street under an Article 4 direction can lose its permitted rights, so ring the council if you suspect yours is protected. Its planning pages are at ashfield.gov.uk.

Building Control

Opening up fresh ground in the slope disturbs the structure, and in law that is building work. Approval rests with the council or a registered building control approver, and sending the notification is our job where it applies. Fitting a twin for a tired old unit also counts as controlled work, and the fresh glazing has to meet the limit set for its kind. Glazing standards differ by product. The bar for roof windows sits at 1.4 W/m²K, though Window Energy Rating band B passes too. Rooflights get 2.2 W/m²K.

A bedroom in the roof

Sleeping rooms have to offer a way out. Mind the 4.5 m height line, because above it a window in the slope is no longer an acceptable way out. Within it, aim for a 0.33 m² opening with no edge shorter than 450 mm. A loft bedroom over two storeys calls for a protected stair.

What goes on the Jacksdale survey sheet

The dark spot: pencilled on the floor plan
Ceiling height: taken at the spot and at the stair
Slate, tile or felt above: slate, tile or felt, and its condition
Spacing between the rafters: measured in the loft, if there is one
Council position: listed, protected area or neither

Callout 4

Getting the light from roof to landing

A rooflight does not light the landing by itself. The light has to travel down through whatever sits between the glass and the ceiling, and that path is the light well. In a house with a bedroom in the roof the well is short. With a storage loft above the landing it can be a full shaft, and how that shaft is lined decides how much light arrives.

We splay the sides of the shaft, which lets daylight spread wide rather than fall in a narrow stripe. We also finish the lining in a pale, matt paint so it reflects without glare. Done properly, you notice the brightness at the foot of the stairs and not the shaft that carries it.

Glass for a landing

An energy efficient double glazed unit with a low-emissivity coating keeps the landing from turning into the coldest spot in the house. If the landing is shared with a bathroom, obscured glazing or a blind can be added at the survey stage.

When the loft is a store room

If the space above the landing is full of boxes and old suitcases, we agree where they go on the day before we open the ceiling. The shaft is built clear of the stored items and sealed at the top, so dust stays out of the cupboard and the stairs stay clean.

Reflectance matters more than size

A shaft lined in a pale matt finish returns far more light than a wider one painted a mid colour. We have seen no reason to make the shaft wider than the opening needs. Instead we spend the effort on the splay and the paint, because that is where a landing gains or loses its brightness.

Light colour and wall finish

Paint on the stair walls matters too. A landing finished in dark paper swallows most of the extra daylight, while pale walls pass it down the flight. Worth raising at the survey, as it costs nothing to change and it helps the new rooflight earn its keep.

Housing in Jacksdale, and what it means overhead

Roughly 2,800 people live in Jacksdale, and the houses show how the place grew. In 1850 Westwood was a small hamlet and Jacksdale barely existed. Growth followed housing and services built for the people who worked at Pye Hill Colliery, which opened in 1875, and at James Oakes and Co, the ironworks. The arrival of the railway made the village a shopping and amenity centre for itself and for Westwood, so streets of that period run alongside later building.

What helps us here is reading each house as it stands. The older rows tend to have steep narrow stairs, small rear windows and ceilings tucked close under the roof, so the landing is the obvious candidate. Newer houses often have bright ground floors but dark middles, such as an inner hallway or a bathroom without a window.

The village still has what you would expect of a small place with a library, a primary school and a Miners' Welfare, and the roofs around them vary as much as the streets. We read each roof as it stands rather than guessing from the street name. Slate and concrete tile call for different flashing, and an older rear extension may have a flat roof that suits a kerbed rooflight.

Selston Parish Council covers Jacksdale and Westwood, though planning decisions sit with Ashfield District Council. If you cannot tell which slope the council would call visible from the street, bring it up at the survey and we will work it out together.

Jacksdale rooflight questions, answered

Can daylight reach a landing that has a loft over it?

Yes. A sun tunnel, or a kerbed rooflight over a built light well, passes daylight through the loft in a lined shaft and spreads it over the stairs. The loft inspection tells us what has to be moved, and we disturb as little stored clutter as possible.

Does a roof window in Jacksdale need planning permission?

For a house, often no, because it can fall under permitted development, and the rules it must meet are in the planning guide. Flats differ, and listed buildings need consent. Ashfield District Council decides, so ask it if your street is protected.

My back kitchen faces a wall. Is a flat rooflight worth it?

Often it is the best answer. A bigger window onto a wall adds little, whereas a flat rooflight set over the sink or hob lights the exact place you work. It suits a flat or low-pitch roof over that room, and we check the build-up and kerb height first.

How many days will one unit take?

Count on one or two days of roof work for a plain single unit, followed by lining and painting inside. A long shaft or several units take longer. We settle it during the survey and note it in the quote.

My rooflight has gone cloudy inside. Can it be replaced?

Misting means the seals between the panes have gone, so the unit cannot be rescued. Its replacement must reach today's limit for its type, and with a sound frame and flashing the exchange can be quick.

Nearby

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