13.0 road miles south-east of Derby, between the M1 and the Soar.
Kegworth kitchens have often grown at the back, and the worktop has lost its window on the way. Point to it and we start there.
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Over a worktop at the back, flat roof rooflights and roof lanterns give the most; on a pitched slope, roof windows and electric opening rooflights add ventilation to the daylight.
Cooking, washing up and chopping happen in a kitchen, so a rooflight there has to earn its place. It should light the surface where you chop, wash and cook, not just the floor. It should help the air move, because cooking is hot and damp. And it should keep the room comfortable in all weathers. That is why the position, the opening type and the glazing are chosen together, starting from the worktop and working up to the roof.
The full guide
Kitchens in older villages grow at the back, one extension at a time, and the worktop often ends up the furthest point from a window. Here is how we trace the light from that worktop up to the roof, and what to expect from the work.
Callout 1
People describe a kitchen by its shape, but they use it by its worktop. The place you chop vegetables, the place you roll pastry, the place you stack the washing-up. Those are the spots that need daylight, and a rooflight placed to light the middle of the floor can miss them by a metre.
In a long, narrow kitchen the worktop usually runs along one wall. A rooflight above the walkway lights the floor and leaves the worktop in a soft shadow. A rooflight set closer to the wall, or a lantern offset towards the units, sends the light across the surface where you work. The worktop goes onto our plan first, and the unit is positioned to serve it.
The hob and the sink are separate spots. The sink is where people spend longest standing still, so it deserves a good share of the light. The hob benefits from it too, but Kegworth glass above a hob gathers steam and grease, so we keep a little distance. An opening unit releases steam, and a rain sensor shuts it if the weather turns.
Cupboards matter as well. Wall units shade the worktop below them, so the opening may sit slightly in front of the line of the units. We draw the units into the plan and check the shadows on a sunny and a dull day before fixing the position.
Seating matters too. If the kitchen has a table or a breakfast bar, the light that reaches the worktop should reach the seats as well. In an extension, a lantern above the table covers both, and a roof window on a pitched slope can cover a worktop and a small dining corner at once.
Light the worktop first and the floor looks after itself.
Callout 2
Once the position is fixed, the work moves in a set order. How it runs depends on whether the kitchen roof is flat or pitched, and a rear extension in a village is often flat. The sequence below suits both with small changes.
The first point is protection. A kitchen is full of things you would not want covered in dust, so the room is cleared and sheeted before the ceiling is touched. Work starts outside, with the covering protected until the opening is formed and the unit is fixed.
The second is the upstand. On a flat roof, the unit sits on a raised insulated kerb, and the covering is taken up and over the kerb, so water runs clear of the join. On a pitched roof, the unit takes a flashing kit made for the roof covering. Both are standard jobs, but both are where leaks begin if the details are rushed.
Finally there is the ceiling. The light well inside is boarded, insulated and finished, and the reveals are painted or left ready for your decorator. A plain single unit in a Kegworth kitchen occupies the roof for a day or so, sometimes two, with the quote describing the access and finishing.
Tidiness matters in a working kitchen, and a good roofer leaves it as found. Floors are sheeted, doors are shut against dust, and the debris from the opening goes out through the roof, not through your hall. When the work is finished the room is cleared and swept before the team leaves.
Units and floor covered, and dust sheets hung to the doorway.
Covering lifted, opening formed and trimmed to the plan.
The unit set on its kerb or flashing and made watertight.
Shaft insulated and boarded to match the ceiling edge.
Opener tested, mess cleared, guarantee noted in writing.
Callout 3
A kitchen rooflight sees steam, grease and, in summer, a lot of sun. The glass is chosen with that in mind. Solar control glazing cuts the heat that passes through, which keeps the room usable in a warm spell. A self-cleaning coating helps the outer pane shed dirt in the rain, which is useful where leaves or birds are a problem.
Ventilation is the other half. An opening unit lets warm, damp air rise and leave, which makes the kitchen feel fresher. On a high ceiling you cannot reach by hand, an electric opening rooflight opens with a switch or a remote and closes itself in the rain.
Building Regulations set thermal limits for new and replacement units alike. Kegworth roof windows follow the window limit, and rooflights, lanterns included, follow 2.2 W/m²K. Our specification meets both, and each choice is put into plain language.
Callout 4
For planning, a Kegworth householder deals with North West Leicestershire District Council, whose website, nwleics.gov.uk, carries its conservation guidance. With old cottage courtyards in the village, a special control could touch your address, so we look before visiting and report back.
Many houses fit within householder permitted development, with the conditions laid out in our planning guide. In Kegworth, flats and maisonettes fall outside that right, and a statutory-list house needs its own consent before most changes.
Should a rooflight interfere with the roof structure, the job counts as notifiable building work and the notice goes from us to the local authority or a registered building control approver. Part L takes in a swap of rooflight for rooflight, or roof window for roof window, treating it as a controlled fitting, so the Kegworth replacement has to hit the thermal limit.
Where a cottage is old, the roof needs one extra look. Courtyard cottages can bring thick walls, rafters of uneven size and coverings mended many times. On survey day we climb into the loft and shape the opening around the timbers. In a Kegworth cottage, brittle coverings beside the opening are replaced by matching ones, so the unit sits in sound roof.
The result is a written quote that sets out the unit, where it goes, the lining and the access. The figure is fixed on paper, and the 10-year workmanship guarantee is written down with it.
Kegworth is a large village of about 4,300 people in North West Leicestershire. It sits between the M1 to the west and the River Soar to the east, which also marks the county boundary with Nottinghamshire. In 2018 the A6 was rerouted along a bypass to the south of the village, away from its old route through the Market Place and down Derby Road. The Romans crossed the Trent by a ford nearby, and a weekly market was granted in 1290.
The most useful fact for a rooflight is the village's industry. Hosiery and lace were two of the most important trades here from 1841, and hand-frame stockingers worked in small shops, some of them making silk stockings for royal customers. As the trade grew, small courtyards of cottages were built in old farm yards. Cottages of that age can be small, so each one is surveyed on its own terms.
That legacy sets the pattern for the older part of the village. Courtyard cottages tend to need slim, low frames and a careful look at the roof timbers. Back kitchens and bathrooms in them are the obvious dark rooms, and a small rooflight in the rear slope makes a large difference to a working space.
Outside the old core the village has added the usual layers. There are interwar and post-war homes with tiled roofs, and later estates with open-plan kitchens and rear extensions. Many of the extensions are flat-roofed, and a flat rooflight, or a lantern kept compact, over the worktop brings daylight into a room that was added without any.
The nearest railway station is East Midlands Parkway, and an on-demand bus links the village with it. For a fitting day, though, the only transport that matters is how the glass reaches the roof. The survey includes a walk along the access route, and the quote records what we find. The quote is fixed in advance.
Usually set towards the worktop wall and not down the middle, so the light crosses the surface where you work. We mark the worktop, sink and wall units on the plan and place the opening to suit them, then check the shadows before the position is fixed.
An opening unit lets steam rise and leave, and an electric opening rooflight can close itself in the rain. We keep some distance from the hob so grease does not collect on the glass, and your extractor stays in use as well.
Yes, with a flat rooflight or a compact roof lantern. The joists and covering are checked, the unit is seated on an insulated upstand so water drains clear of the join. A lantern adds height and spreads light across the room.
The timbers and the roof covering do. We look at them from the loft, set out the opening to suit what is there, and check the council's guidance for the address. If a building is listed, listed building consent comes first.
When the rooflight alters the roof structure, yes, and we notify the local authority or a registered building control approver. Part L catches a straight replacement as a controlled fitting, and whichever Kegworth unit is fitted has to meet the thermal limit for its own type.
Often, using a sun tunnel. A little dome on the roof gathers daylight and a reflective tube takes it through the loft to a diffuser over the worktop. The sky cannot be seen through it, though the light is steady and the roof opening small.
Where do you want the light? Tell us in the form: the worktop, the stair, the desk.
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