7.4 road miles north of Derby, once known as Kilbourne.
A bedroom under the slope can feel cramped and dim in the morning. Say where the bed stands and that wall, with the roof over it, gets surveyed first.
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For bedrooms in the roof, roof windows and VELUX windows; where the street needs a lighter touch, conservation rooflights; for gloomy halls, sun tunnels; and flat roof rooflights over rear additions.
There is little published detail on the individual streets of Kilburn, so we say only what is safe. It is a village and civil parish, and the sensible way to choose a rooflight is to look at the house itself. So the work starts with a visit, a look at the roof from inside the loft, and a candid chat about how you want the room to feel at breakfast time.
The full guide
Waking up in a room that is still dim at eight o'clock is a small thing that colours the whole morning. A rooflight over a bedroom in the roof can change that. Bed, slope and regulations are taken one at a time below.
Callout 1
Under a sloping ceiling the bed normally goes against the tallest wall, where you can stand up beside it, and that habit settles where the rooflight should go. A unit directly over the pillow gives the face full sun at dawn, which some people enjoy and others dread. A unit nearer the foot of the bed, or to one side, lights the room without waking you at the first glimpse of the sun.
Orientation changes the answer. An east-facing slope brings early sun, a south-facing one gives bright light through the day, a west-facing one gives evening colour, and a north-facing one gives a steady, even brightness that suits a room used mostly for sleeping. We tell you what each looks like in practice and mark the choice on the plan.
Height matters too. A roof window set low in the slope gives a view out from a seated or lying position, which makes a small room feel larger. A window set high is for light only. We work with the room dimensions and tell you the sill height before anything is cut, so the unit is where you would want to look out.
Blinds are part of the answer in a bedroom. Blackout blinds fitted to the roof window keep the room dark for sleeping, and a pleated or roller option lets you control the light by day. We fit these as part of the job if you want them.
Warmth is the other bedroom concern. A cold bedroom is miserable, and a badly finished rooflight can feel like a cold spot above the bed. The unit is glazed to meet the Part L limit, and the shaft is insulated right up to the frame, so the ceiling around the opening stays close to the temperature of the rest of the room. Ask us at the survey and we will show you how the build-up is laid out.
Where the bed sits decides where the window goes, so we mark the pillow first.
Callout 2
Planning in Kilburn is decided by Amber Valley Borough Council, whose guidance sits at ambervalley.gov.uk. Under permitted development a house can usually take a rooflight, but conditions apply, and they are listed, with the government link, in our planning guide.
Owners of a flat or a maisonette start without householder rights. Listed building consent comes first for a listed building. Where an Article 4 direction applies in a conservation area, permitted development has been taken away. Not sure about your street? Your address goes to the council and you hear the reply.
Altering roof timbers for a new rooflight makes the job building work. The local authority, or alternatively a registered building control approver, gives the approval, and we make the application whenever one is due. Replacing an old unit with a new one of the same sort is controlled fitting, so the new unit's U-value must suit its type under Part L. Table 4.2 of Approved Document L (existing dwellings) sets two numbers. The two numbers are 2.2 W/m²K for any rooflight, lantern included, and, for a roof window, the window standard, which asks for 1.4 W/m²K (WER band B is accepted too).
Bedrooms raise Approved Document B. It asks how high the room is. Roof windows work as escapes at 4.5 m or lower, measured from the ground. A converted loft in a two-storey house therefore gets a protected stair. Bungalow and chalet bungalow roofs are where a roof window works as a bedroom exit.
Callout 3
Bedrooms are not the only dark corner in a house like this. The landing depends on bedroom doors being left open. Light from above the stairwell, through a rooflight or through a sun tunnel where the loft is closed in, brightens landing and stair, and a little spills sideways into the rooms.
Which to choose depends on the loft. With a clear roof space above the landing, a small rooflight and a short shaft keep things simple and give you sky. With a boarded loft or a low roof, a sun tunnel is the better tool, collecting light under a small dome and sending it through a shiny tube to a disc in the ceiling. Hardly any structure is disturbed, and a generous amount of light comes back.
Both are fitted to current Building Regulations, and any Building Control notification the work needs is made by us. We leave the ceiling ready for paint, and the written guarantee is handed over with it.
Callout 4
A room in the roof is easier to work on when it is empty, so please clear the bed and bedside furniture the day before. A single plain rooflight keeps us up top for a day or two, and the room is closed against weather each evening. Dust sheets cover whatever has to stay behind, and old fittings are bagged and taken away with us. Furniture in the rooms below stays put unless the opening is directly above it, and any that must move goes back before we leave. If a pet or a small child shares the house, tell us, and we will plan the day so the ladder and the open roof are out of reach.
Bed and furniture move out, and the floor is sheeted.
Slates or tiles come off and rafters are trimmed as planned.
The window and flashing are fitted and tested against rain.
The reveal is insulated and boarded, ready for plaster and paint.
Opening, blinds and seals are checked and the guarantee is given.
Kilburn is a Derbyshire village and civil parish, known as Kilbourne until around a hundred years ago, with about 4,400 people. Kilburn railway station on the Midland Railway Ripley Branch once served it, and a parish council elected from local residents works on its upkeep. Homes in a village this size come in several kinds, and each takes a rooflight a little differently. The roof, the room beneath it and the way the rafters run decide the unit more than the age of the street does, and the survey is where all three get checked before a price is written. An older house in stone or brick, roofed in slate or clay tile, suits a roof window on the rear slope, and a low conservation rooflight if the front pitch faces the street. Interwar and post-war semis have a regular pitch and plain roof structure, which makes a roof window easy to fit. Newer homes have trussed roofs, and the opening is set out around the timbers.
Each of these has one place darker than the rest. It might be a bedroom with a small window, a landing with none, or a back kitchen with its single door to the garden. The rooflight is picked for that place, not the other way round. The survey starts there, goes up to the roof, and discusses units only after that.
Behind some houses, a single-storey extension adds a flat roof. Flat glazing or a small lantern above the table or worktop changes a room that otherwise borrows light from one side. Mention an extension like that when you ask for a survey, and it gets a look as well, along with a word on whether it needs its own opening.
Age affects what is hidden, too. Older roofs may carry a patchwork of tiles or slates from different periods, and the covering around a new opening has to be sound. Where a few are brittle, matching replacements go in during the job, so the unit sits in good roof and the flashing laps over something solid. This is written into the fixed quote after the survey.
Not necessarily, but it is wise to consider them. A roof window lets in more early light than a wall window, especially on an east slope. A blackout blind fitted to the unit keeps the room dark for sleeping, and can be manual or electric. We can fit the blind with the window, and the choice is written into your quote.
Sometimes. In a bungalow or chalet bungalow it works when the room sits within the 4.5 m height and the gap measures 0.33 m² clear with both sides at 450 mm or more. A converted loft over two storeys uses a protected stair for its escape instead.
Only the council can say for certain, so your address is checked with Amber Valley Borough Council before the survey. Our planning guide explains permitted development and where it does not reach, such as flats, listed buildings and areas with an Article 4 direction.
A properly flashed unit is closed against rain each evening, whatever stage the job has reached, and its flashing is picked to suit your roof covering. The installation follows current Building Regulations and comes with our 10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing. If an older unit already leaks, a replacement may be the cure.
Often it is. A landing is a passage with no window of its own, and bedroom doors are usually shut. A rooflight or sun tunnel over the stairwell lights the stair and landing, and makes the top step safer to see. We look at the stairwell at the survey and tell you which option suits your loft.
Where do you want the light? Tell us in the form: the worktop, the stair, the desk.
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