Brick house with a rear extension and rooflights, garden in front

Kimberley

Kimberley dining rooms lit by rooflights and skylights

16.4 road miles north-east of Derby: a market town beside the A610.

Kimberley grew on coal, brewing and hosiery, and the houses show that mix. When the dining table or the loft room is dim, we look up at the roof.

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Market-town houses with deep rooms and small windows

Narrow staircase in a dim stairwell — A narrow staircase in a dim stairwell, with the daylight left behind at the bottom.

Round window in a plain white wall — A round window in a plain white wall, and a hall that stays shaded.

Choosing for a Kimberley roof

For lofts and box rooms, VELUX windows or similar roof windows; behind older houses, roof lanterns and flat roof rooflights; for dark halls, sun tunnels; and, for tired glass, misted rooflight replacement.

A town with centuries behind it has roofs of every age, so assumptions get us nowhere. A dining table in a middle room is a classic dark spot, and the usual cures are a VELUX window in the roof slope or a lantern over a rear extension. Room and roof are seen together at the survey, before anything is chosen.

The full guide

A Kimberley house, from the table up

The table is where a house gathers, for meals, homework and long evenings. When it sits in a middle room with no good window, the family drifts elsewhere. A VELUX window or rooflight above the table can pull everyone back, and the roof overhead decides which.

The dining table
Quote factors
Broxtowe rules
Glass choices

Callout 1

Bringing the family back to the table

A table in a middle room is hard to light. The windows are at the front and back, and the table sits between them in the shade. A ceiling light does the work after dark, but by day the room feels flat and a little gloomy.

If the table stands in a room under a pitched roof, such as a converted loft, a VELUX window above it can give a bright, even spread. On a flat-roofed extension at the back, a rooflight or lantern pours a wider cone of daylight across it and shows more sky.

Table positions and the unit that answers each

Where the table sits decides how the light arrives.
Table in	Roof above	Unit
Loft dining room	Pitched slope	VELUX window
Rear extension	Flat roof	Roof lantern
Kitchen diner	Flat or low	Kerb rooflight
Middle room	Loft above	Sun tunnel

Above or beside

The window need not sit directly over the table. One beside it, with light angled across the surface, feels softer and keeps summer sun off the plates. The survey marks table and chairs on the floor plan, and the position follows from that drawing.

Size against the room

A small room does not need a big window. A modest unit well placed beats a large one badly placed, so the size comes from the table and the room, never from what is on the shelf.

Evenings at the table

Daylight is only half the story. After dark a rooflight becomes a black square unless the artificial lighting is planned too. Keeping pendants or spotlights on their own circuit lets them be dimmed once the glass starts to reflect the room. The detail is easy to get right while the ceiling is open.

A table is where the house gathers, so it deserves daylight more than the hallway does.

Callout 2

Why two similar jobs get different quotes

Two houses in one street can need quite different work. The units may look alike from below, but the roofs differ, and so does everything around the opening. The quote follows the job in front of us, and the list below covers what moves it.

Size comes first, since a wider opening means heavier framing and a bigger unit. The roof is next. A steep pitch asks for more care and equipment, and the covering decides the flashing. Glazing matters as well, because laminated, solar control and triple panes each change the unit itself.

Inside the house

Ceiling height and the depth of the light well govern how much lining there is to frame and finish. A deep shaft is more work than a short one, and a sloping ceiling is more work than a flat one.

Extras that are easy to miss

Scaffold or a tower, skip hire, making good the ceiling and clearing the old covering all belong in a proper quote. We write them in, so nothing arrives later as an extra, and an item that does not apply to your job is simply left out.

What separates one Kimberley quote from another

Opening sizeA wider opening needs heavier framing and a bigger unit.
Roof pitchSteeper slopes call for more equipment and care.
Glazing typeSolar control, laminated and triple panes each change the unit.
Light well depthA deeper shaft means more framing and finishing.
AccessA tight street or yard changes how the unit reaches the roof.

Callout 3

Broxtowe Borough Council and the paperwork

Kimberley is in Broxtowe Borough, where Broxtowe Borough Council handles planning. Permitted development often stretches to a house rooflight, and our planning guide explains the conditions. Anyone living in a flat or maisonette is shut out of those rights, and altering a listed building starts with the council's consent. If you suspect a conservation area, ask the council early, as an Article 4 direction could have changed the position on some streets. Broxtowe's planning pages are at broxtowe.gov.uk.

Building Control

An opening that is new alters the roof structure, which is building work in law. Approval is needed from either the council or a registered building control approver, and where it is due we post the notification.

Glazing limits

In the Part L 2021 rules, roof windows in an existing home are expected to reach a score of 1.4 W/m²K, with a band B Window Energy Rating accepted as equal. A rooflight, lantern included, is graded at 2.2.

Reading a VELUX code

Replacing a window means matching the old one, and the code on its frame helps. In MK04 the width comes from the letter M and the height from the digits.

Telling us the history

If the house has had a loft conversion, a re-roof or an earlier rooflight, say so. Old paperwork, even a scrap of it, saves time when we visit, since it shows what has already been built and checked.

From first message to a finished ceiling

Send details
Use the survey form or WhatsApp, with photographs of the room and roof.
Free survey
A visit to the table, the ceiling and the slope above, before any price.
The fixed figure
A fixed figure comes on paper and stays fixed on the day.
Fitting
A plain single unit is a short roof job, and the inside follows.
Handover
The controls are shown, the mess cleared, and the guarantee given in writing.

Callout 4

Picking the glazing for a family room

The glass decides how the room feels once the novelty has gone. A table under a roof window gets sun, weather and noise, so the glazing needs thought.

For an evening room, a low-emissivity coating keeps warmth in. For a south-facing room, solar control glass holds summer heat down. Where children do homework at the table, a laminated inner pane is a sensible safety choice and also takes the edge off rain noise.

Blinds

A blind above a table does more than you might expect. It cuts glare on a laptop and stops the late sun landing on the food. Roof window blinds run in side channels and close flat to the glass, and the fittings are planned at the survey.

Cleaning

A pivot window turns round so the outer pane can be cleaned from inside, while a top-hung window works differently. The survey tells you which suits the reach of your ceiling.

Condensation over a dining table

A room used for cooking and meals makes steam, and steam finds cold glass. A well-sealed unit with a warm edge spacer helps, and so does a window that opens. Daylight and ventilation work best as a pair.

Looking after the glass

A damp microfibre cloth and a splash of washing-up liquid do for the outer pane, and a quick brush clears the vent if there is one. Keep abrasive pads away, because scratches show badly against the sky.

Housing in a market town with a long memory

Kimberley is a market town of about 4,500 people, six miles north-west of Nottingham along the A610. It appears in the Domesday Book as Chinemarelie. In 1343 Nicholas founded Beauvale Priory on part of his Kimberley holding, and Henry VIII claimed the priory's land at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth century. Much later the town grew as a centre for coal mining, brewing and hosiery manufacturing.

Those three trades brought workers, and workers needed homes. The record we trust does not say which streets hold which house types, so we make no claims about that. Roofs of many ages is the safe conclusion, each to be read on its own terms.

What to look for

Begin outside. Slate, clay tile and concrete tile all behave differently, and a dormer, chimney stack or valley near the planned spot can move the window along the slope by a metre. Then go indoors. A boarded loft, a plaster or board ceiling, or a purlin crossing the rafters each tell us how the opening is framed and how the shaft is built.

Extensions and conversions

Rear extensions on older houses tend to have flat or low-pitch roofs, which suit a rooflight or lantern above a kitchen diner. Lofts converted into bedrooms or offices take roof windows. Where a loft is simply full of boxes and nobody wants it touched, a sun tunnel lights the landing below.

Whichever fits your house, the order is the same. We survey, quote in writing, and fit to current Building Regulations.

One more practical point concerns trees and exposure. A slope shaded by trees collects leaves and moss. Both change how often the flashing needs attention and how much light reaches the glass. Trees close to the slope get written onto the survey sheet, and we talk through which pitch will serve you best before the opening is marked.

Kimberley table and hallway questions

Will a roof lantern over a dining table make the room glaring?

It can in high summer when the glass is untreated and faces south. Solar control glazing and a blind keep the brightness comfortable. A lantern spreads light widely, so the table is lit without a harsh patch. The options are discussed at the survey.

Can a sun tunnel really light a hall under a full loft?

Yes. A sun tunnel is a rooflight on the slope with a reflective tube that carries daylight down through the loft to a diffuser in the ceiling. The loft stays usable, and the hall gets a steady glow in daytime. The route between roof and ceiling is checked at the survey.

Does Broxtowe Borough Council have to hear about a VELUX window?

For a house there is often no application at all. The planning guide covers the conditions, and flats and listed buildings play by other rules. Building Control notification is our task where the work calls for it, and the council can tell you about any protection on your street.

Where is the size code on my old VELUX?

It is on a label at the edge of the frame, often visible when the sash is open. Photograph it and send it over with a note of the room, and we match the replacement to the old one.

Should a misted rooflight be replaced?

A misted unit has failed seals, so the glass looks cloudy and the insulation is poor. A new unit meeting current standards makes the room brighter and warmer. If the frame is sound, the swap can be simple, and it is quoted in writing after the free survey like any other job.

What does the fixed quote actually include?

The unit, the fitting, the lining, the finish and the Building Control notification where it applies. It follows the free survey, it is in writing, and it stays put on the day. The 10-year workmanship guarantee is also in writing.

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.