Flat rooflight on a rendered extension next to stone houses

Mountsorrel

Mountsorrel's hillside homes with rooflights and skylights

25.8 road miles south-east of Derby, around the hill above the Soar.

A bedroom that stays gloomy even in the morning, a stair with no window, a kitchen that needs the lights on. Start with the spot.

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Homes on a steep hill, rooms facing the slope

Tiled bathroom wall beneath a round window — A tiled bathroom wall beneath a round window, and shade across the rest of the room.

A bathroom between two bedrooms with no outside wall at all.

Roof choices for Mountsorrel homes

Loft rooms take roof windows or VELUX windows; older frontages suit conservation rooflights; sun tunnels brighten windowless landings; and the back of an extended house can be lit with a flat roof rooflight.

A village built around a steep hill has houses facing every direction, some looking out over a drop, some looking into a bank. A rooflight does not care which. It takes daylight from above, so a bedroom backed against the slope can be lit as well as one with a view. We choose by the spot you use and the roof over it, and the shape of the hill only affects how large the unit should be.

The full guide

From the bed upward, in a hillside village

The place that counts in a bedroom is not the middle of the floor but the spot where you wake, dress and face the day. This long read takes that spot up through a Mountsorrel roof and covers the cut, the glass and the council.

Where you wake
Hill and slope
Consent route
Landing and bath

Callout 1

Putting morning light where the bed is

A bedroom window is placed to suit the wall, not the bed. Once a double bed and wardrobes are in, the daylight reaches the floor at one side and leaves the pillow end dim. People then keep the curtains open and the lamp on to compensate.

Bed position and the unit that suits it

Where the bed sits and what we usually propose.
Bed	Light needed	Unit	Extra
Under the slope	Over the pillows	Low roof window	Blackout blind
Gable wall	Along the side	Wide roof window	Opening sash
Beside a door	Down the room	Conservation unit	Slim frame
Far corner	Across the foot	Two units	Even spread

A rooflight above the foot or the side of the bed changes how the room reads. It brings the daylight down onto the bed itself, so the room wakes up with you instead of staying dark in the mornings. For a loft bedroom this is the natural answer, because the slope of the ceiling leaves little wall for a normal window.

Sleeping needs the opposite, of course. A rooflight over a bed should come with a blackout blind, and the blind should be one you can reach. We specify these with the unit and fit them together, so the room works at night as well as in the morning.

On a hill, the light itself varies. A bedroom whose back wall faces the rising ground gets little direct sun from the side. Overhead light comes from the open sky above the roofline, which is the one thing the hill cannot block. That is why a roof opening can transform a room that a wall window cannot rescue.

Children's rooms and spare rooms follow the same logic with a different spot. Children's beds tend to end up under the lowest stretch of ceiling, with play space in the middle. A rooflight placed to light the play area, with a blind to dim the bed, suits both uses. Guest rooms benefit from a rooflight too, because a room that is rarely used needs to feel bright and clean the moment the door is opened.

Ceiling height matters on every job. Where the slope comes down low, the lower edge of the glass should sit above the height at which you would bump your head, and the sill should leave room for a bedside lamp or a shelf. We mark the proposed position on the ceiling or the slope with tape at the survey so you can judge it from the bed itself.

The hill can shade the wall, but it cannot shade the sky above the roof.

Callout 2

What the hillside does to a roof opening

Roofs on sloping ground are seen from more directions than flat-site roofs. A rear slope may be visible from the street above, a front slope from the road below. That changes which side we prefer for a rooflight, and we weigh sightlines as well as sunlight.

The roof itself is checked from the loft. Rafter spacing sets the frame width, purlins and any chimney breast affect the position, and the covering tells us which flashing to use. The roof around a unit decides how long it lasts, so tired battens or loose tiles near the opening are dealt with while the roof is open.

Gutters and the fall of rainwater need a thought on a steep plot. The opening is set away from valley gutters and from any junction with a neighbouring roof, since water collects there.

Chimneys deserve a mention. Many houses on a hill have a stack rising through the roof, and flashing near it is a place where water finds a way in if it is badly done. We keep a clear gap between the rooflight and the stack, which also leaves room for a ladder or a roofing board to rest safely during later maintenance of the chimney.

Callout 3

Charnwood Borough Council and the planning route

Planning in Mountsorrel is the business of Charnwood Borough Council. Permitted development is the usual route for a rooflight on a house, with its conditions explained in the planning guide. People who own a flat or a maisonette are outside those rights, and consent is generally required first for a listed building.

The council holds the answer on whether a street falls within a conservation area. Permitted development can be removed in a conservation area by an Article 4 direction, so if your street might be covered, the council is the right place to ask. We can look into it for your address.

Building Regulations apply either way. A new opening in the rafters counts as notifiable building work. We make the notification, to the local authority or a registered building control approver, whenever it is required.

Where a house has been re-roofed, the covering may be newer than the rafters under it. That does not change the planning position, but it does affect how the new flashing is blended with the existing tiles. We check the covering at the survey and describe in the written quote exactly what the roofer will do around the opening.

Standard frame or conservation style

Standard pivoting window

Wider choice of sizes
Opens and pivots
Sits proud of the tiles

Slim frame, low against the slates

Sits low against the slates
Slim metal frame
Suits older frontages

Callout 4

Beyond the bedroom, the stair and the bath

Many bedroom jobs raise a second question. The landing outside is dark, and so is the bathroom next door. A rooflight over the stairwell can serve the landing, and a sun tunnel can light an interior bathroom. Because they sit within one roof, the three can be planned together at the survey and may share a scaffold visit.

This also affects the order of work. If a bedroom unit is going in, the landing opening is cheaper to add at the same time than to return for. We write each option as a separate line in the quote so you see what you are buying and can say no to any of it.

Think about the hall too, when the stairs run straight up from the front door. One rooflight above the stairwell may serve both the upper landing and the hall, since the light travels from roof to hall through an open stair. If the flight turns a corner, a sun tunnel to the hall completes the picture.

A hill, a granite quarry and the Soar

Mountsorrel is a large village of about 13,000 people in the borough of Charnwood, just south of Loughborough. It surrounds a steep hill that was once crowned by a castle, and the River Soar forms its eastern boundary. An arm of the Grand Union Canal runs through. Its granite quarry is the largest in Europe, and the Buttercross Market is a feature of the village centre. The A6 bypass opened to keep quarry traffic out of the middle of the village.

Old Mountsorrel grew around the hill and the river, and there is a village centre where older buildings stand close together. Beyond it, the housing is a mix. Two large sites in the published history were turned into housing estates after closing. One was a hospital and one was a works that shut in the 1990s, and both now carry newer streets.

For rooflights that gives three patterns. The first is the older centre, where roofs are modest and frontages matter, and a conservation-style rooflight is the careful choice. The second is the in-between housing, where pitched roofs over lofts are common and a rear-facing roof window can serve a bedroom or the stair. The third is the newer estates, which often carry tiled roofs over lofts that may or may not be convertible; a survey tells us which.

The hill adds a variable the flat towns lack. Houses on the lower streets may have a rear slope shaded by the hill behind them, and houses higher up may have a view over the Soar valley that a front-facing rooflight can frame. We often start with the rear slope, but where the view is the point, a front-facing unit is worth discussing.

Extensions are common wherever there is a garden, and a flat-roofed kitchen or utility with a dark middle takes a flat rooflight well. See rooflights for single-storey extensions for how those are built.

All of this goes into a free survey first, then a fixed quote in writing after it, and a 10-year workmanship guarantee on the work.

Before we survey in Mountsorrel

My bedroom faces the hill behind the house. Will a rooflight help?

Usually yes. A wall window facing a bank gets little light, but a rooflight takes daylight from the open sky above the roof. Both slopes are looked at on the visit, and the better one gets the unit, perhaps in a larger size to make up for shade.

Can I sleep with a rooflight over the bed?

Yes, with a blackout blind that you can reach. We specify the blind with the unit and fit both together. Opening versions also help ventilate a loft bedroom in summer, and an electric opening version avoids the reach if the window sits high.

Is my street in a conservation area?

Charnwood Borough Council can tell you whether your home is in a conservation area and whether an Article 4 direction has been made. Being in a conservation area does not by itself end permitted development. An Article 4 direction can, and a listed building needs consent in any case. If it might apply, we help you ask the right question before you commit.

Can I add a bedroom unit and a landing tunnel in one visit?

Often, yes. Both go through the same roof, so the work can be planned together and priced as separate lines in one fixed quote. Doing both at once saves a second set-up, but you can accept either on its own.

What is a conservation rooflight?

It is a slim metal-framed rooflight that sits low to the roof covering, so the roofline stays close to its original look. It suits older frontages. It is also available in sizes and finishes that suit ordinary homes where a quieter profile is wanted.

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.