Rear of brick terraced houses with a long flat-roofed extension

Upper Tean

Rooflights and skylights above Upper Tean's tape-mill flats

25.5 road miles west of Derby, along the River Tean and High Street.

Upper Tean has old mill flats and cottage rooms with small windows. Whichever corner stays gloomiest, the survey begins in it.

Book a free survey

Mill conversions, cottages and rooms short of daylight

Bathroom with a tiled bath panel under a roof window — A bathroom with a tiled bath panel, shaded away from the roof window.

A top-floor flat where the sloping ceiling leaves the middle of the room dim.

What suits roofs around Upper Tean

Pitched slopes take roof windows and VELUX windows; older frontages call for conservation rooflights; inner bathrooms suit sun tunnels; and extensions get flat roof rooflights.

A village with a working past and a lot of conversion work has an odd mix of roofs. Some are steep and old, with attic rooms where the slope runs down to a low wall. Others are flat, over a kitchen added behind the original house. The choice follows the roof you actually have. We read the room first, then the roof over it, and frames and glass come last.

The full guide

Upper Tean, from the basin up

The tight, dim corner in an older village home is often the bathroom basin, where a small window gives a little light and no sky. Here we follow one such room into the roof, taking in glazing, consent and finish as we go.

By the mirror
Choosing glazing
Rules in Moorlands
Finishing inside

Callout 1

Why the bathroom mirror never gets enough light

Bathrooms in older and converted homes are often squeezed under the roof or tucked between two other rooms. The window, if there is one, is small and frosted for privacy. That is enough to see by in the middle of the day and not enough to shave or put make-up on by, which is the moment people notice.

What changes the shape of a bathroom job

Opening or fixedA venting unit adds hardware that a fixed pane does not.
Hand reachA high position may call for an electric opening version.
Glass typeObscured or solar-control glazing is priced differently to clear.
Ceiling finishA moisture-resistant lining costs more time than plain board.
Pitch and head heightA low slope needs a different frame and flashing.

The spot to light is the basin and the mirror, not the middle of the floor. A roof window set so that its light falls forward onto the basin gives an even, shadow-free wash at face height. The same window set two feet further along the slope would light the bath instead and leave the mirror dim.

For this reason the measuring begins at the basin and moves outward. The spot goes down on the floor in chalk, and the slope above it is examined for what the loft allows. Sloping ceilings change the sums. In an attic bathroom the head height may only exist near the door, so the unit is often placed higher in the slope than the basin below, with its light angled down.

A bathroom also brings its own demands. Steam and condensation need an opening or a vent, so many people choose a roof window that opens, and an electric opening version is useful when the window sits out of reach.

Light the mirror, and the rest of the room looks after itself.

Callout 2

Fixed pane, opening unit or tunnel

There are two honest ways to bring daylight to a basin. A roof window puts real sky overhead, can open to let steam out, and suits any room under a sloping roof. A sun tunnel gathers light under a low dome outside and sends it along a silvered pipe to a round diffuser fixed to the ceiling. It is the better answer where the room has no roof directly above it, or where another room or a boarded loft stands in the way.

Neither is better in every case. In a bathroom directly under the roof slope, a roof window is usually the more natural choice because it gives a view as well as light. Where the bathroom is a windowless interior room on the first floor with a bedroom above, the tunnel can do what a window cannot.

Glazing is the other decision. A bathroom window can be clear for the light and obscured for privacy, and obscured glass is available as an option on most roof windows. For south and west slopes, solar-control glass cuts summer heat, which matters in a small room.

Skylight over the basin or tube from the dome

Skylight over the basin

View of the sky
Can open for steam
Needs room under the slope

Tube from the dome

Works past a loft or room
Small opening in the roof
Even light, no view

Callout 3

Who decides what in Staffordshire Moorlands

Staffordshire Moorlands District Council decides planning matters for Upper Tean. The householder's usual route for a rooflight is permitted development, and its conditions are in the planning guide, alongside the official source.

Flats are the important exception here. The old tape mill on the High Street has been converted into apartments, and the rights a householder enjoys do not extend to a flat or maisonette. A rooflight serving a flat needs a planning route of its own and may need the freeholder's consent as well, depending on the lease. If your home is a converted mill apartment, tell us at the start so that the order of approvals is clear before any money is committed.

A listed building usually needs consent before it is altered. Conservation areas add a further twist, since Article 4 can be used there to strip householders of those rights. Nothing we hold points to one in Upper Tean, and we will not suggest otherwise; for a specific street, the council's planning team has the answer.

Building Regulations run alongside, and the paperwork for them is ours to send, to the council or a registered building control approver, whenever the work calls for it.

Which route fits your home

Typical consent route by home type in the village.
Home	Planning	Building Control
House	Usually permitted	Where notifiable
Flat	Own application	Where notifiable
Listed home	Consent first	Where notifiable
Conservation area	Check Article 4	Where notifiable

Callout 4

What you see from the floor

People judge a rooflight by what it looks like from the floor. The shaft between roof and ceiling is boarded, insulated and plastered, and its reveals are splayed so that light spreads into the room instead of stopping at the edge of a square hole. White paint on the splay matters more than most people expect, since it carries light further.

In an older cottage with uneven walls and ceilings, we match the finish to what is there. In a mill conversion the ceiling may be a modern plasterboard build-up that is quick to open and close. Either way, the detail of the lining is written into the quote, so the finished room does not need a second visit from a decorator.

Think about the wall behind the basin as well. Tiles, a mirror cabinet and pipework all take up the space where a window might otherwise have gone, which is one more reason a roof opening can be the better answer. It lets the walls do their job while the roof does the lighting.

Maintenance is worth planning for. Glass you can touch is wiped from inside; glass you cannot is better served by an electric opening mechanism or a pole control. Glass with a self-cleaning coating helps on a slope that you cannot get at easily. We talk through these options at the survey, so that the unit you choose is one you will still be happy using in a few winters' time.

If the bathroom shares a wall with a bedroom, the light shaft can sometimes be shaped to share its daylight with the landing as well. That depends on the roof structure and is only decided once we have seen the loft.

Tape mills, cottages and a village of about 3,200

Upper Tean is part of Tean, a large village in the civil parish of Checkley, with about 3,200 people. The River Tean runs through, heading east towards Uttoxeter, and the village sits at the crossroads of the A522 between Cheadle and Uttoxeter and the road from Blythe Bridge to Rocester. The A50 is about ten minutes away in either direction.

The housing here carries its history. From the early nineteenth century, factories housing steam-powered Jacquard looms stood next to Tean Hall, and they were known as Tean Hall Mills. Before the mills, the tape-making business made tape in tape-weavers' cottages, using looms provided by the company. Manufacturing has ceased, but the mill buildings remain a notable feature of Upper Tean High Street, and the historic tape mill has been converted into apartments.

That gives three kinds of home to think about. The first is the cottage, with thick walls, small windows and often a bathroom or landing tucked under a sloping roof. A conservation rooflight or a slim roof window suits those, because both sit low in the slope. The second is the converted mill flat, where who owns the roof structure depends on the title and lease, and the planning and consent route is different. The third is the later house, which may be a semi-detached or detached home on a newer street, usually with a standard pitched roof and a loft that can take a roof window.

Across all three, the most common dark spot is an internal room, whether a bathroom, a landing or a corridor. Some older buildings may have deep floor plans and few windows on the side walls. Rooflights help most where the room is deep and the window wall is far from the spot.

If a loft conversion is on your mind, see roof windows for loft conversions, which deals with escape and headroom. In short, a roof window can be an escape route only on a floor 4.5 m or lower.

Access is the last practical point. Terraced cottages and flats may have no rear lane, so glass and materials come through the property or along a shared passage. The route gets walked on the survey visit, and the quote records the access arrangements so nothing is left to settle on the day.

From the Upper Tean survey list

I live in a converted mill apartment. Can I have a roof window?

Possibly, but not as a householder. Flats have no householder permitted development rights, so a roof window needs its own planning route, and the lease may require the freeholder's agreement. We can describe what the application needs and prepare the drawings and specification. Tell us at the start so we plan the order of steps properly.

Will a rooflight leave my small bathroom feeling cold?

A new roof window is held to the Part L window limit, and the lining and insulation around the shaft keep the reveal warm. Cold is usually caused by thin insulation around an opening, which is why we set out the build-up in the quote. Glass that opens also lets steam out, which keeps the plaster dry.

Is a sun tunnel as bright as a window?

On a clear day a sun tunnel lights a small room well, and it keeps working on an overcast one at a lower level. It gives light without a view. With a roof directly overhead, a roof window brings brighter light plus a view, and we weigh the two when we visit.

My cottage roof is uneven and old, so can a unit still go in?

Older roofs are common here. The rafters are inspected from inside the loft before any position is proposed, and an opening can be set out to suit the timbers actually there. Brittle slates or tiles beside the opening are swapped for matching ones in the same visit.

Do you cover Upper Tean from Derby?

Yes. Upper Tean is covered, well inside our reach of about 30 road miles from Derby. The survey costs nothing, and the written quote that comes after it stays as agreed.

Nearby

Book your free survey

Where do you want the light? Tell us in the form: the worktop, the stair, the desk.

No obligation. We survey before we price.
We cover Derby and 30 miles around.