Rooflights south of the Wansbeck at Stakeford
Stakeford is a large village in south-east Northumberland, 15.7 road miles north of Newcastle, on the south side of the River Wansbeck from Ashington. If a room in your house needs daylight from above, here is how the job runs.
Across the river from Ashington, short of daylight
Stakeford has a miners' institute, though the pit itself was in neighbouring Bomarsund, and a bridge built in 1994 carries traffic over the Wansbeck. What the village shares with every other is the problem of the inside room. A hall, a shower room or an attic space sits without a window, and a skylight can bring daylight to it from overhead.
The rooflights on offer in Stakeford
These are the products we fit, with each pick made for your roof after a visit to see it. Roof lanterns, Flat roof rooflights, Roof windows, VELUX windows, Electric rooflights, Energy efficient rooflights, Misted rooflight replacement, Walk-on rooflights, Conservation rooflights, Sun tunnels.
Stakeford, start to finish
A Stakeford skylight job in four parts
First the village and its homes, then the survey that precedes any price, then the choice of product and how fitting day goes, and finally the planning position, kept to the end because it depends on the answers before it.
What does a Stakeford home need from a skylight?
Short answer
Daylight where the walls cannot supply it. Stakeford is a large village in south-east Northumberland, and wherever a house has a stair landing, a shower room or an attic bedroom with no outside wall, the roof is where to look for the missing light.
Stakeford is a large village in south-east Northumberland, lying south of the River Wansbeck, with Ashington as its nearest town. It has a miners' institute although the colliery itself was next door in Bomarsund, and the old river crossing gave way to the current Stakeford Bridge in 1994. Whatever your address, the useful questions are the ones we ask once we are inside the house, and they are set out below.
The room that has no window
A house can have a room whose walls are all shared with something else. A hall may be like that, with the stairs on one side and the neighbouring house on the other. A bathroom at the core of the floor plan has the same trouble. A loft room with a single small window is another version of it. In each case a gap in the roof can do what a gap in the wall cannot.
Light that travels
A rooflight does more than brighten the space directly under it. Over a stairwell, it sends daylight down the flight and into the hall. In a loft, it lifts the whole ceiling line and makes the room feel taller. Behind the house, a unit set in the roof of an extension throws light over the worktops and the table. The question for each home is which of those effects it needs.
What decides the answer
The house itself decides. A terrace has a shared roof line and a party wall to think about. A semi owns its whole roof, and the side slope brings rules of its own. A flat has someone living above or below. We never assume which you have. We ask, and then we come and look.
Your own notes
Before we meet, spend ten minutes in the room you have in mind. Note where the light falls at different times of day, where you would like it to land and whether the ceiling is plaster over a loft, a sloping ceiling or a flat one under another room. Those few observations save time on the day of the survey and help us to draw up a plan that matches how you actually live in the house.
What will the survey tell me before I commit to anything?
Short answer
It shows what your roof can take and what the work will involve. No charge is made for the visit, and no number is mentioned until it has happened. Afterwards you receive a fixed written quote, so you can compare it with others without a surprise later.
Anyone who names a figure unseen is estimating blind, and we do not do that. Roofs on the same road can be built quite differently inside. The survey is where a wish for more light becomes a specific plan, and it costs you nothing.
What we look at
We start outside and read the roof: its covering, its pitch, its edges and the safest way up. Then we move indoors to the room you want lit and up through the hatch where a loft exists. We are checking the size of the rafters, the insulation, any pipes or cables in the way and the position that gives the best light.
What you receive
The fixed quote that follows is in writing. Expect the unit named, with its size, its glass, its fittings and the indoor finish, and it stays as written unless the work itself changes. If you decide to go ahead, nothing in the figure shifts on the day because a rafter was not the size we assumed.
What moves a price
Certain things push a figure up and others bring it down. The box lists them without numbers, because the numbers belong to your own roof and come out of the survey. For a wider discussion, read the costs page.
Comparing quotes
If you collect more than one quote, set them side by side and check that each names the same size, the same glass and the same finish indoors. Two figures that look far apart may describe two different jobs. A written quote makes that comparison easy, and we are happy for it to be put next to another.
Factors that change a village quote
Keeps it lower
- A small unit in a roof with plenty of space around it
- An easy way up to the roof and a clear loft below
- Fitting into an opening cut earlier
- A standard size that needs no special glazing
Pushes it higher
- A large lantern or a unit that needs extra structural support
- A roof with an awkward edge or a hard approach
- Electric opening, rain sensing or specialist glazing
- Moving timbers or pipes to make room for the opening
These are the factors only. Your survey turns them into a single written figure.
Which skylight suits my room, and how do you get onto the roof?
Short answer
The room and the roof together decide. A pitched slope takes a roof window, a flat-topped extension suits a lantern or a flat-roof unit, and a windowless inner room can take a sun tunnel. How we reach the roof is settled at the survey, well before fitting day.
Choose the room first, then the roof above it, then the product. Reverse that order and the catalogue starts to drive the job, which is how a rooflight ends up in the wrong place. A rooflight is a hole in a roof, and the roof deserves a say before the hole is cut. Pick a rooflight from a catalogue and you may find it does not fit; pick the room and the roof and the right product is far easier to name.
Pitched roofs
If a pitched slope covers the room, choose a roof window. It sits in the slope, opens or tilts, and lets you see the sky. Our roof windows page goes through sizes and opening types.
Flat roofs
A flat-topped extension behind the house is a case for a lantern or for a flat-roof unit. Both stand on an upstand, whose minimum height the maker sets, commonly around 150mm above the finished roof. A lantern brings in height and a sense of space. Our comparison of flat roof glazing sets the types side by side.
Inner rooms
A sun tunnel suits a hall or a bathroom with roof space overhead. A small dome outside, a mirrored pipe that runs across the loft and a frosted panel flush with the ceiling bring daylight in through a modest opening.
Getting to the roof
Access is part of the plan. The survey notes how the roof can be reached, whether from the ground, from a ladder or by working from inside, and whether the covering will carry a person working on it. Fitting day follows from that. The roof is opened, the structure is supported, the unit is bedded in and weathersealed, and indoors the opening is finished to a neat edge against the ceiling. Where Building Control needs notifying, we make the notification.
For fitting day, have these ready
- Open access to the room, and to the loft hatch where there is one
- Furniture moved away from the spot beneath the opening
- Anything kept in the loft below the new unit moved aside
- The name of whoever co-owns the roof, if yours is a flat
Do I need permission, and who in Northumberland decides?
Short answer
On a house, a rooflight generally falls within permitted development, with limits set out in our planning guide. A flat needs planning permission, and a listed house needs listed building consent. For Stakeford, Northumberland County Council decides.
Planning comes last because the answers mean more once you have settled where the glass goes and what kind it is. The questions are brief, and what applies to you turns on the building: house, flat or listed.
Owner of the whole house
Rooflights on houses generally fall under permitted development within national limits, so there may be no application to make. The detail, including the cases where the allowance is withdrawn, appears in our guide to rooflight planning. Read it before you order, and ask the council about anything that looks unclear. A short email to the planning team costs nothing and can settle a doubt before any work begins.
Owner of a flat
A flat has no householder permitted development, and that covers either half of a Tyneside flat. A new rooflight needs planning permission, granted by Northumberland County Council. Your lease or title will spell out who has rights over the roof and the void under it, and whether the co-owner has to consent, so read it and talk to them first.
House with a listing
Almost any rooflight on a listed house needs listed building consent, and the consent decides what can be fitted. Apply to Northumberland County Council for it, and wait for the decision before ordering. The consent covers the design as well as the principle, so what is approved is what gets fitted.
Whatever you own
A new opening in a roof is building work, so it is notified to Building Control, either the local authority or a registered building control approver. We handle that where it applies. The job then closes with a written 10-year workmanship guarantee. If you are looking at neighbouring places, Bedlington works the same way.
A few Stakeford loose ends
Does Stakeford being a village alter the rules?
No. Stakeford is a large village, and the rules are national. It does mean the authority is Northumberland County Council, which decides planning permission for flats and listed building consent for listed houses.
Can the same rooflight go in a terrace and in a semi?
Sometimes, but the roofs differ. A terrace has a shared roof line and a party wall to respect, and a semi has a side slope with its own rules. The survey tells us which applies, and the written quote names the unit that suits your roof.
What if my extension roof is old and I want to light the kitchen below?
A lantern or a flat-roof unit can go in, provided the deck is sound and has enough fall. The survey looks at the build-up, the edges and the route rainwater takes off it. The quote then states what goes in, including the upstand.
Must I stay at home while the work is done?
We need somebody to open the door and agree where the unit will sit. The room underneath should be clear before we start, and the written quote spells out what the job involves. Beyond that, plan your day as you wish.
How can I ask for a visit in Stakeford?
WhatsApp 07880 284133 or email info@quaysideskylightsnewcastle.co.uk with your address and a photo of the roof. Say which room is short of light. Our visit costs nothing, and a price follows only once we have been.