4.3 road miles south-south-west of Nottingham city centre
Skylights & rooflights in Clifton
A big post-war estate, an old village by the Trent and seven tram stops within 2 km. Clifton's rooms lose their light in the same grey months, whatever the street.
A hamlet of farms became an estate
Glapton was once a scatter of houses and farms along what is now Glapton Lane. The estate went up around it, and a few older houses still stand there. Two eras on one lane means two kinds of roof, and each wants a separate survey before any opening is cut.
Clifton, estate and village, from the roof down
Clifton is a suburb on the southern edge of the city, in the Nottingham district and the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire, with a recorded population of 22,936. It holds an old manor, a village beside the river and a very large council estate. Each part has a different kind of roof and a different set of questions. Read on for what shapes a rooflight job in this suburb. For the bigger picture first, see skylight installation in Nottingham.
01
Planned in 1950, redeveloped since
Until 1952, Clifton sat in a civil parish called Clifton with Glapton. Then it was taken into the city, and the estate that most people now mean by the name began to fill the fields. It was first considered for housing in 1950 by Act of Parliament, and at one time it was the largest council estate in Europe. That is a great many houses, put up as a plan rather than street by street.
Planned estates tend to repeat a small number of house designs, so neighbours often share the same roof structure and the same covering. We never rely on that. Each survey starts with the loft or ceiling, the rafters and the slope, because a repair or an extension from the last seventy years can change what is underneath.
What an estate house usually wants from a roof
The rooms that stay dark in winter are usually the ones furthest from a window: a landing between two bedrooms, a bathroom on an inside wall, a hallway running the length of the house. A roof window above a stairwell, or a sun tunnel through the loft, can reach those rooms without touching the layout below.
Where a kitchen has been extended at the back, the new room often ends up deeper than the old window can serve. A flat rooflight over the far end brings light to the part that the garden door never reaches.
Regeneration and newer homes
Parts of Clifton have since seen redevelopment and regeneration. The Lark Hill walled community for older residents is one example. Newer homes are built to later standards, so their roofs are usually engineered trusses rather than cut timbers. A truss cannot simply be opened up, which is why we confirm how the roof is built before any size is named.
02
Clifton Village and the old manor
Where the buildings are older than the suburb around them.
Clifton is far older than its estate. The manor was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, with a church and a mill. The name now covers more than one place: Clifton Grove and Clifton Village are described as a residential area set alongside the River Trent, and the village, down by the river, is a very different setting from the estate streets around it.
Older buildings give a rooflight job more to think about. Where an older building has solid walls, old slate or hand-cut timbers, a rooflight job needs more care. A rafter that has carried a roof for generations may have moved a little, so we take our measurements at the rafters themselves rather than trusting a plan.
Choosing a unit that suits an older roof
On a historic building, the best rooflight sits close to the slope with slim framing, so it reads as a small part of the roof rather than a feature of it. A flat profile with a single central bar is the usual answer.
- Rafter
- A sloping timber beneath the tiles or slates. How far apart they are decides where a roof window fits.
- Truss
- A factory-made triangular timber frame found in newer roofs. It needs support before it can be cut.
- Trimming
- The framing built around a new opening so the cut rafters stay carried.
Light in a cottage room
Small windows in thick walls mean dim rooms, and in a cottage the upper floor often sits in the roof. A roof window above a bed or a desk is the simplest way to brighten it, and one that opens lets steam and stale air out. Setting it so you can see out while sitting down matters more than its size.
We would always rather propose a smaller opening in the right place than a large one in the wrong place. In a grey winter, position counts for more than area.
03
Tram stops, the A453 and the van
The road distance to Clifton is 4.3 miles from the middle of Nottingham, on a bearing of south-south-west, and the drive takes around nine minutes in ordinary traffic. The village stands on the A453, the main connection between Nottingham and the M1 to the south, and it is the single classified road inside a kilometre of the village centre.
The tram runs through too. Clifton Centre stop is 0.3 km away, with Rivergreen, Holy Trinity, Southchurch Drive North, Summerwood Lane, Clifton South and Ruddington Lane all within 2 km. We arrive by road, but a stop close by is handy if you would like to meet us at the house after work and not at midday.
The visit itself
The survey costs nothing. We start in the room: where the light is, where it stops, and where you sit. Next comes the roof: the slope, the covering, the timbers and the path rainwater takes off it. A price is written down only after that, and the written figure is the one you pay, with no adjustment on the day.
On the estate, with homes close together, we ask beforehand where the van can stand and how we get through to the back garden. In the village, lanes can be narrower, and we plan the day around that.
4.3miles
road miles to the middle of Nottingham
9minutes
at the wheel, traffic permitting
7tram stops
recorded within 2 km
Beyond Clifton
The neighbourhoods nearby, including Silverdale, Upper Brecks and Fairham Centre, all fall inside our area, along with every other place out to 30 road miles. For the full run of towns, see where we work.
04
The Trent, the parks and the weather on the roof
The River Trent is the named water closest to Clifton, and Clifton Grove and the village sit beside it. Low ground by a big river can hold damp air in the colder months. The parks are close as well. The Kieron Hill Clifton War Memorial Garden stands 0.4 km away, Clifton Central 'Flower' Park 0.5 km, with Sunninghill, Colesbourne, Angell Green and Barton Green parks all within a kilometre. Several nature reserves lie nearby, including Glapton Wood, Clifton Wood, Grove and Holme Pit, and Fairham Brook. Wilford Hill rises 3 km away.
Trees and the upstand
Mature trees drop leaves, needles and seed onto a roof. On a pitched roof the debris collects at the edge of a roof window and at the foot of its flashing, where moss can begin. On a flat roof it builds up against the upstand, the raised frame the rooflight sits on. We raise the upstand enough that a shallow pool cannot touch the glass edge, and leave room around the unit so it can be cleared by hand.
Condensation, and where it comes from
In most rooms the glass is the coldest thing, so on a damp morning the moisture from cooking and showers lands there first. A good glazing unit with warm-edge spacers holds the inner pane nearer room temperature, and a sash that opens, or a trickle vent, lets steam out before it becomes drips.
Winter here is grey far more often than bright, so we choose glass by how it performs in poor light and cold, not by how it looks in a showroom photograph taken in June.
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Rooflights that tend to suit Clifton houses
With estate homes, cottages and extended kitchens all in one suburb, three kinds of product come up more than any other. Which is right depends on the dark room, not on the street.
A stairwell or a bathroom with no window
Where an estate home has a landing or an inside bathroom with no outer wall, the roof is the way in. A sun tunnel captures light in a small roof dome and sends it along a mirrored tube to a panel in the ceiling. It needs little loft space and leaves the room below untouched.
A bedroom in the roof
A roof window suits a room built into the slope. It offers a look at the sky and can open for air. In a bedroom, positioning it so the bed does not sit directly under it softens early summer mornings, and a blind fitted with it handles the rest.
A deep kitchen or back extension
Where a room has grown backwards from the house, a roof lantern over the dim end draws light from several sides together. That mix of angles is why it reads bright under heavy cloud.
Planning and the guarantee
The permitted development conditions and Building Regulations do not change from one English suburb to the next, so they sit on a single page rather than being repeated here: planning permission for rooflights. Locally, the council is Nottingham City Council, and Clifton Village is a recorded conservation area, and we check your address against it before anything is ordered. Where the work is controlled, we take on the Building Control side.
Our workmanship is guaranteed for ten years, in writing, on new installations and on replacements alike. A rooflight that has misted inside can often be swapped on its existing opening, which causes less disruption than a fresh cut. The survey tells us which route fits your roof.
What Clifton homeowners ask before a survey
Which council decides on a rooflight in Clifton?
Clifton belongs to the Nottingham district, which makes Nottingham City Council the authority for planning. Many rooflights on a house need no application at all, though a listed building, a flat or a house under an Article 4 direction may. We confirm the status of your address with the council first. Where Building Control must be told, we send that notification.
Is Clifton Village a conservation area, and does it matter?
Yes. A Clifton Village conservation area lies about 0.34 km from the centre, with 22 listed buildings inside it. Whether your own house falls inside depends on the street. If it does, a house rooflight is still permitted development unless a listing, a flat or an Article 4 direction changes that, so we check first and suggest a slim, flat unit where that helps.
Our landing has no window. What could light it?
With a loft above, a sun tunnel is often the simplest route: a dome on the roof, a tube across the loft and a light panel in the ceiling below. If the landing sits right under a slope, a small roof window may serve better. We weigh both at the survey, then give you one written price for the option we recommend.
Do you work on the estate as well as the village?
Yes. Estate, village, Clifton Grove and the neighbourhoods around them are all covered, and so is the whole area out to 30 road miles from Nottingham. The survey is free, and we visit you at home. There is no showroom to travel to.