Rooflights and skylights fitted in Clipstone

Clipstone was built on coal. The village was once based on mining, part of the Industrial Revolution, and the colliery passed to RJB Mining in 1993, later becoming part of UK Coal. In December 2020 it was announced that a Mansfield-based developer had bought the buildings, headstocks and surrounding land, with plans to save the headstocks and turn the site into a multi-purpose leisure facility. Clipstone Colliery Sidings station once served the mine.

The spoil of the pit became scenery. Vicar Water Country Park lies on the southern edge of the village, half a kilometre from the centre, and grew from the old tips and Vicar Water itself. Its hills and ponds now carry the Golden Hand sculpture, said to represent the village's mining heritage.

What an open edge does to a roof

A village that borders country park and woodland sees more of the sky than a tight town street does, and more wind. Roofs here face weather straight on. Flashings take the brunt of driven rain, so we prefer a kit with a generous overlap and we check each fixing on a ladder before the glass goes in.

Leaves, seed and the wet autumn

Hilcote Park, Bluebell Wood Lane Park and the River Maun all lie within 1.5 km, and trees mean debris. Under a flat rooflight, litter that collects at the frame keeps the surface damp for days at a time. A raised kerb and a finish laid to fall prevent it, and a quick sweep in late autumn keeps it that way.

These are the three we reach for when a room in a village like this stays dim through the grey months.

A stairwell or timber staircase under a slope

Where the stairs climb into a sloping roof, a roof window lights the climb and lets air through the house. The inside photo below shows timber stairs rising to a roof window in a sloping ceiling, which is the arrangement we mean.

A deck, terrace or flat roof you can walk over

The outside photo shows a walk-on rooflight set into timber decking. A walk-on rooflight can light the room below a terrace while the terrace stays usable, though it has to be specified for the load it will carry. We settle that on the survey rather than guessing.

A small flat roof over a kitchen or utility

A flat rooflight over the back of the room, kept clear of the glare from the window, is the plain answer to a long, dim kitchen. Pair it with a good kerb height so it keeps clear of standing water.

Glass for a dull winter

In a room that stays dark from October to March, clear glazing does the most for daylight. Tinted or coated glass cuts the light that does arrive, so we reserve it for rooms that overheat in summer. A blind can handle most of a summer problem without taking light from the winter months.

A fogged Clipstone rooflight: new unit or new opening?

If an old unit has failed or the glazing has fogged, we can fit a new one on the same opening where the structure allows. Where the room is unchanged, swapping the old unit for a new one in the same opening is the plain route; where the layout has moved on, say so and we size the new unit for it. A fogged unit in a sound frame is a small job, while one that has let water in may need new flashing, which we flag at the survey once we can see it. Everything we install or replace carries a written ten-year workmanship guarantee, and the work is done to current Building Regulations.