A 12.4 mile drive from central Nottingham, heading west-north-west
Skylights & rooflights in Codnor
A former mining village on the Derbyshire edge of the Erewash valley, with almshouses at its centre and a castle in ruins nearby. Plenty of rooms in houses like these are short on daylight from November on.
A phrenologist's gift to the village centre
Joseph Millott Severn, a Victorian phrenologist born in Codnor, wrote a book about the village and paid for a set of almshouses in its centre. They still stand. A building that old keeps its roof questions for the survey, not for guesswork.
Codnor, from the colliery years to the loft
Codnor has a recorded population of 3,700 and sits in Amber Valley, Derbyshire. It is a former mining village, and that past still shapes what we look for when we climb into a loft here. Five short chapters follow: the ground, the road, the council, the water and the choices that make sense for a Codnor house. Our wider work is laid out under skylight installation in Nottingham.
01
Coal under the village and what it asks of a survey
Coalmining has a long history around Codnor. At one time it was responsible for subsidence damage to some buildings, and the village is still described as a former mining village. We state that plainly because it affects how we approach a roof here, not because it says anything about your own house.
A roof that has settled or been repaired over the decades can carry small movements: a ridge that is not quite level, rafters that have shifted, a chimney that leans a degree or two. None of that stops a rooflight. It does mean we measure the actual roof on site instead of trusting that two sides match, and we look at the opening and its trimming with care.
What we look at in the loft
The rafters, first. Their spacing decides how wide an opening can be without cutting a timber, and in an older or altered roof the gaps are seldom even. Then the wall plate and the ceiling below. If the room underneath has cracks, we ask when they appeared and whether they have moved. A rooflight is a lightweight addition, but it is a hole in a structure, and we would rather know the history before we cut.
Daylight in a lower room
In many houses, the rooms that suffer most are the back kitchen and the landing. Glass over the dark end of such a room takes light from straight overhead, the brightest part of a grey sky. That matters more here in winter than in summer, when the back door stands open anyway.
02
Getting to Codnor: the A610 and the A6007
12.4miles
along the road from the middle of Nottingham
24minutes
around, driving, without a queue on the A610
From the middle of Nottingham, Codnor is 12.4 miles away by road, towards the west-north-west, with the drive taking around 24 minutes. The A610 and the A6007 are the two classified roads close to the village centre.
The A610 runs straight through Codnor, carrying traffic on to Ripley and further places such as Matlock. The village has had traffic problems because of it. For us that means a survey is best booked outside the school run and the evening queue, which we will happily arrange with you. Parking a van near a main road frontage takes forethought, so we ask where it can stop.
No station in reach
Codnor once had a railway station, Crosshill and Codnor, run by the Midland Railway. Nowadays the nearest rail or tram stop is further than 2 km off, so we arrive by van with the ladders and the glass.
A visit without a bill
Booking a survey does not commit you to anything. It is how we learn what the room needs, and how you learn what it will cost, before a single tile is lifted.
The survey costs you nothing. We study the room, then the roof: its pitch, its covering, its framing and how it sheds water. You then receive a written quote, and the price on it is the price you pay. If we find something that changes the plan, we tell you before the price is set, not once work has started.
Codnor sits comfortably inside our 30 road miles. Neighbouring places such as Ripley, Heanor and Langley Mill appear on the areas we cover page, in case your address is nearer to one of them.
03
Amber Valley, three conservation areas and 13 listed buildings
Codnor falls to Amber Valley Borough Council for planning. Nottingham City Council has no jurisdiction here.
Protected areas near the centre
Three conservation areas are recorded around the village point. Waingroves Hall, 1.19 km out, holds three listed buildings, all Grade II. Codnor Park, which carries the village name, lies 1.37 km away and holds five, also Grade II. Golden Valley, at 1.54 km, holds five more, one Grade II* and four Grade II. Waingroves Hall and Golden Valley are named after neighbouring settlements, so they may not touch your street at all.
Historic England records 13 listed buildings around the centre, every one Grade II. Among the village's well-known features are the almshouses Severn funded and the ruins of the castle, a stone structure from the 13th century.
13listed
buildings recorded around the village centre, all Grade II
3areas
conservation areas recorded nearby, 1.19 to 1.54 km out
What this changes for a rooflight
For a house of ordinary age on an ordinary street, the national conditions apply and the rooflight planning guide sets them out. A listed home needs listed building consent before a new roof opening. Does a conservation area stop a rooflight on a house? Not by itself. Permitted development holds until an Article 4 direction takes it away, and we look that up before planning the glass.
Before anything is ordered, we confirm your own address with Amber Valley itself. If the work needs Building Control told, we notify building control (the district's team, or a registered approver) on your behalf.
04
The Erewash, the old canal and the park
Wet ground and open space around the village, and what they mean for a roof.
Codnor's castle ruins overlook the valley of the little River Erewash, which forms the county boundary between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The castle also looks over a now-defunct section of the Cromford Canal. Parkland is close: Codnor Park begins about 200 metres from the centre, and Waingroves Community Woodland with Strelley Wood lies 0.9 km away. Red River Local Nature Reserve is a little further, at 2.3 km.
Trees and valley air go together with moisture, and moisture is what decides how a rooflight is detailed. A pane that mists in January is a detailing problem, not bad luck, and it is far cheaper to solve at the design stage than after the unit is in.
Damp air and a cold pane
On a still, wet morning the glass is the coldest thing in the room, so kettle and shower steam condenses on it first. A warm-edge spacer in the glazing keeps the inner pane nearer the temperature of the room, and a sash that opens lets the steam escape. In a back kitchen or bathroom that beats wiping the pane down every morning.
Leaves and moss
Woods nearby drop their leaves onto the roofs below. On a flat roof the leaves pile against the upstand and stay wet. We raise the upstand so water sits below the glass line and the roof finish drains away from the frame. On a pitched slope, the flashing is chosen to suit the tile or slate, so debris is carried past.
05
What tends to suit a Codnor house
Whatever the age of your house in Codnor, the room decides the product before the house type does. What follows is where we usually begin, depending on the room. Each suggestion is a starting point for the survey, and the roof itself has the final word.
The same few questions come up in every job. How dark is the room in January? Which way does the slope fall? Is there loft space above, or is the ceiling the underside of the roof? The answers narrow a choice of products down to one or two sensible ones.
Landing, hall or bathroom with no window
A sun tunnel takes daylight in through a small roof dome and passes it down a mirrored tube to the ceiling below. It asks very little of the structure, which helps if the roof has a history of movement and you want it disturbed as little as possible.
An attic room or a back bedroom
A roof window sits in the pitched slope and opens for air. Positioned so you can see out from a chair, it makes a cramped room feel generous in the dark months. We can fit a blind at the same time.
- Wall plate
- The long timber bedded on top of a wall, which the rafter feet rest on.
- Trimming
- Short timbers that frame a new opening and hold up any rafter that has been cut.
- Diffuser
- The ceiling panel at the foot of a sun tunnel, which spreads the light into the room.
Replacing an old one
If an existing rooflight has misted inside or let water in at the edge, we look at the frame, the upstand and the flashing. Often a new unit can go into the opening already there. Whichever you choose, the work is done to the current Building Regulations and guaranteed in writing for ten years.
For a deeper room at the back of an extended house, the flat roof rooflights hub sets out the options, from fixed panes to ones that open.
What changes for whoever uses the room
A rooflight changes the daily routine of a house more than a wall window does. Light arrives from above, so a landing reads brighter at the top of the stairs, a bedroom wakes earlier in summer, and a bathroom no longer needs the lamp on at breakfast. We talk through those changes at the survey, and through the blind or shading that suits the room.
A Codnor homeowner's practical questions
Does Amber Valley or Nottingham decide on a rooflight in Codnor?
Amber Valley Borough Council, since Codnor is in Derbyshire. For many houses a rooflight needs no planning application, though a flat can change the answer, as can a listing or else an Article 4 direction. Your address goes to the council before anything is ordered.
My house is on old mining ground. Is it safe to cut into the roof?
A rooflight is a light addition, but we treat the structure with care. At the visit we measure the roof, inspect the rafters and look for movement in the walls and ceilings below. Should anything need attention first, we say so and quote only when the plan is clear.
Can I have daylight in a hallway with no outside wall?
Usually yes. A sun tunnel feeds daylight through the roof and down a mirrored tube, and a roof window or flat rooflight works where the landing sits directly under a slope. The loft tells us which suits your house, and we explain our reasoning before any price is written.
Do you come out to Codnor for a survey even though it is a village?
Yes. Codnor lies well inside the 30 road miles around Nottingham that we cover, and the visit costs nothing. We come to you and see the room and roof as they are, with the light falling the way it does on the day.