Out at the edge of our reach, west-south-west of the city centre: 28.8 miles
Skylights & rooflights in Horninglow
A suburb on the north-west side of Burton upon Trent, strung out along a canal and a busy road, with a mix of housing that has grown over time. Many of its back rooms and landings could do with a lot more daylight.
A canal that joins two rivers runs through the suburb
The Trent and Mersey Canal passes within a few hundred metres of the centre, with Horninglow Basin on its bank. Boats once carried goods along it, and its edges are protected as a conservation area. A rooflight faces the sky, so it brings in light whichever way the house looks.
Horninglow, beside the water
Horninglow, a Staffordshire suburb of Burton upon Trent, counts 15,701 residents on the latest figures. It lies at the outer limit of what we cover, in a different county from Nottingham, and its planning belongs to East Staffordshire. That distance changes how we prepare, not what we charge. The five chapters below take the canal and the council first, then the housing, the parish history, the road and the products. If you want the overview, the page on skylight installation in Nottingham is the place to begin.
01
The Trent and Mersey Canal conservation area
Horninglow falls under East Staffordshire Borough Council. It is a suburb, part of Burton upon Trent, so the council that matters is the borough's and not any Nottingham authority.
A conservation area named after the Trent and Mersey Canal lies 0.36 km from the centre. It was designated on 6 May 1988 and holds 16 listed buildings, one Grade II* and 15 Grade II. A second, King Edward Place, is 1.54 km away towards the neighbouring part of Burton, with four listed buildings. Historic England records 11 listed buildings round the centre, one of them Grade I and ten Grade II.
A Grade I building is rare, and it is a reminder that Horninglow has real heritage among its newer streets. It also explains why we check before we promise anything.
Where your house stands
The canal conservation area follows a waterway, so it can run through gardens and back yards as well as along the towpath side. If your home is near the water, we find out whether it lies inside the line. A conservation area does not ban a rooflight, and a house there can still use the permitted right unless East Staffordshire has taken it away under Article 4. We confirm the Article 4 position with the council for any house near the water.
For a listed building, consent comes first, whatever the product. Our job is to ask early and propose a sensible position, usually the quieter slope.
16listed
inside the canal conservation area
11listed
nearby, including one at Grade I
What East Staffordshire handles and what stays the same
Where the work is notifiable, the Building Control notification comes from us, and the rooflight is fitted to current Building Regulations.
The conditions that govern rooflights across England are set out in our planning permission for rooflights page.
02
A wide variety of housing
Horninglow has become a popular place to live, with a wide variety of housing, and one building shows how it has changed. A United Free Methodist mission chapel opened in Carlton Street in 1898 and now houses the local doctor's surgery. A building made for one purpose, adapted for another: that is the story of many roofs.
Eton Park, a neighbouring suburb 0.7 km from the centre, is covered too.
What variety does to a survey
When one suburb holds such a variety of houses, no single product works everywhere. Our first question is what the room is like, not which house type it is in. A kitchen at the back of a brick terrace needs light for its far end. A bathroom in the middle of a semi needs something that passes through the loft. A converted building needs a close look at what sits under the slates.
- Kerb
- The raised frame on a flat roof that a rooflight or lantern is fixed to.
- Headroom
- The clear height under a sloping ceiling, which decides whether a roof window is worth fitting.
- Pitched roof
- A roof that slopes to a ridge, as opposed to a flat roof.
Roofs we have to read
Pictures and plans only go so far, and a roof can hide surprises from the ground.
An extension roof might be flat or low-pitched, and the choice of rooflight turns on which. A flat roof takes a flat rooflight or a lantern on a kerb. A pitched slope takes a roof window, which needs enough headroom and rafter space to fit.
We measure the real figures on site. Plans, where they exist, are a guide; the roof itself is the authority.
03
Once a township, then a parish, then part of Burton
Horninglow has changed status several times. It began as a township in the parish of Burton upon Trent. From 1866 it was a civil parish in its own right. On 31 March 1904 that parish was abolished and merged with Burton. Over time development has expanded the area to the layout it has today.
For you, that means the address may say Burton while the name on the street sign says Horninglow. When we book a visit we use the postcode, not the place name, so there is never confusion about where to come.
Parks and open ground
Suburbs of this size usually keep their green space in pockets, and Horninglow is no exception.
Green spaces on the map include Horninglow Linear Park and Horninglow Common Park, each 0.6 km from the centre, Outwoods Park at 1.3 km and Bitham Lane Community Park at 1.4 km. Houses beside parks often get leaf fall, and the way a roof deals with leaves is the way it deals with weather in general.
Damp air by the water
With a canal and a basin close by, the air is often damp on still winter mornings. Condensation then forms on the coldest surface in a room, and that is usually glass. Glazing built on a warm-edge spacer holds its inner pane nearer room temperature, which cuts the misting. A model that opens lets steam out of a kitchen or a bathroom at once.
04
Reaching Horninglow: the A511, the A38 and the last miles
Reaching Horninglow means 28.8 road miles from the city centre heading west-south-west, around 39 minutes in a van. That is within our 30 miles, near the outer edge, and we treat it as a proper trip.
The roads are straightforward. The A511 links Horninglow to Burton town centre, which lies to the south-east, while the A38 and the A5121 both run close by, inside a kilometre of the middle. The nearest open station, Burton-on-Trent, is 1.9 km off, though our equipment travels by road.
Planning a long visit properly
Distance is the main cost of a site visit to us, and a second trip doubles it.
Because the drive is long, we aim to measure everything in one go, so the next contact is the written quote. Before we arrive we ask for photographs of the room and the roof, and we ask about parking. Knowing where the van can stand is half the preparation.
Surveying costs you nothing. We begin in the room, and go up to the roof second. In the room we ask where you stand at four on a December afternoon and how much sky the window gives you from there; that answer shapes the position more than any measurement of the roof. A written quote follows with a fixed price, and that price holds on the day of the work.
28.8miles
road distance from Nottingham
39minutes
usual van time from the city
Nearby places
Burton sits at the edge of the county, with plenty of towns and villages around it.
Our radius is set along the roads, 30 miles from Nottingham, with the areas we cover page listing the places around Burton.
05
Rooflights for a suburb of many kinds of house
These are the combinations we would expect to suggest, and why.
The rear extension
A single-storey extension on the back of a terrace or semi often has a flat roof. The centre of the floor is furthest from every wall and so the dimmest. A roof lantern collects daylight from several faces, so it keeps a room bright under cloud. A flat roof rooflight is slimmer, suits a modest span and can be ordered in an opening version.
The loft room
A loft already has its floor and walls in place, which makes it a natural room to bring into use. Where the loft is used for a bedroom, an office or a playroom, a roof window gives view, air and light together. Order a blind with it, since a south-facing slope can overheat in summer.
The windowless bathroom or landing
Rooms in the heart of a house are the hardest to light, since no outside wall is available. A sun tunnel is the quiet fix. Outside there is a low dome; inside there is a ceiling diffuser; between them runs a reflective tube. No wall needs touching.
Replacement
Not every job is a new hole in the roof.
A rooflight fitted a generation ago may have a perfectly good opening and a failed unit, and the avoidable mistake is to cut a new hole when the old one would do.
If an existing unit has misted, leaked at the edge or lost its seal, we can usually advise whether to replace it on the existing opening. Your written guarantee is for ten years on the work, and the Building Control notification, where needed, is ours to make. Whichever one suits, we measure the room from the inside first, because the place you want the light to land decides where the opening goes, and the rafters only decide how wide it can be.
On the edge of our patch: Horninglow questions
Is my house inside the canal conservation area?
The conservation area is recorded about 0.36 km from the centre, along the Trent and Mersey Canal, so houses near the water may be inside it. The boundary is held by East Staffordshire Borough Council. Give us your address and we ask them for you before a rooflight is ordered, so you know where you stand.
Do you really travel to Burton upon Trent from Nottingham?
Yes. Horninglow is 28.8 road miles from the city centre, which is inside our 30-mile limit. The visit is free and we come to your home. The quote you receive afterwards is a written, fixed price, and the distance does not add anything on the day of the work.
We want a rooflight over a kitchen extension at the back. What kind?
It depends on the roof. Over a flat extension roof, either a lantern or a flat rooflight may work, and we decide by span and by how much light the room lacks. We look at the room, the roof and the walls on the survey, and then give you a single fixed price for the option we recommend.
Can an old rooflight be replaced instead of removed?
Often, yes. If the opening and the upstand are sound, a new unit can be fitted into the existing opening, which saves disturbing the rest of the roof. If the surrounding structure has failed, we explain why at the survey. Either way the replacement comes with a ten-year written guarantee on the work.