South-south-west out of the city, 26.7 road miles
Skylights & rooflights in Ibstock
A former mining village whose centre is a conservation area, and whose factories made the tiles and bricks that cover roofs well beyond it. Fitting a rooflight here starts with a check on your own address.
A village that makes what roofs are made of
Ibstock has plants that produce tiles and bricks, along with boots and shoes and light engineering. Roofing material is part of the local trade, and whatever covers your roof, a rooflight has to sit in it neatly.
Ibstock, from the centre outwards
Ibstock is a former coal mining village and civil parish in North West Leicestershire, with a recorded population of 6,806. Its centre is a conservation area, and the place has a long industrial story. These chapters cover what we weigh before we suggest a skylight or rooflight here, from the designation to the A447. A fuller account of our work is at skylight installation in Nottingham.
01
The village centre is itself a conservation area
Ibstock's centre is a conservation area in its own right: the area named Ibstock lies just 0.08 km from the middle of the village. It was designated on 30 June 1992 and holds nine listed buildings, one Grade II* and eight Grade II. At 1.5 km out, Historic England's list reaches 13 in all, one Grade II* and twelve Grade II.
What that means for a rooflight
Inside a conservation area, permitted development for a rooflight survives unless the council has removed it by Article 4 direction, so the road-facing slope is as open as the back unless that direction exists. We choose the slope that gives the room the most light, with a unit that sits low on the roof. A listed house needs consent first.
The council is North West Leicestershire District Council. We take the specific address to them before ordering anything, because the council holds the current Article 4 and listing position.
9listed
buildings inside the Ibstock conservation area
13listed
listed buildings across the wider centre
What Ibstock adds to the England-wide picture
Permitted development and Building Regulations are national, so the detail lives in planning permission for rooflights. What we add in Ibstock is local: the council, the listing and designation check, and any Building Control notification the work needs.
We make that notification ourselves and fit to the regulations in force.
02
From a count of 763 to coal, clay and boots
The 1801 census puts Ibstock at 763 people in 152 families, with two thirds engaged in agriculture and the rest in trade and manufacturing. The village has changed since. It is now described as a former coal mining village, with historical and current plants producing tiles, bricks, boots and shoes and light engineering.
A village built up around coal, clay and boots has been added to and rebuilt over a long time, and its roofs are likely to be a patchwork of ages. On the visit we read the roof in front of us instead of assuming its age.
Tiled roofs
On a tiled roof, the roof window flashing must follow the tile profile. Plain tiles, interlocking tiles and slates each take a different kit, and the wrong one lets water in at the corners. We measure the tile course and the batten gauge before ordering, and we note any chimney stacks that sit close to the proposed opening.
- Batten gauge
- The distance between roof battens, set by the tile in use and needed to fit a flashing correctly.
- Article 4 direction
- A council order that removes some permitted development rights in a defined area.
- Flashing
- A moulded collar that makes the joint between window and tiles weatherproof.
Moss and age
Moss on an older tiled slope tells us it stays damp. We look at the condition of the tiles near the opening, because a fresh rooflight set into tired tiles can leave a patchy repair. Should tiles need lifting and re-laying, the quote says so, and nothing is added on the day. Matching old tiles is the other question: weathered tiles around a new opening can look patchy, so where possible we reuse the ones we lift and re-lay them around the frame.
Working with a stack or a gable
On older roofs the chimney stacks and brick gables decide a lot. A roof window cannot sit tight against a stack, because there has to be room for the flashing and for water to run around it. We mark the position on the roof, hold the frame against it and check that the lead or the soakers have room to do their job. If the best place for light is too close to a stack, we move the window a rafter or two along and tell you what that does to the view.
03
The A447 and a closed station
Ibstock lies on the A447 between Coalville and Hinckley, the one classified road recorded near the village centre. From the city centre the road runs 26.7 miles, heading south-south-west, and the drive is about 38 minutes. The former Heather and Ibstock station is recorded 1.2 km away, though it is closed. We arrive by van.
One thorough visit
Few jobs sit further out, so the survey is a full visit. We build in time to talk, because the choice of slope, size and glazing bars deserves a proper conversation before anything is ordered. We begin in the room, noting where the light fades and the ceiling height, and what lies above. Then we climb to the roof, read the covering and structure, and measure for the opening. We photograph the roof from the road and the garden for our own notes, so the quote is drawn from what we saw, not from memory.
The survey costs nothing. Afterwards the price is written down and fixed, so the page figure is the one you pay.
26.7miles
road miles from the city's centre
38minutes
in the car without delays
Access before we arrive
If the front of your house is on a narrow road, or the way to the back goes through the house, tell us when you book. It lets us plan where the van can stop and how a ladder reaches the roof. Nearby villages and towns on the same footing are on areas we cover.
If you would rather someone else is at home on the day, say so at booking. A neighbour, a relative or a letting agent is fine as long as they can show us the room and the loft. We only need to reach the room and the loft, and we will fit the visit around whoever has the key.
04
Country park, lake and the weather over them
The village has a small amount of public green space close by. Leicester Road Play Park is about 0.5 km from the centre, Sence Valley Country Park about 1.4 km and Kelham Bridge Nature Reserve about 1.9 km. Horseshoe Lake lies within roughly 1.5 km.
Open ground and driven rain
Water and open ground bring weather to roofs on the edge of a village. A roof window set into a slope that takes the prevailing rain relies on its flashing, so we check the surrounding tiles as well as the unit. On a flat roof, the equivalent is a good fall and an upstand high enough to hold water back from the seal.
Light and the long grey months
The reason to call is simple: a room that stays dull between October and March. The positions that help most are those that see the sky for the longest part of a winter day, which usually means the widest, least-shaded slope. We look at the trees and the neighbouring rooflines from inside the room, not just from the garden, because that is the view that matters at four in the afternoon.
Cold glass and misting
Cloudiness inside the glass means the sealed unit has failed, and no amount of waiting fixes that. Depending on the frame and the upstand, a replacement is either a whole new rooflight or a new unit on the existing opening, and the survey tells us which. In a grey February the lining matters as much as the glass: pale paint on a splayed lining carries weak light further into the room. So choose the lining paint early, before the plasterer leaves.
05
The rooms in an Ibstock house that suit a rooflight
Houses here vary, so we start with the dark rooms and work outwards.
A loft bedroom or study
A roof window in a rear slope gives a view out and fresh air. Set at seated eye level, it makes a loft room pleasant to use through winter. The pine-framed window in our photo shows the view from inside, looking across neighbouring roofs.
From inside the loft we can see where the rafters fall and whether the underside of the tiles is dry or stained, which tells us a good deal before a ladder goes up. A back bedroom that looks over neighbouring roofs usually has the clearest slice of sky, and we measure where a seated eye line meets the slope.
A kitchen that runs back from the hall
If a single-storey extension has a flat roof, a roof lantern or a low flat rooflight brightens the dim end. A lantern pulls sky down from several faces at once.
Landings and windowless bathrooms
A sun tunnel needs just a small dome set into the roof, with a tube bringing daylight down to a diffuser.
Why we ask about the ceiling
The ceiling below a roof opening matters as much as the roof above. A new opening needs a lining, a short shaft from roof to ceiling that is finished and decorated, and its depth and angle decide how much light actually arrives. A splayed lining throws more daylight into the room than a square one, and we explain that choice at the survey so it is made on purpose.
Whichever we fit, the work carries our written ten year workmanship guarantee.
What to ask before a rooflight goes into an Ibstock roof
Is my house inside the Ibstock conservation area?
The national data puts a conservation area at the very centre of the village, designated in 1992. Whether your street falls inside it is a question for North West Leicestershire District Council. Give us your address and we put it to them before the survey, so you know where you stand before money comes up.
Can a rooflight go on the front of a house in a conservation area?
Usually, yes. The permitted development right for a rooflight stays with a house in a conservation area, on the front slope as well as the back, except where an Article 4 direction is in force or the house is listed, in which case consent is needed. We check both with North West Leicestershire before ordering.
How do you match a roof window to old tiles?
We measure the tile profile and the batten gauge, then order the flashing kit made for that covering. Where tiles are tired we say in the quote whether any need replacing, so the price on the page does not move on the day.
Is Ibstock too far for a survey?
No. Ibstock is 26.7 road miles out, which is within what we cover. The survey is free of charge, we come to your door, and the quote after it is written and fixed. One planned trip covers room, roof and options.