South-west and 7.1 road miles out, measured from the city centre
Skylights & rooflights in Long Eaton
Lace mills, canal water and long runs of Victorian brick. A town built by the shift whistle has plenty of dim back rooms and landings that want daylight from above.
A town that grew around its mills
Lace-making and wagon building filled Long Eaton with workers, and by 1900 the population had passed 10,000 after a long run of Victorian building. Much of the centre still dates from Victorian or early twentieth-century times.
Long Eaton, from mill chimney to ceiling
Long Eaton is a Derbyshire town of 37,815 people, set just north of the River Trent in the Erewash district. It has its own centre, its own mills and three conservation areas, and its roofs carry plenty of history. Five chapters follow: the buildings, the council, the water, the roads and the products that fit. Who we are and what we fit is covered under skylight installation in Nottingham.
01
Lace mills, wagon works and the streets they made
Until the middle of the nineteenth century Long Eaton stayed a village of steady size. Then the Midland Counties Railway arrived in 1839 and the Erewash Valley Line in 1844, and growth followed. Two industries came to employ many people: lace-making and the manufacture of railway wagons. By 1900 the population was above 10,000, after a long run of housing, offices and factories went up through the Victorian period.
The mills are part of the town's record. High Street Mill dates from 1857, and West End Mill, built in 1882 on Leopold Street, stands alongside the Erewash Canal. Harrington Mill is a four-storey red lace mill, put up by a consortium of manufacturers. Brick this tall and deep has an obvious problem: the middle of a big floor is a long way from any window.
Above the shops
The floors over the shops in High Street and the Market Place show that large parts of the centre are Victorian or early twentieth century. A room up there may have only a street-facing window. If a room sits directly beneath the roof, either a roof window or a compact flat rooflight can bring daylight from overhead. Flats and maisonettes are treated differently from houses for planning, which is one reason we confirm the position before anything is ordered.
Older brick, older roofs
In a street of Victorian terraces the back slope is usually the sensible place for a new opening. Spacing between timbers of that age can wander, so we measure at the survey and pick a size that sits neatly. A mill building converted to homes would be different again: heavier beams or steel, and sometimes a flat membrane roof that suits a rooflight on a raised kerb.
- Rafter
- One of the inclined beams that hold up the tiles. A roof window sits between two.
- Kerb
- A low timber or insulated frame built up on a flat roof, onto which the rooflight is bedded.
- Floor plate
- The footprint of a single storey, which in a large mill can reach far from the nearest window.
02
Erewash Borough Council and three conservation areas
Long Eaton lies across the county line in Derbyshire, so planning decisions sit with Erewash Borough Council rather than Nottingham City Council.
Three areas and the listed buildings in them
Three conservation areas lie within the town. Long Eaton Town Centre covers the centre point itself, was designated in September 1993 and holds seven listed buildings (two Grade II*, five Grade II). Long Eaton Lace Factories lies about 140 metres from the centre, designated in October 2005, with four Grade II listed buildings. Long Eaton (Derby Road) is about 0.77 km out, designated in July 2011, with three Grade II.
Beyond those boundaries, Historic England has 23 listed buildings inside a 1.5 km radius of the town point: two at Grade II* and 21 at Grade II. Any one of them may take in your own street. Should your home be listed, or fall inside one of the three areas, a new opening may need consent (listing) or may not (most houses in a conservation area), so we put the question to Erewash before an order is placed.
| Area | Distance from centre | Listed buildings |
|---|---|---|
| Town Centre | 0 km | 7 |
| Lace Factories | 0.14 km | 4 |
| Derby Road | 0.77 km | 3 |
Who keeps the paperwork straight
England-wide rules on permitted development, and on the Building Regulations for cutting a new opening, are written up once in our planning permission for rooflights guide, so this page need not retell them. On a Long Eaton job our contribution is the local part: the council, the slope, the building's status.
If the job needs notifying, the notification to Building Control comes from us, whether it goes to Erewash Borough Council's building control service or to an independent approver, and the new rooflight is fitted to the regulations in force at the time.
03
Canal, river and parks: what damp air does to a roof
Glass, seals and low cloud.
Water runs close to the middle of Long Eaton. The Erewash Canal and the River Erewash both lie close to the centre, and the Trent flows just to the south. Green space is near as well: Russell Street Recreation Ground, West Park, Laura Knight Park, St James Park and Grange Park are all around a kilometre away or less, and Fox Covert, Toton Fields, Manor Farm and Forbes Hole are local nature reserves a short way out.
Open ground and water mean damp air through the winter. For a rooflight that has three consequences.
Wet air meeting cold glass
In winter the window glass is the first thing steam finds to condense on, whether it comes from the kettle or the shower. Better glazing keeps the inside face from running cold, and a rooflight that opens lets the steam out before it can bead into drips. For a bathroom this matters more than how big the opening is.
Leaf fall
Garden and park trees drop leaves onto flat roofs, where they pile against the kerb and hold water. We raise the kerb so that any standing water stays beneath the glass, and we lay the roof finish to drain away from it. On tiles and slates, the flashing is chosen for the covering so leaves are carried past.
Even, flat light
With low cloud, daylight arrives from every direction at once. A broad rooflight over the dimmest stretch of a room collects more of that even light than a small window at the edge. The same applies to a sun tunnel on a landing: it does not need direct sun to earn its place.
04
Getting to you: the A6005, B6540 and the railway line
From the city centre, Long Eaton is about 7.1 miles by road to the south-west, a typical drive of about 17 minutes. The main road through the town forms part of the A6005, and the B6540 also runs within roughly a kilometre of the centre point. Long Eaton railway station, which is open, stands about 1.9 km away.
The railway helped make this town, but for our work the van and the parking matter more.
What the survey covers
The survey costs you nothing. We begin in the room itself: your usual seat, the patch of daylight, the corner it never reaches. Then we go up to the roof: its covering, its structure, its pitch and the route rain takes off it. A price goes into writing once that is done. The figure is fixed, so what was agreed is what you pay on the day.
On terraced and shop-front streets, parking by the house takes thought. At booking we ask where the van can park and whether a side passage leads to the back, so ladders stay out of your hall.
7.1miles
of road into the centre of Nottingham
17minutes
typical drive from the city centre
1.9km
to Long Eaton railway station
Toton and the places around
Toton, a suburb about 1.5 km from the town point, falls inside our patch. The rest of it, every place up to 30 road miles out, is set out on the areas we cover page.
05
What tends to suit a Long Eaton house
In a town of Victorian brick, old mills and rooms over shops, three products come up more than the rest.
Roof windows for lofts and back bedrooms
A Victorian terrace often has a usable loft and a steep rear slope. A roof window there opens the room to the sky and to fresh air. Placed so you can see out when sitting, it alters how a top bedroom feels in November. If an old unit has worn out, fitting a new one into the existing opening can be the neater answer; we say at the survey whether it can.
Lanterns over deeper plans
Where a rear extension or converted outbuilding stretches far from the garden doors, a roof lantern draws light in through several glazed faces. That is how it keeps a room bright under cloud, and it reaches the part the side windows cannot.
Sun tunnels for landings and bathrooms
Inside a terrace, the landing and a middle bathroom frequently have no external wall. A sun tunnel is a small dome on the tiles joined by a mirror-lined tube to a diffuser panel in the ceiling. Outside, the change is slight. Indoors, on a dull afternoon, it is large.
Our written guarantee on the workmanship runs for ten years, new opening or replacement.
Which of the three, then? Start with the room, not the roof. A top bedroom that goes dim by three o'clock wants a roof window. A rear room that sits too deep wants a lantern. A landing with no outside wall wants a tunnel. Only after that do we ask what the tiles, the rafters and the budget allow, and the survey answers all three.
Glass for a damp, grey room
Choose the glazing as carefully as the shape. A bathroom pane gets steamed up first, so we lean towards a unit that opens and a glass that keeps its inner face warm. A landing tunnel has no sash, so its dome is chosen for clarity and its tube for how brightly it carries light on a murky day. Where two products would both work, we put the difference in plain words at the survey and let you decide.
Asked by homeowners around Long Eaton
Is my Long Eaton house in a conservation area?
Three conservation areas are recorded in the town: Town Centre, Lace Factories and Derby Road. We check your address with Erewash Borough Council, including any Article 4 direction, before ordering. Listed status brings a consent requirement for any new roof opening; a conservation area on its own leaves the permitted development right where it was.
Can a flat above a shop in the centre get a rooflight?
Often yes, if the flat sits directly under the roof, but flats and maisonettes follow different planning rules from houses. We need to see the roof and check with the council and the building's owner. A free survey tells us what is possible, and the quote that follows is fixed.
My bathroom has no window. What would work?
If the bathroom is under the roof, a roof window that opens, or a compact fixed rooflight, will light it, and the opening version clears steam. Where the loft is above, a light tube from the roof can run down through it to a ceiling diffuser. At the survey we weigh the options and recommend the one your roof suits.
Do you cover Toton and the villages around Long Eaton?
Yes. Toton and the other places near Long Eaton are within our 30 miles by road. The survey is free wherever you are, and we come to your home, as we have no showroom or public premises.