Nuthall, 5 road miles out to the north-west
Rooflights and skylights in Nuthall
Stone cottages around the church on Nottingham Road, newer estates on the far side of the island, and a conservation area covering the middle of the village. A rooflight here starts with knowing which kind of street you live on.
A lost mansion left a summerhouse behind
Nuthall Temple has gone, and only some structures from its former estate survive. A Gothic summerhouse on Kimberley Road still stands with a Grade II* listing, a reminder that old stone and modern roofs sit close together here.
Nuthall, one roof at a time
Nuthall is a Nottinghamshire village and parish of 9,581 people, shoulder to shoulder with Kimberley, Watnall, Cinderhill and Basford. The M1 and a busy island carve it into very different pieces. What follows is the checklist we run through on each kind of roof before suggesting an opening, from the stone of the old core to the brick of the newer streets. The firm and its full service are introduced at skylight installation in Nottingham.
01
Stone cottages around the old village centre
The historic centre of Nuthall gathers along Nottingham Road. Along it stand St Patrick's Church, the Old Rectory, stone-built cottages and Home Farm, plus a few structures left over from the former Nuthall Temple estate. It is a small cluster, but it sets the tone for the oldest roofs in the village.
A stone cottage roof is not a standard roof. Walls are thick, slopes are often short, and the loft was framed long before anyone planned for daylight up there. Hand-cut rafters can wander, so the first job at a survey is to measure the real gaps between them. An opening planned to fit between two timbers leaves the old frame alone and keeps the carpentry around it modest.
Small rooms, one good opening
Cottage upper floors tend to have low ceilings and small windows set deep in thick walls. The bedroom nearest the road can feel gloomy from October onwards, with only a thin strip of sky reaching in. One roof window in the rear slope often does more for such a room than a bigger wall window could, since overhead light stays bright when the cloud is thick.
We look at where you stand, where the bed or desk sits, and where the sloping ceiling meets the wall. Putting the glass a touch above seated eye level gives you sky to look at without making the room feel exposed.
Matching what is already there
On stone-slate and clay-tile roofs, the covering around a rooflight matters as much as the glass. The flashing kit has to follow the profile of the tile, or water finds the gap in the first long wet spell. We pick the kit to suit whatever covering we find when we climb up, and we write that choice into the quote.
02
Broxtowe decides, and the village centre is a designated conservation area
12listed
buildings inside the Nuthall conservation area
18listed
buildings counted within 1,500 m of the centre
Nuthall feels close to the city, but your planning authority is Broxtowe Borough Council. Questions about consent for your house, and about Building Control, go to Broxtowe rather than to Nottingham City Council.
Nuthall's listings and the Larkfields question
A conservation area called Nuthall covers the village centre point, designated on 1 January 1977. Historic England logs 12 listed buildings inside it: two Grade II* and ten Grade II. Count everything within 1,500 m of the centre and the tally becomes 18, with two at Grade II* and sixteen at Grade II. Separately, the Gothic summerhouse at The Yews on Kimberley Road, a survivor from the old estate, is listed at Grade II*.
The village core and the conservation area lie in the part called Larkfields, west of Nuthall Island and split by the M1. If you cannot tell which side of the motorway your house falls on, we can open the council's map with you.
- Conservation area
- An area a council has marked out for its character. Some outside works need permission there, but a flush rooflight on a house normally does not.
- Grade II*
- A listing grade for particularly important buildings, one step above Grade II.
- Listed building consent
- For a listed house, the separate permission to cut a new hole in the roof.
What that means for a rooflight
A conservation area does not rule a rooflight out: a house keeps its permitted development right there unless Broxtowe has withdrawn it for the road under Article 4. A listed house is different again: the new hole in the roof needs its own consent. So we ask Broxtowe about your address before any glass is ordered.
Planning exemptions and the building rules behind a new roof opening sit in the rooflight planning guide. They live on one page so they stay correct. Building Control has to be told about some jobs, and when yours is one of them we make that report, via the council or a private registered approver, and the completed installation is built to the rules in force.
03
Newer housing around Mornington and the estates beyond
Not all of Nuthall is old. Mornington is a more modern development, entered from Woodhouse Way by way of Mornington Crescent. Close by lie Hempshill Vale, Assarts Farm Estate and Swingate, each within a mile of the village centre.
Newer houses are usually built differently from stone cottages. Many carry trussed roofs, where factory-made triangles hold the weight and the loft is crossed by timbers that must stay. That does not stop a rooflight, but it changes the method. We study the structure before pricing a roof window or flat rooflight, and say plainly if the opening needs extra support.
Landings and middle bathrooms
In a modern semi the dark spots are seldom the bedrooms. They are the landing, the stairwell, and the family bathroom stuck in the middle of the house. Stairs often climb towards a wall with no window.
A sun tunnel suits a landing well. A small dome on the roof feeds a reflective tube that ends in a ceiling diffuser. It asks less of the roof structure than a roof window, and on a flat grey afternoon it brings a clear lift to the middle of the house. Where the stairwell sits right under a slope, a roof window does the same work with more light and a view of the sky.
Extensions and conversions
Where a newer house has a rear extension or a garage conversion, the same question of daylight comes up. A flat roof over a deep room leaves the centre of the floor dim in winter, because patio doors only reach so far. A flat rooflight over that middle band sends light down from above instead of across from the side.
04
Reaching you: the island, the M1 and four classified roads
By road, Nuthall is 5 miles from the city centre, out to the north-west, and the drive takes around 13 minutes in a van with decent traffic. Four classified roads pass inside a kilometre of the middle: the A6002, the A610, the B600 and the M1. They chop the village up, which is why people talk of Nuthall Island, Old Nuthall and New Nuthall almost as three places.
No railway station is working nearby. Watnall, Kimberley East and Kimberley West stations have all closed, and the closest tram stop is Phoenix Park, 1.9 km off. For a survey visit, the road is how we arrive.
On the day of the survey
There is no charge for the visit. We begin inside, in the room you want brighter, noting where light fades and which wall stays darkest. From there we climb to the roof and study it: covering, structure beneath, and the route water takes off it. A price goes on paper only after that, and it is a fixed one, so the number you sign is the number that stands when the job is done.
When we book, the van's spot and the way through to the garden are settled in advance.
5road miles
in to the heart of Nottingham
13minutes
van time in, normal traffic
Beyond the village
Our area stretches past Nuthall to Kimberley, Basford and onwards, thirty miles of driving from the city in every direction. Every town and village on the list is at areas we cover.
| Place | Distance | Covered |
|---|---|---|
| Hempshill Vale | 1.1 km | Yes |
| Assarts Farm Estate | 1.3 km | Yes |
| Swingate | 1.4 km | Yes |
05
Playing fields, nature reserves and what lands on the roof
Trees nearby mean leaves and damp in the same gutter.
For a village on the edge of a city, Nuthall has plenty of green around it. Basil Russell Playing Fields lie just 0.2 km from the centre, with Redbridge Drive Open Space and Ashton Park a little further. Within about three kilometres the map names Seller's Wood, Snape Wood, Chilwell Dam Plantation, Kimberley Meadow, Watnall Spinney and Quarry Holes.
That much woodland changes what falls on a roof. Leaves, seeds and twigs pile against a rooflight edge, and if they sit there through a wet winter they keep the seal damp. Moss follows. A roof that stays damp right through a winter asks more of a flashing than one that dries between showers.
What we do about it
On a pitched roof, we match the flashing to the covering so debris washes past the frame instead of lodging in a corner. On a flat roof, the upstand, the raised edge the rooflight sits on, is built tall enough to keep puddles beneath the glass, and the finish falls away from it.
Condensation on cold glass
Trees shade a house, and a shaded house runs colder. Glass is the chilliest surface in a room, so kettle and shower steam lands there first on a damp morning. A glazing unit with insulated edges keeps the inside pane warmer, and an opening sash or a frame vent lets the steam leave before it turns into drips.
Which products suit a place like this
Up in a loft room, a roof window supplies daylight and air. For a deep kitchen extension, a roof lantern draws light in from several faces. For a landing with no window, a sun tunnel is the plainest answer.
What Nuthall homeowners ask before a survey
My house is near the old church. Do I need to ask the council first?
Not because of the conservation area alone. The Nuthall conservation area covers the village centre and holds 12 listed buildings. Generally no: permitted development holds unless Broxtowe has made an Article 4 direction or the house is listed. We put your address to Broxtowe first and pass on their answer before you decide anything.
Can a rooflight go into a modern roof built with trusses?
Often, yes, but trusses cannot simply be sawn through. The opening may need extra timbers to carry the load around it. We inspect the structure from inside the loft at the survey, and the fixed quote covers whatever trimming the roof needs, so nothing new turns up on the day.
Our landing is dark all winter. What is the simplest fix?
A sun tunnel, provided the landing sits under a pitched roof with some loft space above it. It needs a small opening on the roof and a diffuser in the ceiling. If the landing lies right under the slope, a roof window brings more light. We talk through both at the survey.
Do you work in Hempshill Vale and Swingate as well?
Yes. Hempshill Vale, Assarts Farm Estate and Swingate are all inside our patch, along with the rest of the village. We come to your home, since there is no showroom to visit, and the survey costs nothing.