Selston: 13 miles on the road, out to the north-west
Skylights & rooflights in Selston
A large village close to the Derbyshire border, where newer estates sit around the older streets. Plenty of landings and back bedrooms here could do with more daylight from above.
A large village by the Derbyshire border
Selston sits at the edge of Nottinghamshire, and the Derbyshire border is close by. For us, that means a longer trip out, so we plan the survey properly and keep the visit to one clean trip.
Selston, from the lane to the loft
Selston is a large village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire's Ashfield district, home to 6,278 people. It has grown over the years, and the roofs show it. Below we set out how we approach a rooflight job here: the trip out, the council, the newer estates and the green spaces close by. To see everything we do first, go to skylight installation in Nottingham.
01
Thirteen miles out, on the B600, B6016 and B6018
On the road it is 13 miles from the city centre, heading north-west, and the van takes around 23 minutes. It is one of the longer trips for a small survey, so we do not fit it in between other jobs. We book the time to the room, the roof and the questions, then leave with every measurement we need.
The B600, B6016 and B6018 are the classified roads close to the village middle. The village once had a railway link nearby: Pinxton and Selston station stood 1.6 km away and Pinxton South 1.8 km away, and both have long closed. With no working station close by, we drive to every job.
What happens on the survey
There is no charge. Inside, we begin with the room that wants the light: where it goes dim, the ceiling height, what sits above. Then we climb up, read the covering and the structure, and measure for the opening. The price comes afterwards, on paper, and it does not move.
From the loft we look at how the roof is framed and whether the underside of the covering shows daylight, damp or old repairs. A rear bedroom that faces north, or a landing that borrows its light from a neighbour's wall, is often where a single opening does the most good.
13miles
along the road from the city centre
23minutes
in the van, roads clear
Telling us about access
When you message us, mention how a ladder gets to the back, whether there is a driveway, and whether the loft hatch is easy to reach. A few lines of detail save a second visit. Other villages nearby are on the areas we cover list.
02
Roofs on the newer estates, and roofs on the older streets
New housing estates have gone up in Selston since 2000 as more people moved in, and land around the village was turned over to another estate. That gives the village two broad kinds of roof, and they behave differently when you want to add a skylight.
Newer estate roofs
A house from recent decades is likely to have engineered trusses overhead, factory-made timber triangles set close together. They do the structural job with very little spare material, so they cannot simply be cut through. A rooflight in a roof like that needs the structure around it reframed, and we assess that on the survey before saying a size is possible. Newer roofs are often a good candidate for a roof window in a loft that was never converted, as long as the headroom is there. Hatches on newer estates often leave only a short clear run beside them, so we check the headroom at the intended position, not just at the hatch.
- Truss
- A factory-made timber frame that holds up the roof, and cannot be cut through the way one rafter can.
- Rafter
- A sloping timber that runs from the ridge to the wall plate and carries the roof covering.
- Trimmer
- A short cross-timber that frames the edge of a new opening in a roof.
Older streets and extensions
On older houses, the roof is more likely to be cut timber with rafters that were set by eye. Spacing can vary, so we measure it rather than assume, and pick a window width that sits comfortably in the gap.
Wherever the house sits, the starting point is a room that stays dim between October and March. A rear bedroom, a landing or a bathroom with a small window all fit the pattern. We start there, work out which slope sees the sky for longest in winter, and only then talk about a product.
Extensions and conversions
A house may have had work done over the years: a rear extension, a garage turned into a room, a loft boarded out for storage. Each change can leave a dark pocket in the middle of the plan. We ask what has been added and when, because an older extension may have a different roof build from the house it joins, and the rooflight should suit the roof it actually goes into.
03
Ashfield District Council, and a conservation area next door
Planning and Building Control for Selston sit with Ashfield District Council, and we put your address to them before a rooflight is ordered.
What is recorded nearby
Historic England has three buildings on its list near the village: one at Grade II* and two at Grade II. Consent is required before a listed house gets a new rooflight, so if yours is among them, the council comes first.
The nearest conservation area on the national planning data is Lower Bagthorpe, 0.98 km from the village point and designated in June 1975. It holds three Grade II listed buildings. It takes its name from a neighbouring settlement rather than Selston itself. For your own street, Ashfield is asked directly, before anything is ordered, if an Article 4 direction applies, or a listing. What decides the product is the age of the house and the way its roof was built, and we read both on the day.
3listed
listed buildings around the village
0.98km
to Lower Bagthorpe conservation area (1975)
Ashfield's part and the England-wide part
The planning and Building Regulations conditions for a new rooflight are the same wherever you live in England, and they are laid out in planning permission for rooflights. The Selston layer sits on top: the council, any listing or designation, and whether notification is needed.
When notification is needed we make it ourselves and fit the unit to the Building Regulations in force; the paperwork goes on to Ashfield District Council, or alternatively to whichever inspecting body takes the job.
Ask for the paperwork once the work is signed off, and keep it with the deeds for any future sale.
04
The Hills, the country park and the weather they bring
Open ground near the houses, and what it means for a roof in a wet month.
Two green spaces sit close to the village centre: The Hills, 0.6 km off, and Selston Country Park, 1.1 km off. Where a house stands on the outskirts, its roof tends to feel the weather more than one tucked between other buildings.
Wind and rain on the exposed side
A slope with no shelter takes rain driven sideways in a winter storm, so a rooflight there lives or dies by its flashing and seals. We fit the kit made for your covering and inspect the old lead or tile round the opening so water has a clear way down. On a flat roof the answer is a decent fall and an upstand high enough to keep standing water off the seal.
Cold glass, damp rooms
Through a cold, damp winter the window is often the chilliest thing in a room. Good glazing with warm-edge spacers keeps the inside pane warmer, which cuts condensation, and a vent or opening unit lets bathroom and kitchen steam leave before it beads up.
Using the light you have
With open ground nearby, many houses have a clear view of sky. The challenge is not usually that the sky is blocked. It is that the room is deep and the one window sits at the wrong end. A rooflight over the far end of the room borrows the sky above the roof and brings it to where you actually stand. On the visit we sit where you sit and note the hour the room goes flat, because that tells us which slope to choose.
Because the ground is open, we also think about glare. A bright, low winter sun through a large rooflight can be uncomfortable on a screen or a sofa, so we talk about blinds and glazing type at the survey, not after the unit is in.
05
Which products usually suit a village like Selston
Estate houses and older streets call for different answers, and three products cover most of them.
A loft room or back bedroom
A roof window lets you look at the weather and open up for air. Placed low enough to look out from a chair, it makes a loft bedroom feel like a proper room in November, and a blind keeps the June dawn out.
A landing or internal bathroom
Many a semi has a landing with no window whatsoever. A sun tunnel is a roof dome joined by a mirrored tube to a ceiling diffuser, and the change on a grey afternoon is clear.
A flat-roofed extension or garage conversion
Where a kitchen extension has a flat roof, the light often gives out halfway along. A roof lantern draws sky from several sides and still reads bright under cloud.
Fitting, replacing, guaranteeing
When an old unit has misted, a new one on the same opening is usually tidier, and the survey tells us whether that applies. If you cannot be home for the whole visit, say so: we need the room, the loft and a view of the roof from outside, and we can plan around who holds the key. Ten years of workmanship cover, in writing, applies to every fitting and replacement.
What Selston homeowners ask before the survey
We live on one of the newer estates. Can a roof window go in?
Often, yes, but the roof structure decides. Many modern roofs are built from trusses that cannot be sawn through, so the framing around a new opening has to be designed. We look at how your roof is built at the survey, before naming a size, and the quote we write afterwards is fixed.
Is Ashfield District Council the right council to ask?
Yes. Selston's planning decisions are made by Ashfield District Council. Most new house rooflights fall under national permitted development rules, but listed buildings, flats and streets under an Article 4 direction do not. We check with Ashfield first and arrange whatever Building Control notification the work calls for.
Is the trip out to Selston a problem for a small job?
No. Selston falls inside our 30 mile road radius, and a small job gets the same free survey as a big one. One planned trip covers the measuring, the choices and your questions about the roof.
Can you replace a rooflight with condensation inside the glass?
Yes. Moisture between the panes means the seal has gone, and it will not clear by itself. Depending on frame and upstand, we swap the whole unit or put a new one onto the old opening. The survey decides, and the answer arrives in writing.