Rhondda Fach valley, 27 road miles from Newport, travelling west
Skylights and rooflights for Wattstown homes
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
- We handle the Building Control notification where notifiable
Named for Watts & Company: the roofs of Wattstown
Wattstown, Aberllechau in Welsh, is a village in the Rhondda Valley, within Rhondda Cynon Taf. It lies in the Rhondda Fach valley and is a district of the community of Ynyshir. The first deep mine here, the National Colliery, was originally known as Cwtch Colliery before being renamed the Standard, and it appeared on the Inspectors' Lists of Mines in 1880. The mine was owned by several concerns, among them the National Steam Coal Company and Watts & Company, who gave the village its name.
The hillside above the village, Carn Y Wiwer, holds the earliest evidence of people in the area: a small grouping of Bronze Age cairns, and the remains of five platform houses that were medieval seasonal farm houses. Today's roofs are of a very different kind. The table below goes by general house type, because a terrace and a bungalow ask different questions of the glass.
| Your house | Up above | Glass that suits |
|---|---|---|
| Terrace with a kitchen in a rear outrigger | A lower roof, pitched or flat, behind the main ridge | A roof window over the sink, or a flat rooflight on a flat portion |
| House with a loft that could be a bedroom | Pitched, with the loft floor in place | A roof window and a blackout blind |
| Home where a window is too high to reach | Pitched slope, window set well up | An electric or solar roof window, worked by a control |
| Hall, landing or box room with no outside wall | Loft overhead | A sun tunnel through the roof space |
Three answers for a valley terrace
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Rhondda Cynon Taf's role, and the Welsh tests
Planning calls in Wattstown belong to Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council. For a house in Wales, a rooflight's status as permitted development turns on the house and its land, and the tests run in order through our planning guide for Wales.
The rights a house starts with can be withdrawn: by a council using an Article 4 direction, or by a condition written into the original permission. That is worth asking about before any order. Flats and maisonettes stand outside the householder rights altogether. For a formal answer on any house, the route is a Lawful Development Certificate.
On a listed house, consent is required for work that affects its character, and the council receives that application. Cadw recommends which buildings are listed, and the Welsh Ministers compile the list.
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Villages along the valley
A back kitchen in January
A roof window where the kitchen sits under a lower roof.
In January the kitchen light goes on early, and by half past four there is little daylight left in a room that faces a back yard. Many terraced houses keep the kitchen in a lower part at the rear, with a roof that sits below the main ridge. That roof is often the best route for daylight, because it is the one nearest the work surface.
A roof window set into that slope brings daylight in over the sink or the cooker. It also brings steam into contact with glass. A kitchen window is a cold surface in a damp room, and glass can mist first. A sash that opens can let the steam out, and a cooker hood ducted to the outside also helps. Keep both in mind when you pick a window, because a fixed pane over a hob is a poorer choice than one that opens.
Evenings count as much as afternoons. Once the light is off outside, the roof window turns dark and shows the kitchen back to the room, with the pendant light, the cooker and the person at the sink in it. A blind pulled across is one way to quieten that, and a plain lining is another.
Height comes next. A window set high in a steep slope is hard to open by hand, and electric and solar roof windows exist for that reason. The rain sensor that closes a sash when rain starts is a VELUX feature, and it comes only with the solar and electric roof windows. We name the model whenever the feature comes up.
If part of the back roof is flat, a flat rooflight on an upstand may suit the part where a roof window cannot sit. Which flat rooflights open and which stay put is laid out in the guide to fixed or opening types.
The survey measures from the work surface up. How far the sill stands above the worktop, how close the sink is to the slope and which way the rafters run decide where the window can go. The same survey takes in the lining, because the reveal around a kitchen window gets wiped and splashed and is better kept simple.
For a new roof opening in Wales, Building Regulations approval will generally be needed, and we handle the notification with local authority building control or a registered building control approver where the work is notifiable.
A January afternoon in the kitchen
- 13:10Grey middayThe roof window is the only daylight source over the sink.
- 15:35Early duskThe light goes on, and the glass starts to mirror the room.
- 18:00CookingSteam finds the cold glass; an opening sash can let it out.
- 20:15Clearing upA dark panel above, with the sash shut.
How do you sleep when it is still light at nine?
A loft bedroom, a blackout blind and a way out.
How do you get a child to sleep in June, when the sky over the roof is still pale at nine? A loft bedroom with a roof window can be brighter than a room with a wall window, because the glass faces the sky. That is lovely at noon and a problem at bedtime, and a blackout blind is how it is solved.
The blind is the simple part. Where the bed stands matters as much. A bed directly under the glass puts the brightest part of the room above the pillow, while a bed at the low end of the slope sits clear of it. Sketch the layout before the survey and the window can be placed to suit it, with the head of the bed and the door both in mind.
A bedroom is also a place where glass will be touched, leaned against and sometimes bumped. VELUX lists an inner pane of laminated glass among its glazing options, and which windows can take it depends on the model and the glazing variant. We check that against the window we are suggesting.
A loft bedroom needs a way out, and the fire guidance for Wales is in Approved Document B (Wales). The details are in the Welsh building regulations guide, and they affect the size and position of the roof window, so we raise them at the survey.
Fresh air matters at night. A sash that can be set slightly open can let the room cool while the blind keeps it dark. In winter the same window is a different thing altogether: dark by five, cold to the touch and a place where the room's warmth shows as mist. The choice of glazing carries more weight in January than it does in June.
The conversion itself is larger work, and the roof window is one part of it. If you are planning one, tell us what is intended for the stairs and the floor, so we can see the window as part of the whole room.
Roof window, child's loft bedroom
- Blind
- Blackout, to shut out a June evening
- Inner pane
- Laminated, where the model offers it
- Air
- A sash that can be set open
- Way out
- Set by Approved Document B (Wales)
- Paperwork
- Building control notified where notifiable
Who can reach the window?
Electric and solar roof windows for sashes set high in a slope.
Stand under a roof window set high in a steep slope and ask who in the house can open it. The answer can be whoever is tallest, and only with a pole. The window then stays shut, which defeats the point of an opening sash.
An electric roof window takes the effort out. Open and close can be on a wall switch or a handset, so anyone in the house can use it, and the window can be shut from the sofa at night. A solar one can run from its own small panel, without mains wiring. The choices are set out in our answer on skylights that open, and the page on the power supply for an electric rooflight covers the wiring.
The mains option needs a cable route to the window, and a solar window does not. Which is simpler depends on the room and the roof, and it is something to say early so that the wiring is thought about before the ceiling lining goes up.
Consider the roof as well as the room. A kitchen roof that is partly flat and partly pitched can take more than one kind of glass, and the survey looks at which parts are which before a product is named. A mixed roof like that rewards a careful look.
Decide where the control lives. A wall switch by the door is always where you left it, while a handset can end up in a drawer. For a child's room or a stair, think about whether a switch should be out of small hands.
Glass reads dark at night and shows the lit room, so the blind matters here as well as the sash. Say whether the window is over a stair, a bed or a bath, because each changes which blind and which controls suit.
If you are thinking of a window for a box room or a landing with no daylight, a sun tunnel is another route, and the answer on whether sun tunnels are worth it weighs it against a roof window.
Wattstown, asked and answered
Do you survey homes in Wattstown?
Yes, and the survey costs nothing. From Newport, the road to Wattstown in the Rhondda Fach valley runs 27 miles west. Say which room you have in mind when you get in touch.
Which council would handle planning for a rooflight?
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council. For a house, the question to settle first is whether the rooflight is permitted development, and the Welsh planning guide sets the tests out.
What blind suits a loft bedroom?
For a room where someone sleeps, a blackout blind. The exact one is chosen with the window.
Can a high roof window be opened without a pole?
Yes, if it is electric or solar: then a switch or a handset opens it. Which of the two suits depends on whether a cable can reach the window.
Who deals with consent for a listed house?
The council, as local planning authority, handles listed building consent. Work that would affect the building's character is what triggers it, and Cadw is the body that recommends listings.
What if my home is a flat?
Householder permitted development rights do not reach flats or maisonettes in Wales, and the planning guide deals with houses. Tell us the roof and the room when you write.
Where do I send a message to start?
Use WhatsApp on 07880 284133, email info@supremeskylightsnewport.co.uk, or fill in the survey form with your address and the room. A fixed written quote comes after the survey.
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10-year workmanship guarantee.
Building Control notification handled where notifiable.