Rhymney Valley, reached from Newport by almost 20 road miles, heading north-west
Skylights and rooflights for Fleur-de-lis homes
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- We handle the Building Control notification where notifiable
Fleur-de-Lis, Fleur-de-Lys or Trelyn: three spellings, many roofs
The village is spelt both Fleur-de-Lis and Fleur-de-Lys, and its Welsh name is Trelyn. It stands in the Rhymney Valley, part of the South Wales Valleys, and Caerphilly County Borough Council administers it.
Homes in general fall into a handful of families: older terraces and cottages, mid-century semis, and newer estates. Each brings its own roof question, and the table below sets four of them against a first idea. What we fit follows from the survey, where we study the roof covering, the steepness of the slope and whatever the loft holds above the room that wants more light. The Rhymney Valley setting matters less to that than the roof in front of us, so we begin there and let the product follow.
| Type of home | What the roof looks like | First idea |
|---|---|---|
| Older cottage or terrace | Pitched, with a small loft | A roof window, with the glazing option picked for the room |
| Mid-century semi | Pitched, a loft that may already be floored | A roof window or a light tube for a bathroom or hall |
| Newer estate house | Pitched, trussed roof, small landing | A sun tunnel where the loft route is plain |
| Home with a rear kitchen-diner | Flat or low-pitched over the new space | A roof lantern or a large flat rooflight |
Three product lines for a Fleur-de-Lis home
11:00
Caerphilly County Borough Council and the Welsh rules
Caerphilly County Borough Council is the planning authority for Fleur-de-Lis. Our planning guide for Wales explains when a rooflight on a house can go in as permitted development, and what takes that route away.
The council's conservation areas include Gellihaf. A rooflight set into a house roof slope inside a conservation area is not permitted development in Wales, so it calls for a planning application. The boundaries cross streets, so the question is whether your own house sits inside one, and the DataMapWales conservation area layer is the place to see the outlines.
Flats and maisonettes do not have householder rights. Where a house is listed, work that affects its character needs listed building consent, which you apply for through the planning authority.
12:00
Close by Fleur-de-Lis
Choosing the glass for a window you rarely reach
Coatings, laminated panes and self-cleaning rooflight glass.
A roof window or rooflight can sit where a ladder is needed to clean it, so the glazing options matter more than they would on a wall. VELUX names three worth reading about: a coating that repels dirt and makes cleaning easier, safety lamination, and a rain noise reduction option. Which of them you can have depends on the window and on its glazing variant, so the first job is to see what your chosen window can take.
Safety lamination means a laminated inner pane. VELUX says the laminated inner pane stops glass dropping into the room after an accidental breakage. That is a point for a bedroom or a bathroom, where people stand under the glass.
Rain noise reduction speaks for itself. Hard rain on a roof window can be loud, and VELUX offers an option aimed at exactly that.
Rooflights, the kind that sit up on an upstand over a flat roof, have options of their own. For rooflights proper, VELUX gives double or triple glazing as a choice on its flat and curved glass units, with energy efficiency and sound reduction as the stated reasons. Self-cleaning glass is another option: Pilkington names roof glazing as a use for Pilkington Activ, which relies on daylight to break dirt down and on rain to carry it off.
Approved Document L (Wales) sets the energy bar for a new or replacement unit, as guidance. A roof window should reach a U-value no worse than 1.4 W/m²K, or Band B on the Window Energy Rating. A rooflight should reach 2.2 W/m²K. We read the maker's data sheet for each unit against those figures.
One more point sits in the paperwork. Where a window is replaced and only the glass changes, with the old frame kept, the energy rules do not treat that as building work. A rooflight's U-value is also worked out over its developed surface, and that can exceed the size of the opening in the roof.
Your choice comes down to the room and the reach. A bedroom under a hard rain wants the quiet option, a roof you cannot get at wants the easy-clean one, and any room where people stand below wants a close look at the lamination.
| Option | Named by | What it is meant to do |
|---|---|---|
| Easy-to-clean coating | VELUX | Repel dirt on a window you cannot reach |
| Safety lamination | VELUX | Keep glass from falling into the room if it breaks |
| Rain noise reduction | VELUX | Quieten a shower on the glass |
| Self-cleaning coating | Pilkington Activ | Loosen dirt with daylight and rinse it with rain |
A lantern over the kitchen-diner
Pitched glass above a table, from early evening on.
Kitchen-diners built on the back of a house are deep, and the middle of the room is where a table usually ends up. A roof lantern is one way to put glass above it. It rises off the flat roof, carried on an upstand, with pitched panes on each side, and it makes a feature of the ceiling beneath.
Lantern makers publish their own installation sheets. Brett Martin's calls for a builder's upstand and advises keeping it level; its lantern can take a pitch of up to 5 degrees, though Brett Martin warns this will likely look lopsided. This is one maker's advice about its own product; for any other lantern we read that maker's sheet.
Planning is the first hurdle for a lantern. Fitted to an existing flat roof, it normally calls for a planning application, and the reasoning sits in the Welsh planning guide. Where the lantern belongs to a new extension, Caerphilly County Borough Council is the body we check with, and we do so before anything is ordered.
By six in the evening in winter the lantern is a dark box over the table. The panes hold the pendant and the glow of the lamps and give back the room, which is flattering when the lining is neat and unkind when it is not. A well-finished opening with square edges is a good-looking ceiling, and a rough one is a flaw you look at every night.
The lining of the opening is worth a thought before the plasterer arrives. The depth of the reveal and the angle of its sides decide how much sky reaches the table and how the opening looks after dark, so the lining is discussed on the visit, ahead of any order. A square, even reveal also reads more cleanly in the evening than a ragged one.
Moisture from cooking can settle on glass overhead. A lantern with an opening vent, or an extractor that gets used, gives it somewhere to go. If you are still deciding, are roof lanterns worth it sets the benefit against the price, and can you replace a roof lantern is for those who already have one.
Two facts shape the glass more than any catalogue: where the table will stand, and which wall faces the garden. Both settle where the light falls at supper, so we ask about them on the visit.
An evening under the lantern
- 17:00Last of the daylightThe panes are brighter than any lamp in the room.
- 18:45CookingThe sky has gone and the glass reflects the table.
- 20:30Clearing upCondensation, if any, forms where the glass is coldest.
- 22:30Lights outA square lining leaves an even dark ceiling.
A utility room with no window
A light tube for a small space.
Short winter afternoons show up a windowless room. A utility room, a dressing area or a shower room placed in the middle of the plan has no outside wall, and by half past three in December it is already dim. A light tube, which is another name for a sun tunnel, moves daylight from a roof dome into a ceiling diffuser.
Rooms like this can be passed over because there seems nothing to be done about them, and a tube is one of the few things that can be done without moving a wall or cutting a window into one. It is a modest answer to a modest room, and it should be judged on those terms.
Three things decide it. The loft must give the tube a way through. The roof covering matters, because the dome's flashing is matched to it. And the room itself counts: a tube suits small spaces where early light is welcome, and it carries daylight only. When the lamps come on in the evening, the ceiling disc is just a pale circle.
Straight tubes are simplest. A flexible tube can turn a corner, but the bend must still fit the space, and the page on rigid and flexible sun tunnels goes through the trade-off. For the cost side, what a sun tunnel costs is written out in full.
It is worth knowing what a light tube cannot do. It gives no view, it does not open, and it has no use after dark. For a utility room or wardrobe those limits cost little, because the room is used for a few minutes at a time and the aim is to get the bulb off for the middle of the day.
The survey for a light tube is mostly done in the roof space. We note where the tube can run, what the roof covering is, and which slope gives the dome the most sky. In the room, we check where the diffuser can go without clashing with a light fitting.
Fleur-de-Lis questions
Will you survey in Fleur-de-Lis?
We do. Fleur-de-Lis lies north-west of Newport. It sits in the Rhymney Valley, inside the county borough council area. The village is almost 20 road miles from Newport by the road, and the survey there is free. After it you get a fixed written quote.
Which Caerphilly conservation area should I look up?
Gellihaf is one of Caerphilly's conservation areas. A new rooflight on a house inside a conservation area is not permitted development in Wales and needs a planning application; the Welsh planning guide has the detail. Your address decides, and the council can confirm it.
How do I know if a roof window glazing option is on offer?
Availability depends on the window and on its glazing variant, as VELUX notes. Tell us the room, and we check the options for the window you have in mind.
Do I need a lantern or will a flat rooflight do?
That depends on the room and how you want the ceiling to look. A lantern added to an existing flat roof normally calls for a planning application. The comparison of the two goes through the differences.
What is Trelyn?
It is the Welsh name for the village. The English name is spelt Fleur-de-Lis or Fleur-de-Lys, and the village stands in the Rhymney Valley, part of the South Wales Valleys.
Who do I contact to book a visit?
Start with the survey form, or reach us at info@supremeskylightsnewport.co.uk or on WhatsApp, 07880 284133. A 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing covers our work.
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10-year workmanship guarantee.
Building Control notification handled where notifiable.