A Rhymney Valley town, a 21.6-mile drive from Newport to the north-west
Rooflights and skylights fitted in Aberbargoed
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
- We handle the Building Control notification where notifiable
Aber and bargod: a confluence and a border
The Welsh name is Aberbargod. Aber refers to a confluence or the mouth of a river, and bargod means a border. The town is in the County Borough of Caerphilly. By 1910 its pit employed 1,943 miners and was the largest coal mine in the Rhymney Valley. Today the colliery site is home to an ambulance station and various small industries, and Aberbargoed's once enormous colliery waste tip, the largest in Europe, has been reclaimed as a country park. From Newport the town is 21.6 miles by road, to the north-west.
None of that tells us what is above your kitchen ceiling. Houses of one age can have very different roofs after a century of alterations, so we start from the room that feels dim and work upwards to the structure over it.
| Property | Roof overhead | Worth raising |
|---|---|---|
| Terrace with a flat-roofed rear kitchen | A low flat roof behind the main house | A fixed or opening flat rooflight |
| Semi whose old roof window has clouded | A pitched slope with the window in place | Replacing the misted glass, or the whole unit |
| Bungalow with an inner bathroom | A low pitch over a loft void | A sun tunnel through the void |
| House with a utility room off the kitchen | A flat or lean-to roof | A rooflight that opens to clear damp air |
Jobs these rooms point towards
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Caerphilly County Borough and the Welsh position
Caerphilly County Borough Council is the body that decides planning matters in Aberbargoed. Our Welsh planning guide explains how permitted development treats a rooflight put into a house roof, and where its limits lie.
Building Regulations are a distinct matter from planning. Fitting a new rooflight will generally need approval, and where the work is notifiable we handle the notification, sending it to local authority building control or to a registered building control approver. Our Welsh Building Regulations guide goes through the approvals in more detail.
Flats are outside householder permitted development altogether. On a listed house, work that would affect the character of the building needs listed building consent, applied for through Caerphilly. Cadw puts buildings forward, and it is the Welsh Ministers who draw up the list.
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Not far from Aberbargoed
A rooflight clouded from the inside
Telling misted glass from a damp room, and what each one asks for.
Has the glass of your rooflight gone cloudy, with a haze that no cloth reaches? Two different problems look alike from the floor, and the first job is to tell them apart. Mist trapped between the panes of a double-glazed unit belongs to the unit itself. Beads of water on the inner face belong to the room.
How old the window is also steers the answer. A VELUX made after 1968 has a type sign fixed to the sash top, readable with the window open, and the code on it helps us find the nearest current size. Tell us whether the room is slept in, too, because a bedroom needs a blind chosen with the glass, and a replacement is the natural moment to change the blind as well. Wiping settles it. If the haze sits on a surface you can reach, the problem is moisture or dirt there. If it sits behind the glass and a cloth makes no difference, the sealed unit is the likelier cause, and a misted unit is a matter of replacing the glass, not cleaning it. How that choice is made is set out in the guide to swapping the sealed unit or replacing the rooflight, and for a roof window there is a page on glass-only replacement in a VELUX.
Which way to go depends on the age and condition of the frame and the flashing around it. A sound frame can take a fresh sealed unit. A tired frame, a gasket that has perished or a rooflight that is also dated for its energy performance points to replacing the whole thing, and at that point the Welsh figures matter: a rooflight should have a U-value no worse than 2.2 W/m²K under Approved Document L (Wales), and a roof window no worse than 1.4 or Band B.
For the paperwork, a glass-only job on an existing frame sits differently from a full replacement under the Welsh energy rules, and we talk through which one applies to your window at the survey. Where the job is notifiable, we deal with the notification.
Do not forget the room. If beads of water form on the underside every winter morning, a new unit will not cure a bathroom that never gets aired. The extractor, the habit of opening a window and the temperature of the room all play a part.
Cloudy rooflight, two readings
- Haze behind the glass
- Suggests the sealed unit has failed
- Water on the room side
- Suggests moisture in the room
- Dirt on the outside
- A matter of cleaning
- Frame in poor order
- Raises the whole-rooflight question
Washing day under a flat roof
A rooflight over the utility room, and whether it should open.
Think of the small room behind the kitchen where the machine runs, the airer stands and the back door opens to the garden. In a terrace with a flat-roofed addition it often has one tiny window, or none. A flat rooflight changes what the room is like to work in, because daylight arrives from above and reaches the worktop and the floor together.
Where in the roof the glass sits matters as much. Over the washing machine it lights the work surface; nearer the back door it lights the threshold and the boots. In a long, narrow room one rooflight on the centre line spreads the daylight in both directions, while a second small one near the far end is a question for the survey. Fixed or opening is the main question. A fixed rooflight is glazing on an upstand that does not open. One that opens lets steam from the drier and the kettle out, and it brings a draught that you control. The guide on fixed or opening flat rooflights compares them, and the choice leans towards opening in any room where laundry is dried. Damp air is the reason: laundry puts a lot of moisture into a small room.
The edge detail deserves a word. The upstand under it follows the maker's details, so the line of it against the house wall is worth looking at from the garden before the order goes in.
On a wet November day the room shows its character. The glass runs with water on the outside, steam from the machine meets the cold pane on the inside, and a rooflight that opens earns its keep. That same glass reads black once the lights come on, with the washing line and the kitchen light showing in it, and a plain lining makes it look calm.
A new rooflight in Wales is a new opening in the roof, and gov.wales says that installing one will, as a general rule, need approval under the Building Regulations. Where the job is notifiable, we take that notification on.
A November washing day
- 13:50Machine onSteam rises to the coldest surface, the glass overhead.
- 15:40Airer upAn opening sash clears damp air from the drying.
- 17:00Light fadingThe rooflight stays brighter than the back door.
- 20:10Lamps onThe glass turns dark and shows the room.
The inner bathroom of a bungalow
A sun tunnel where a window cannot go.
Bungalows often put the bathroom in the middle of the plan, away from every outside wall, with a roof void directly over it. A sun tunnel suits that arrangement. It is a roof dome, a tube through the loft and a diffuser fixed in the ceiling, and the tube carries daylight down into a room that has never had any.
Look at the room, not only the roof. A small bathroom with a window of frosted glass on an outside wall is a different case, but with no outside wall at all there is nowhere for a window to go, and the roof is the only way in for light. Look at the loft before anything else. The tube needs a path from the slope to the bathroom ceiling that avoids trusses, cabling and any stored boxes. A short straight run is easiest, and a bend is possible with some products, a choice explained in our guide to rigid and flexible tubes. The pitch of a bungalow roof is low, so the survey records the angle and the covering, since both decide how the dome is flashed.
Steam in a small inner bathroom has nowhere to go, and a sun tunnel is chosen for daylight. The extractor remains the answer to damp air, so we ask where it vents. A fan that discharges into the loft is a problem we raise early.
At night the diffuser is a plain white disc in the ceiling. Only daylight travels down the tube, so evening bathing relies on the room's own lighting, and the disc does nothing but sit there. That makes a sun tunnel a daytime fitting for a daytime problem. Tell us who uses the bathroom and when: a room visited at five in the morning gets less from daylight than one used after school.
If the household would prefer a window that opens, a roof window over the bathroom is possible where the layout allows, and Sun tunnels: are they worth it weighs the comparison.
Aberbargoed, in short
Can you survey a house in Aberbargoed?
Yes. The town is reached from Newport by 21.6 miles of road, going north-west, within the 30 miles we travel. The survey costs nothing, and you can book it for any room that is short of daylight.
How do I tell misted glass from a damp room?
Wipe the glass. A haze behind the pane that stays put suggests a failed sealed unit, while water on the room side points to moisture in the room. Both can be present together, so the survey looks at the glass and at how the room is aired before anything is recommended.
Should the rooflight over my utility room open?
In a room where washing is dried, an opening sash is useful for clearing damp air. Our fixed and opening comparison goes through the choice.
What suits a bungalow bathroom with no outside wall?
A sun tunnel is a candidate, if the loft gives a clear path for the tube from the roof down to the ceiling. It brings daylight only, so the extractor and the room lighting stay as they are. Whether a tube is straight or bent depends on the loft, and that is checked at the survey.
Who grants listed building consent in Aberbargoed?
Caerphilly County Borough Council handles applications for it, as the local planning authority. Cadw recommends which buildings are listed, and the Welsh Ministers compile the list. Our Welsh planning guide has more on consent and permitted development.
Where do I begin with booking a survey?
Complete the survey form, or message us on WhatsApp at 07880 284133, or mail info@supremeskylightsnewport.co.uk. Say what the room is, which way the window faces if it has one, and what feels wrong about it. That gives us a starting point before anyone visits.
Book your free survey
10-year workmanship guarantee.
Building Control notification handled where notifiable.