Reached by 28.58 road miles from Newport, going west into Rhondda Cynon Taf
New rooflights and skylights in Gilfach Goch
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
- We handle the Building Control notification where notifiable
Housing that followed the pits
Gilfach Goch is a community, an electoral ward and a small former coal mining village, mostly in Rhondda Cynon Taf and near the larger community of Tonyrefail. It developed during the industrialisation of the south Wales valleys in the 19th century. Three pits were sunk in the area: the Britannic, the Dinas Main, and the Trane and Llewellyn.
Because the collieries were spread out, the housing was spread out with them. The logic of their placement has been lost now the mines have closed. That history says nothing about any one roof, so the table below sets out house types in general, and we only know yours once the survey has looked at the slope, the covering and the loft.
| What you live in | What the roof is like | Where glass could help |
|---|---|---|
| Terrace with sash or casement windows added later | Pitched, slate or tile, with a loft above | A new roof window where an old one has gone cloudy |
| Semi from the post-war years | Pitched, often in concrete tile | Roof windows with better glazing for a warmer loft room |
| House with an extension at the side or back | Low-pitch or flat | A flat rooflight, which can be built to open |
| Bungalow or dormer with hard-to-reach windows | Low pitch, high sills | An electric opening window worked from a switch |
Three hubs for these streets
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How Rhondda Cynon Taf and Wales shape a rooflight job
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council handles planning for Gilfach Goch, under the Welsh rules. Houses and flats are treated differently, and the Welsh part of the planning guide gives the details.
On a house, the householder rights set limits on how far a rooflight may stand out from the roof and how high it may reach. A flat has no householder rights at all. A direction made under Article 4, or a condition on the first planning permission for a house, can remove them. For a listed house, work that would affect its character needs listed building consent, and Cadw recommends which buildings are listed. Where you cannot tell which case your home falls into, ask the council first and commit to an order after.
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Places beside Gilfach Goch
How warm is the room under the slope?
Energy performance for roof windows and rooflights.
Do you know how warm the room under your slope really is? In winter the glass is the nearest cold surface to the bed or the desk, and in summer it is the nearest warm one. Fitting a new window is the moment to choose its glazing on purpose, and the old window's age is a fair prompt to ask.
Wales has a yardstick for the choice. Approved Document L (Wales) is guidance, and for a new or replacement roof window in an existing home it says the U-value should be no worse than 1.4 W/m²K, or the Window Energy Rating should be Band B. A rooflight is a different product, a glazed unit out of plane with the roof on a kerb or upstand, and the figure given for it is 2.2 W/m²K. A roof window sits in the plane of the slope. The two figures belong to two products, so they are never swapped. Our Part L guide for rooflights reads through the wording.
VELUX describes its flat and curved glass rooflights as available in double or triple glazing, which it ties to energy efficiency and sound reduction, and our comparison of double and triple glazed rooflights looks at what each gives you in a room like yours.
A number on a data sheet only counts once the unit is in the roof. The same guidance expects roof windows and rooflights to be installed well and to be reasonably draught-proof, which is a matter of workmanship as much as of product. It is also why measuring the opening comes before any order.
Think about the evening too. On a cold night the pane over the bed is the first surface to chill, and a blind drawn across it puts a layer between you and the glass. Picking the blind in the same visit as the window keeps the pair matched. Beyond the glass and the blind, the loft itself matters: how the room is lined, how the slope faces, and whether anyone sleeps there all feed into what we suggest.
Gilfach Goch's housing grew in a scattered way, following collieries spread across the area, and that history says nothing about the roof over your room. The survey looks at each slope for itself.
The kind of floor in the loft matters too, because a room with boarding and a lining has more to protect than a storage space with bare joists. Tell us how the room is used and how often, and we can tell you which questions the glass has to answer.
| Product | Guidance figure | Alternative |
|---|---|---|
| Roof window | U-value no worse than 1.4 W/m²K | Window Energy Rating of Band B |
| Rooflight | U-value no worse than 2.2 W/m²K | None given |
A roof window that has clouded over
Replacing misted glass in the roof.
On a bright afternoon the glass that looks wrong is easy to spot. The pane over the stairs has a milky patch that will not wipe away, because it is not on the surface. The glazing has misted, and the room under it has lost part of its view of the sky.
The next question is what to replace. Sometimes only the glazed unit is changed; sometimes the whole roof window comes out and a new one goes in. The guide to a sealed unit or the whole rooflight compares the two. The answer on changing only the glass of a VELUX covers the glass-only case.
A distinction applies in Wales that touches the paperwork. A window swapped like for like, frame and all, is building work. Change the glass and keep the frame, and the energy rules class that differently. Which of the two jobs yours is gets settled at the survey, with the old window in front of us.
A VELUX window can be simpler to match, because VELUX lists the width and height for each size code; MK04, for example, is 78 by 98 cm. The code sits on a small metal type sign across the top of the sash, and the guide to VELUX size codes says more about reading it.
Cloudy glass is most obvious at midday. At night it hardly shows, because the pane is dark either way, but that is no reason to wait. A clear new unit brings the sky back for the next sunrise.
While the opening is being looked at, it is worth asking about the window's other habits. Does it open far enough? Is the blind still doing its job? Is the lining round the frame in good order? Each is a small question, and each is easier to answer while the old window is out.
Replacing a misted roof window
- Two routes
- A new glazed unit, or the whole roof window
- Size
- Read from the VELUX type sign where there is one
- Glass changed, frame kept
- Treated differently for the energy rules
- Like-for-like window swap
- Still building work
- Decided
- On the survey, with the old window in front of us
The window nobody can reach
Electric opening for sills set high or deep.
Think of the window nobody opens. It is above the stairs, or behind the bath, or set high in a dormer wall, and reaching it takes a chair, a pole or a long stretch. A room with a window like that stays stuffy, because the one opening that could air it is awkward to use.
Electric opening takes away the reach. A button on the wall or a handheld remote can open the sash and close it again. The rain sensor that shuts a window on its own is VELUX's, on its solar and electric roof windows, which is why the maker is named whenever one is on the quote. The hub for electric opening rooflights sets out what is available, and the comparison of electric or manual opening weighs the two.
Evening is when the stuffy room shows itself. After a warm day the air under the roof is still warm, and the glass has gone black with the room reflected in it. Opening the sash before bed lets the room cool. A window you can work without leaving the bed is easy to use at the end of a long day.
Dormers and bungalow roofs raise their own questions. A sill set high in a low-pitched roof can be out of reach for anyone standing in the room. Standing in the room at the survey, with the furniture where it will be, shows where a hand reaches and where it cannot. For someone who finds stretching or stairs hard, a switch by the door can make a room usable that was not before.
Replacing a window brings a ventilation point with it. If trickle vents were in the frame being taken out, Approved Document F (Wales) says the new window's vents should be no smaller than those, so tell us what the existing frame carries, such as a slot along its top edge.
Notification goes with the job where it applies. Where the work is notifiable, it is ours to handle, through local authority building control or a registered building control approver.
A hot evening, one switch
- 19:00Warm roomThe air under the slope has held the afternoon's heat.
- 21:15Sash openA switch opens the window above the stairs.
- 23:00BedtimeThe sash is closed from the bed, with the glass dark overhead.
Gilfach Goch in brief
Is the village a long way from Newport?
The road distance is 28.58 miles, heading west. We survey first at no charge, and the price that follows is a fixed written quote.
What changes when a rooflight goes into a flat rather than a house?
A flat has no householder rights, so the route is different from a house. The Welsh planning guide covers where a flat stands, and the council can confirm the details for your building before any order.
Why do I need the size code from my old VELUX window?
Width and height are both in it, so we can look at replacements before visiting. Open the sash and find the small metal plate on top.
Which pits were sunk around Gilfach Goch?
The village's collieries were the Britannic, the Dinas Main, and the Trane and Llewellyn. The Dinas Main closed after an accident, the Trane pit in 1953 and the Britannic in 1960. The housing that grew up around the pits was scattered as well, following the collieries.
Would a double glazed roof window be enough for a cold loft room?
Approved Document L (Wales) gives 1.4 W/m²K, or Window Energy Rating Band B, as the figure a roof window should meet. The survey looks at the room and the roof before either glazing is chosen, and our energy efficient rooflights page has more.
How do I book?
Send a WhatsApp to 07880 284133 with the street and the room, or write to info@supremeskylightsnewport.co.uk. The survey form also works. Whichever you use, a line about the room and the window you have now saves time at the survey.
Book your free survey
10-year workmanship guarantee.
Building Control notification handled where notifiable.