Caerphilly county borough, 21.4 road miles west of Newport
Skylight and rooflight fitting in Llanbradach
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
- We handle the Building Control notification where notifiable
A village by the Rhymney Railway line
Llanbradach is a village in the county borough of Caerphilly, and its railway station stands on the former Rhymney Railway line. Llanbradach Colliery opened in the 1890s, reached peak production in the 1930s and shut in 1961. From Newport, the village is 21.4 road miles to the west.
Terraces from the Victorian and Edwardian years are often roofed in slate, and houses from the post-war decades more often carry concrete tile. Which one is over your head is settled when we look at the roof, along with the pitch and the timbers beneath it. A roof window, a flat rooflight or a sun tunnel is chosen from that, and from the room you want to change.
| Type of house | What is overhead | Where glass could go |
|---|---|---|
| Older terrace | Pitched slope over a loft | A roof window to turn the loft into a bedroom |
| Mid-century semi | Pitched roof in concrete tile | A roof window over the landing, or a bathroom slope |
| Flat-roofed back kitchen or lean-to | Low roof carried on joists | Glass on an upstand above the addition |
| Bungalow with an inner hall | Pitched, with a loft void above | A sun tunnel dropped from the slope to the hall ceiling |
Three jobs that suit these roofs
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Caerphilly and the rules in Wales
Caerphilly County Borough Council decides planning in Llanbradach. Our planning guide for Wales explains when a rooflight on a house can proceed as permitted development, and what limits come with that.
The conservation-area data for the village includes an area named Llanbradach. In Wales, a new rooflight on a house inside a conservation area is not permitted development, so it needs a planning application. Boundaries run through streets, so the order for glass waits until your address has been checked on the DataMapWales conservation area layer and with the council.
Householder permitted development does not extend to flats. If the house is listed, any work that would change its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest needs listed building consent, applied for through Caerphilly.
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Villages and towns close by
Sleeping under the slope in high summer
Roof windows, blackout blinds and a bed that faces the sky.
Plenty of terraces and semis have a loft that could become a bedroom. Once it has, a roof window decides how the room feels from the evening to the early hours. In June the sky is already light by five in the morning, and a window set in the slope has nothing between it and that light. Without a blind, the room wakes before the people in it do.
A blackout blind deals with that, and the sensible moment to choose it is alongside the window, not after the plaster is dry. Tell us who sleeps in the room and when they get up, because a shift worker and a school-age child want different things from the same slope. The loft stairs matter too, since a window near the stairwell will light the way up and one at the far gable will not. Where the bed stands matters as well: a window over the pillow and a window over the foot of the bed give very different mornings.
Air matters in a room under the roof as much as light. Approved Document F (Wales) calls for purge ventilation in every habitable room, a way to air it rapidly, and a window that opens can supply it. So whether the sash opens, and by how much, belongs in the same conversation as the blind. A bedroom under the slope also needs a way out in a fire, and the escape rules for loft rooms sit in Approved Document B (Wales), which our Building Regulations guide for Wales goes through.
Under the guidance in Approved Document L (Wales), a roof window should meet 1.4 W/m²K, or a Window Energy Rating of Band B. That is a figure to compare between models, and the window we suggest is set against it.
Building Regulations treat a roof window as a controlled fitting, so putting one in is building work. For a brand-new rooflight, the Welsh Government's guidance is that the job will in general require Building Regulations approval. Where our work is notifiable, the notification goes to local authority building control or to a registered building control approver, and we deal with it. The roof windows page shows the types.
The stairs below a new loft bedroom can be dim as well. A sun tunnel can borrow daylight for a landing or hall with no window: a dome on the slope gathers it, a tube leads it down and a ceiling diffuser lets it into the space. Only daylight travels that way, so at night the stairs depend on their own lighting. A stair that is dim at breakfast time is the case it suits. The loft must have a clear route for the tube, which is checked at the survey, and our guide to rigid and flexible sun tunnels compares the two kinds of tube.
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Which blind | It decides how light the room is at five in the morning. |
| Does the sash open | A window that opens can air the room. |
| Where the bed sits | It shows where the slope needs the window. |
| The paperwork | We deal with the notification if the job is notifiable. |
The back kitchen in late October
A flat rooflight over the part of the room the window cannot reach.
Is the far end of your kitchen switched on by mid-afternoon in autumn? A back kitchen or a lean-to often has a flat roof, and the worktops furthest from the garden door sit under it. A window in the end wall does little for that corner, which is where a flat rooflight earns its place.
Position is the first choice. A rooflight over the middle of the worktop lights the surface you cook on, while one set nearer the old wall lights the dining end, so it helps to know where the table and the cooker stand before the opening is marked out. A flat rooflight sits on a raised upstand, built to the maker's details. It keeps a low line against the house. A lantern stands taller and has pitched glass, and which one suits the room depends on the structure and on how the extension looks from the garden. If you are weighing a lantern for a brand-new extension, we confirm its planning status with Caerphilly before work starts. Our lantern against flat rooflight page compares the two.
A rooflight in Wales should meet 2.2 W/m²K under the guidance in Approved Document L (Wales). The guidance defines a rooflight as a glazed unit installed out of plane with the roof, on a kerb or upstand.
Cooking puts steam into the air, and moisture settles on the coldest surface in a room. Glass is often that surface, so the rooflight mists first. An extractor that vents outdoors takes some of it away, and a sash that opens can help as well, which the guide to fixed and opening flat rooflights explains.
The ceiling lining matters too. The opening through the joists can be lined with plasterboard, and the shape of that reveal decides whether the rooflight reads as a tidy panel overhead or as a hole. The depth and the angle of the sides are worth talking through at the survey, while the lining can still be drawn up around them.
One October afternoon in the kitchen
- 15:10OvercastThe far worktop is the dimmest part of the room.
- 16:40Light fadingThe rooflight is the last bright patch to go.
- 18:30CookingSteam finds the glass, the coldest surface overhead.
- 22:15Washing up doneThe glass reads black and holds the room's reflection.
A slate slope and the conservation question
What changes when the house is inside a conservation area.
The Welsh Government's conservation-area data for Llanbradach includes an area named Llanbradach. That name says nothing about a particular street, and whether a given house is inside the boundary is for the council and the boundary map to settle.
It matters because Wales treats these areas differently from England. A rooflight on a house within a conservation area boundary falls outside permitted development in Wales, so the route is a planning application. A council can also remove permitted development rights with an Article 4 direction, which is most common in conservation areas. The Welsh conservation-area guide, rooflights in a conservation area, walks through both.
Where a house sits outside any boundary, a rooflight can still be permitted development, within limits, and the planning guide sets those out. Either way, the order for glass waits until the address has been checked, because a window cut into a slate slope is not a job to undo. If the answer is a planning application, Caerphilly is the body that decides it.
The slate itself needs thought whatever the answer. A roof window sits in the plane of the roof and is flashed into the covering, so we note the covering and the pitch at the survey. How the roof is reached for the work is part of what we plan.
Slate also decides how the flashing is dressed. Each covering needs a flashing made for it, so the survey notes whether the slope is natural slate, a tile or something else, and the window and flashing kit are matched to it.
Where an older roof window is being swapped in the same opening, replacing an old skylight explains how that differs from a new opening.
Before you book in Llanbradach
Is the drive out to Llanbradach covered by the free survey?
It is. The survey costs nothing, and the village, 21.4 road miles to the west of the city, sits within the 30 miles we travel from the city.
What does the Llanbradach conservation area mean for a rooflight?
The data lists an area named Llanbradach. If a house is inside a conservation area in Wales, a new rooflight is not permitted development and needs a planning application. Our guide to the Welsh rules has the detail, and the address is checked before glass is ordered.
Whose desk does a Llanbradach planning question land on?
Caerphilly County Borough Council is the local planning authority, and listed building consent is applied for through it. Cadw recommends which buildings are listed, and the Welsh Ministers compile the list.
Can the loft over my terrace become a bedroom with a window in the slope?
Often it can, once the roof has been looked at. Pitch, timbers and covering all affect the window, and a blackout blind is chosen alongside it at the survey. The room also has to meet the escape rules in Approved Document B (Wales), which our Welsh Building Regulations guide covers.
Could an old roof window be swapped without cutting a new hole?
When the existing hole is in good order and a matching size can be bought, the replacement may take its place there, which cuts down the structural work. For the energy rules in Wales, replacing only the glass and keeping the frame is not building work, while replacing the whole window is. Our guide to replacing an old skylight goes through the options.
Where do I book a survey?
Use the survey form further down, send a WhatsApp to 07880 284133, or write to info@supremeskylightsnewport.co.uk, saying which room needs more daylight. Every job carries a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing.
Book your free survey
10-year workmanship guarantee.
Building Control notification handled where notifiable.