Llanharan, 24 road miles from Newport, in Rhondda Cynon Taf
Rooflights and skylights for Llanharan homes
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
- We handle the Building Control notification where notifiable
A stone square beside the Ewenny Fach
Llanharan is a village and community in Rhondda Cynon Taf. The square at its centre is made up of several historical stone buildings beside the Ewenny Fach, a local river. Its closeness to the M4 gives residents easy commutable access to most of South Wales.
Stone buildings in a square tell us about the square and not about every house around it. Each age of house brings its own roof, which is why every roof gets looked at individually. Older houses tend to carry slate or clay tile, newer ones concrete tile, and any of them may have an extension with a flat roof. What lies over your room decides which of our products can go in, and a short talk about how you use the room does the rest.
| Your house | Roof over it | Product to consider |
|---|---|---|
| Cottage or older semi with a warm, shut-in kitchen | Pitched, with a rear lean-to | An opening rooflight in the lean-to |
| Newer house with a double-height extension | Flat roof or low pitch above a tall room | A roof lantern for the height, or electric opening glass for the air |
| Garage converted to a playroom | Flat, with joists running one way | A flat rooflight in place of the missing window |
| House with a lantern already, nearing the end of its life | Flat roof with a raised upstand | A like-for-like replacement, subject to the council's view |
Glass for the air and the height of a room
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Llanharan: a conservation area and the Welsh rules
Rhondda Cynon Taf is the local planning authority for Llanharan. Welsh permitted development allows a rooflight on a house within limits, and the Wales planning guide goes through them.
Among the conservation areas on the Welsh Government's boundary map is one named Llanharan. A house inside a conservation area in Wales cannot take a new rooflight as permitted development, so a planning application is the route. The map shows the line and not who is inside it, which is for the council to confirm, and its conservation page is the place to start.
If you live in a flat, householder permitted development does not apply to you. If you live in a house, a council direction or a planning condition may already have removed it. A listed building needs listed building consent for any work that would affect its character, applied for through the council. Listings are recommended by Cadw and compiled by the Welsh Ministers.
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Close by, with their own pages
Where the warm air goes
Opening rooflights for rooms that heat up.
Rooms with a lot of glass overhead collect heat, and a sealed box of it is no pleasure in the afternoon. Moving air is the remedy, and in a room with a tall ceiling the warm air sits at the top, where nothing opens.
An opening rooflight puts a vent at that high point. Fixed glass lights the room but leaves the warm air where it is, whereas an opening panel lets it leave. For a rooflight that is out of reach, an electric model can open without anyone climbing up to it. The practical question of power is answered on the page about powering an electric rooflight.
Ventilation is also a matter of the Building Regulations. Approved Document F (Wales) expects every habitable room to be able to be aired rapidly, which it calls purge ventilation, and an opening window of the right size can do that. Figures for the size of opening depend on its angle, so the survey checks the sash against the room's floor area.
Position matters as much as size. Glass above the cooker catches steam first, glass above the table brings the air to where people sit, and glass at the garden end of an extension can be reached by a pole when an electric unit is not wanted. The survey is the time to talk through each of those placements, because the right one depends on where you stand to cook and where you sit to eat.
Opening glass over a cooker or a table raises another question: where does the rain go? Open on a showery afternoon, the panel lets weather in. That is a reason to think about when the glass will be open and whether anyone is home.
The same glass has a different character after dark. When it is shut and the lights are on below, the panel reflects the room and the evening goes dark above it. When it is open on a warm night, the sky is simply there, and the room seems to extend upwards. Both are pleasant, and neither is a reason to buy glass that does not suit the room.
Opening rooflight, warm room
- Best for
- Tall rooms, kitchens and dining areas
- Reach
- Electric, for glass beyond arm's length
- Air
- Purge ventilation under Approved Document F (Wales)
- Weather
- Closed when no one is in
- Paperwork
- Where the work is notifiable, we take on the notification
The garage that became a playroom
A flat rooflight where a wall used to be.
Convert a garage and the big door at the front becomes a wall. The new room is cut off from daylight on that side, and children's toys do not mind, but the adults sitting in it do. A rooflight is one way to bring light back without touching the front elevation.
Approved Document L (Wales) defines a rooflight as a glazed unit installed out of plane with the roof, on a kerb or upstand, and that is the flat roof kind we mean. The same document sets a U-value no worse than 2.2 W/m²K as the guidance for a new or replacement rooflight in an existing home. The survey records what the flat roof is made of before anything is ordered.
Flat roofs differ in depth, and the depth of the build-up sets the height of the upstand and how the rooflight sits. A converted garage may have had its roof altered when it was converted, which is another reason to look from inside as well as out.
Early evening can be a playroom's busiest time, and this is where the glass above the room shows its second face. The panel turns dark and picks up the room lights, so a bare bulb overhead looks harsher than it does on a ceiling. Spotlights set into the lining or a shaded lamp make the dark glass easier to live with.
Children bring their own demands. A playroom needs hard-wearing surfaces below and a ceiling that is not a distraction, so a plain, square reveal tends to work better than a decorative one. Say at the survey how the room is used, because a room for boisterous play asks different questions of the glass, the lining and the lighting from a room where people sit quietly.
If the room is entered from a hall, a single fixed rooflight over the middle of the floor is the simplest arrangement. A larger room, or one that gets warm, may want an opening unit, and a room with a door to the garden has another way to move air. The choice between them is set out in fixed against opening flat rooflights.
When the lantern over the kitchen needs replacing
A like-for-like swap, the council and the figure for warmth.
Is the lantern over your kitchen the one the house was built with, or the one a previous owner added? The answer affects what a replacement involves, because the planning history of the lantern may matter. A lantern already in place does not settle the position for a new one, and the council confirms the planning position of a lantern before work starts.
The planning side is discussed with Rhondda Cynon Taf and not assumed, because a lantern is a larger step than a flat rooflight. The page on replacing a roof lantern goes through what a replacement involves.
Warmth is a separate question. Approved Document L (Wales) gives a U-value no worse than 2.2 W/m²K for a new or replacement rooflight in an existing home, and it does not mention roof lanterns by name, so building control confirms how the warmth guidance applies to a lantern. For a rooflight, the unit's own surface, not just the hole it fills, is what that figure is based on.
At night the old and the new look alike from inside: black glass, a reflection of the kitchen, a faint edge where the lining meets the ceiling. The difference is in the winter, when a better-insulated unit keeps the room's warmth in and the glass is less cold to stand under.
Moisture is the last point. A kitchen with a lantern collects steam, and cold glass is where it condenses first, so a cooker hood that vents outside, or a lantern that opens, is part of the plan and not an extra.
Where the work is notifiable, we handle the Building Regulations notification with local authority building control or a registered building control approver.
| Question | Where the answer comes from |
|---|---|
| Is the new lantern acceptable for planning? | Rhondda Cynon Taf, confirmed before work |
| Which warmth guidance applies? | Building control, against Approved Document L (Wales) |
| Does it fit the existing opening? | The survey measures the upstand and the lining |
Llanharan roofs, planning and bookings
Is Llanharan within the radius you cover?
A conservation area covers part of Llanharan, I am told. What does that mean for me?
The Welsh Government's boundary map includes an area named Llanharan. If your house is inside it, a new rooflight needs a planning application and is not permitted development. The council can say whether the boundary takes in your address, and our planning guide has a section on Wales.
Can I fit opening glass over the cooker?
It can be done, and it gives steam and heat an exit. Rain is the consideration, since an open panel lets it in, so think about when the glass will be open. An electric model suits glass that is out of reach.
What does a flat rooflight need from my garage roof?
It needs a roof that can carry the unit's weight once the opening is formed, or one strengthened to do so. The build-up of the roof is looked at from the room below and from outside during the survey, so the upstand and lining are set by what the roof is actually made of. A fixed written quote follows the survey.
Is a stone house treated differently?
The planning rules look at the boundary and at listing, not at the stone. A listed house needs listed building consent for work that would affect its character, applied for through Rhondda Cynon Taf.
How do I book a survey?
Fill in the quote form, or reach us on WhatsApp, 07880 284133, or at info@supremeskylightsnewport.co.uk. Give the room, the street and whether the roof is pitched or flat.
Book your free survey
10-year workmanship guarantee.
Building Control notification handled where notifiable.