Monmouthshire, north-east of Newport by 23 road miles
Monmouth rooflights and skylights
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
- We handle the Building Control notification where notifiable
Where the Monnow meets the Wye
Monmouth (Trefynwy) is a market town in Monmouthshire, at the point where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, two miles from the border between Wales and England. A small Roman fort called Blestium stood here, and the town became established after the Normans built Monmouth Castle; King Henry V was born at the castle in 1386. The medieval stone gated bridge is the only one of its type remaining in Britain. Four railways were built to serve Monmouth between 1857 and 1883, and the A40 bypassed the town in 1966.
Roofs follow the age of the house. Terraces and townhouses from older streets tend to be slated or clad in clay tile, twentieth-century semis more often wear concrete tiles, and a flat-roofed extension at the back can sit under either. The survey starts with three things over your chosen room: the roof covering, how steep the slope is, and the timbers underneath.
| Kind of home | What sits over the room | Where we would begin |
|---|---|---|
| Stone or brick terrace, or a townhouse | Pitched slate or clay tile, sometimes with a lower wing at the back | A conservation roof window in the main slope, once listed status is checked |
| Semi from the 1930s to the 1960s | Pitched concrete tile over a loft | Two roof windows side by side to light a loft room |
| Newer house whose landing has no outside wall | Pitched, with loft space between roof and ceiling | A sun tunnel dropped through the loft to the ceiling below |
| House with a kitchen added onto the back | Low-pitched or flat roof over the addition | A flat rooflight, or a taller lantern over the dining end |
Three we reach for in Monmouth
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Monmouthshire and the Welsh rules
Monmouth's planning authority is Monmouthshire County Council. Under Welsh permitted development, a house can take a rooflight within limits, and our planning guide for Wales spells those limits out.
A house inside a conservation area cannot use permitted development for a new rooflight, so it needs a planning application. The Welsh Government's boundary map includes an area named Monmouth (Central), and Monmouthshire's list of conservation area appraisals includes one for Monmouth. Boundaries cut through streets, so your own address is what counts. The council's heritage pages have a way to look an address up, and that is worth doing early.
Flats have no householder permitted development rights. Where an Article 4 direction applies, or a condition came with the house's original planning permission, those rights can already be gone. On a listed house, work that would affect its character needs listed building consent from Monmouthshire County Council as the planning authority. The Welsh Ministers compile the list of listed buildings, on Cadw's recommendation.
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Other pages for places in the area
The loft room, early in June
Roof windows, early light and the blind that answers it.
In June the sky brightens early, and a bedroom in the loft has its window in the roof, so the morning lands on the pillow instead of at a curtain. Some people enjoy that. Anyone who sleeps badly needs the blind chosen alongside the window, not afterwards.
Approved Document L (Wales) describes a roof window as one fitted in the same orientation as the roof around it. A pair side by side gives a wide loft room more daylight than a single window, and whether a pair fits depends on the timbers. Cutting an opening can call for changes to the roof structure, and the roof may need strengthening to take the weight of the window, so the rafters are read on the survey before a position is settled.
The other end of the day is different. When the light has gone, the glass in a bedroom roof reads black and gives the room back to you, bedside lamp included. A blackout blind turns that mirror into a plain dark panel when you want one.
Air is the next question. A loft room keeps the warmth of a June afternoon, so a sash that opens earns its place. Approved Document F (Wales) lists purge ventilation, a quick way to air a room, among the needs of every habitable room, and says an opening window can supply it.
A loft bedroom also draws in fire safety. Approved Document B (Wales) covers escape from upper floors, which our Welsh planning guide sets out, and what a loft conversion does to the stairway below, and we go through that with you at the survey. Where the work is notifiable we handle the Building Regulations notification with local authority building control or a registered building control approver.
One June day under the slope
- 04:50Early lightA bare window fills the room before the alarm.
- 13:30Warm afternoonAn opening sash lets the heat out of the loft.
- 23:15Lamp onThe glass turns black and holds the room's reflection.
- 23:45Blind downA blackout blind leaves one even dark panel.
Slate on the street side
When a conservation area or a listing sits over the choice.
Start with two questions that have nothing to do with glass. Is the house in a conservation area, and is it listed? In Wales both change what you can do to a roof slope, and both are quicker to settle before a window is chosen than after.
A conservation area takes away the permitted development right for a new rooflight on a house. The route is then a planning application, and the council decides it. Listing is a separate matter. Where a rooflight would affect a listed building's character as a building of special architectural or historic interest, listed building consent is needed, and consent covers features inside as well as outside. Cadw notes that replacing traditional windows with uPVC on a listed building will not normally be acceptable, which shows how closely the detail gets read.
Replacement is a lighter case in one respect. Fitting new glass into the frame already there falls outside building work as far as the energy rules go, whereas swapping the whole window or roof window is building work even when it is like for like.
VELUX makes a conservation roof window, and the glazing in its product sheet pairs a laminated inner pane with 16 mm of argon and a toughened 4 mm outer pane. Whether a window of that kind suits a particular slope is a decision for the council, and we confirm it with Monmouthshire before an order is placed.
Warmth is the other limit. For a new or replacement roof window in an existing home, the guidance in Approved Document L (Wales) is a U-value no worse than 1.4 W/m²K, or Window Energy Rating band B. A replacement on a home of architectural or historic interest that cannot reach 1.4 has a fallback of 1.2 W/m²K centre-pane glazing or low-e secondary glazing.
If the slope faces the street and you are unsure what applies, ask before ordering. Our conservation area guide for Wales goes into the questions in more depth.
| The question | Who answers it |
|---|---|
| A new rooflight on a house in a conservation area | Monmouthshire, through a planning application |
| Work on a listed house that touches its character | Monmouthshire, through listed building consent |
| How warm the new window should be | Approved Document L (Wales) guidance: 1.4 W/m²K or band B |
Supper beneath the flat roof
Rooflights and lanterns over an extension at the back.
An extension at the back of an older house often swaps a wall of windows for a ceiling of them. The kitchen gains floor space, and the part furthest from the garden doors loses its daylight. Glass in the flat roof puts some of it back.
A flat rooflight sits on an upstand above the roof and stays low, while a lantern stands taller and has pitched glass. Approved Document L (Wales) defines a rooflight as a glazed unit installed out of plane with the roof, on a kerb or upstand, and its guidance for a new or replacement one in an existing home is a U-value no worse than 2.2 W/m²K; it does not mention roof lanterns by name. A comparison of the lantern and the flat rooflight lays out how the two differ. A rooflight's U-value is worked out from the whole developed surface of the unit, which can exceed the size of the cut-out in the roof, and where the kerb is supplied with the rooflight as one assembly the 2.2 limit covers the kerb too. Double or triple glazing is offered on VELUX's flat and curved glass rooflights, which the maker says is for better energy efficiency and less noise.
Planning for a lantern is confirmed with Monmouthshire before work starts, and we ask early because the answer shapes the design.
Supper is when the glass shows its other face. With the sky dark, the panel overhead reflects the pendant lamp, the hob and the person at the sink. A tidy reveal reads as a calm dark square. A ragged one looks like a gap in the ceiling, so the lining is worked out at the survey.
Steam is the last point. The glass is a cold surface in a kitchen, and moisture can gather on it while cooking. A cooker hood that ducts outside helps, and a rooflight that opens gives steam another way out. For glass that sits out of reach above the table, electric opening rooflights are the product to read about.
Monmouth questions, answered
Do you come out as far as Monmouth?
We do. Monmouth is a drive of 23 road miles from Newport, inside the 30 miles we cover, and the survey costs nothing. Raglan has its own page, Raglan, if you are comparing places nearby.
Can a rooflight go into a house in the town centre?
That turns on the boundary. The Welsh Government's map includes a conservation area named Monmouth (Central), and inside a conservation area a new rooflight on a house is not permitted development, so it needs a planning application. Our planning guide sets out the rules for Wales, and Monmouthshire can say whether your address is inside a boundary.
Who gives consent if the house is listed?
Listed building consent is applied for through Monmouthshire County Council, and it is needed where the work would affect the building's character. Cadw recommends which buildings are listed, and the Welsh Ministers compile the list.
What suits a landing that has no outside wall?
A sun tunnel suits a stairwell, a landing or a small bathroom, provided the loft allows a run from roof to ceiling. It carries daylight only, so a bedroom is better served by an opening roof window, plus a blackout blind.
My old roof window has a failed seal: is swapping it a big job?
Swapping a roof window for a matching one counts as building work; repairing one does not. Our page on swapping out an old skylight covers the options. On a VELUX window, the size code is printed on the type sign, so a picture of that sign speeds things up.
Where do we begin if we want a Monmouth survey booked?
Send the quote form, write to info@supremeskylightsnewport.co.uk, or reach us on WhatsApp, 07880 284133. Tell us the room and the street.
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10-year workmanship guarantee.
Building Control notification handled where notifiable.