Heading north-west from Newport, Pontllanfraith is 18 road miles away
Skylights and rooflights across Pontllanfraith
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
- We handle the Building Control notification where notifiable
Homes for the Sirhowy Valley's pit workers
Pontllanfraith is a large village and community in the Sirhowy Valley, in Caerphilly County Borough, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It sits next to the town of Blackwood, and the Sirhowy River passes through both. In the early to mid 20th century it was home to a Welsh coal mining community, providing homes for men working in pits such as Wyllie, Penallta and Oakdale. In 1912, at the 17th-century mill in Gelligroes, amateur wireless operator Artie Moore picked up a distress signal from the RMS Titanic using wireless receiving equipment.
Houses of that era, wherever they stand, are often terraces or semis with pitched roofs and a rear addition, and a village of this size can hold homes of many other ages too. What we fit depends on the roof over the room, so the survey begins there. Old roof windows that have reached the end of their life are one starting point, and landings that never had a window at all are another.
| Type of home | Above the room | Suggested start |
|---|---|---|
| Terrace or semi from the early to mid 20th century with an old roof window | Pitched slope with a tired window in it | A VELUX replacement in the same opening |
| A house with a windowless landing | A loft above the stairs | A sun tunnel, once the loft route is checked |
| Home with an ageing rooflight on a back addition | A flat roof carrying a worn unit | A replacement chosen for its energy performance |
VELUX windows, sun tunnels and energy-efficient rooflights
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Caerphilly's planners and the Welsh rules
Planning applications from Pontllanfraith are decided by Caerphilly County Borough Council. Its conservation pages are the place to look at boundaries, and the conservation areas mapped by the Welsh Government for this part of the borough include Gelligroes.
In Wales, a rooflight put into the roof slope of a house inside a conservation area is not permitted development, so it needs a planning application; our guide to skylight planning permission sets out how the Welsh rules work. The house itself must stand within the boundary for that to bite. No flat has householder rights of this kind, and listed building consent is needed for work that would affect a listed building's character.
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Close by, we also fit in
Speckled light and a landing without any
Sun tunnels, and why bedrooms want something else.
The last part of the village name, fraith, probably refers to speckled sunlight on the water of a pool in the Sirhowy River. Daylight breaking into small bright patches would be welcome on a staircase, and some houses have a landing where it never arrives.
The top of a staircase sits in the middle of the house. Doors close around it and there is no outer wall for a window, so the only way daylight gets there is from above. That is the sun tunnel's territory: a dome on the roof gathers daylight, a tube conducts it through the loft, and a diffuser spreads it over the ceiling of the landing. It handles daylight and nothing else, so it works from first light until the sky dims.
By ten to six on a June morning the sky is already bright, and a landing that stayed dark on a winter morning becomes usable without touching a switch. In deep winter the same hour is still black, and the lamp comes on as always. After sunset the diffuser is a pale circle in the ceiling, and the lamp takes over.
Whether a house can take one comes down to its loft. The tube needs a route past roof timbers, wiring and tanks, and a straight run is simpler than one with an elbow. Two short pages help with the decision: are sun tunnels worth it weighs the idea, and the cost page for sun tunnels sets out what moves a price.
For a bedroom, a different tool suits better. A tube over a bed offers no good way to keep out a summer sunrise, whereas a window in the slope, dressed with a blackout blind, does. In a terrace that can mean one of each: a tube for the landing and a window for the room where people sleep.
Small bathrooms sit between the two. A bathroom with a pitched ceiling can take a roof window that opens, and an inner bathroom under a loft can take a tube. Steam can decide it: a sash that opens lets it out, so a tube-lit bathroom needs its air dealt with separately.
Windows, roof windows and rooflights are the fittings the Building Regulations name as controlled. Where the work is notifiable, we handle the Building Regulations notification with local authority building control or a registered building control approver.
| Room | Fitting that suits it |
|---|---|
| Landing or stairwell | Sun tunnel through the loft |
| Bedroom under the slope | Roof window with a blackout blind |
| Small bathroom | Roof window that opens, with the air handled as well |
Taking out the old roof window
What replacing in the same opening involves, and what it does not.
Open the window and look along the top of the sash. There may be a maker's label, and for a VELUX window it is a metal type sign. Read the code off it and you have the window's width and height, which is the starting point for a like-for-like swap, and a note of it before the survey saves a second look.
VELUX fits that sign to every window it made after 1968. A window older than that may have nothing to read, and the same goes for one that has been painted over. In that case a tape measure from inside the room, taken across the opening, does the same job, and the survey confirms it.
The paperwork depends on what is being done. Taking a window out and putting in a new one is building work, even like for like. A repair is not. Swapping nothing but the glass inside a frame you keep is treated separately for the energy side, so it is a different route; the answer on swapping only the glass covers it.
Ventilation comes with the swap. Approved Document F (Wales) looks at what the old window did for the room's air, and asks that the replacement leave the ventilation no worse. Where the old window had trickle vents, the replacement should have vents no smaller, under the occupant's control or automatic.
Evening is when you notice an old window's faults. The inner pane mists, the frame feels cold to the hand and the blind no longer sits flat. A new window of the same size will not change the room's shape, but it can change those three things, which is the argument for doing it before the winter.
Blinds and controls are worth deciding at the same time. A blind made for the old window will not necessarily fit the new one, and an electric or solar model brings a switch or remote into the plan. Settling these before the order avoids a second visit for a small part.
New openings are a different class of job. Cutting one where there was none usually means altering the roof structure, so it will generally need approval from a building control body. In Wales that is either the local authority service or a private registered approver, at your choice, and the notification goes to whichever you pick where the work is notifiable.
What the glass gives up in a cold back room
Energy guidance for roof windows and rooflights, side by side.
A back room under an old rooflight can be one of the cooler rooms in the house on a still evening, and an ageing unit can lose more heat than a new one. That is why energy performance matters in any replacement, as well as in a new opening.
The Welsh guidance is Approved Document L (Wales), and it gives figures as guidance and not as law. A roof window should have a U-value no worse than 1.4 W/m²K, or a Window Energy Rating of Band B. A rooflight, which stands on a kerb or upstand out of the plane of the roof, should have a U-value no worse than 2.2 W/m²K. They are two numbers for two kinds of product, and they are not interchangeable.
How a rooflight is measured explains why sizes can mislead. The area counted is the whole of the unit's surface, and the unit is often larger than the opening it covers. If the kerb comes bundled with the rooflight, the guidance reaches the kerb too.
Double and triple glazing are two of the options. Both are available on the flat and curved glass units VELUX lists, which it links to better energy efficiency and sound reduction. A page on the double or triple glazed rooflight choice looks at it, and Part L and rooflights in Wales covers the rule.
A larger unit can mean more work for the roof around it, so the size of the replacement is best settled before it is ordered.
Replacing an old unit on a back addition starts with what it stands on. The condition of the upstand and the lining below it is worth a look, because the new rooflight sits on that kerb.
After the heating goes off, the difference is easy to feel. A pane that performs well can stay closer to the room's temperature, so there can be less chill beside it and less condensation on it. A poor one can run cold and mist first. Nothing about the glass creates warmth; it only loses less of the warmth already in the room.
Pontllanfraith, in questions
Does a survey in Pontllanfraith cost anything?
No. The drive is 18 road miles heading north-west, the survey is free, and afterwards comes a fixed written quote. Pontllanfraith's planning authority is Caerphilly County Borough Council.
How do I find my VELUX window's size?
Open it and look for the metal sign along the top of the sash. The code printed on it gives the width and height, and a photograph sent beforehand is a help.
Is replacing an old roof window building work?
Replacing a window like for like counts as building work, although repairing one does not. A building control body gets the notification where the work is notifiable.
Which conservation areas are mapped near Pontllanfraith?
The Welsh Government's map lists Gelligroes among them. Permitted development does not cover a rooflight in the roof slope of a house that sits in a conservation area, so planning permission is needed, and the planning guide for Wales explains the rule. Only the house's own position matters, so Caerphilly can confirm the address.
Where does a sun tunnel go in a terrace?
On the landing, where a tube can run through the loft. A bedroom is better served by a window in the slope with a blackout blind.
What is the best way to ask about a Pontllanfraith roof?
Use the survey form, or message 07880 284133 on WhatsApp, or email info@supremeskylightsnewport.co.uk. Mention the room and, if you have it, the size code from the sign.
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10-year workmanship guarantee.
Building Control notification handled where notifiable.