17 road miles west-north-west of Bournemouth
skylights & rooflights in charlton marshall
Charlton Marshall's conservation area, designated in 1995, holds the Grade I listed church of St Mary, and the older cottages beside it give way to bungalows and newer homes strung along the A350 towards Blandford. We take tape readings on every roof.
a long village with older roofs at its heart
- Village cottagesOlder timbers, irregular rafters, listing and conservation to check.
- BungalowsSingle-storey plans, a loft void above a dim hall.
- Detached family homesLarger plots, loft rooms waiting to be lit.
- Extensions and outbuildingsFlat roofs behind and beside older houses.
what we look up for a Charlton Marshall address
- planning authority
- Dorset Council
- conservation area
- village: check the address
- road miles
- 17
rooflights fitted in Charlton Marshall and nearby
since the church rebuild
a stretched-out village that keeps its history close
The village lies a couple of miles south of Blandford Forum on the A350, on a terrace above the River Stour. Its older buildings and its newer ones need different questions asked, and the words used on a survey sheet are a good place to begin.
Reading a roof in a village that grew in a line
Dorset Council handles planning, and the survey sheet leans on a handful of terms.
Charlton Marshall is long and thin. The village follows the road and the river terrace rather than clustering round a green, and the older buildings are spread along it among later houses. The parish church, with a tower from the fifteenth century and a main body rebuilt in the early eighteenth, gives the village its historic anchor, and the Stour runs close by below the river terrace. Houses of different ages sit side by side, so one street can hold a cottage with hand-cut timbers next door to a bungalow of a later decade.
A road like that shapes the way daylight reaches the houses. Houses on the long frontage have gardens behind them, and many extensions have been added at the back over the years. The result is a run of deep plans, where the middle room is a long way from any window. People mention this early on: the kitchen they extended, the hall they have always had to light in the daytime, the box room at the top of the stairs that cannot be used as anything but storage.
That mix means no two surveys start from the same assumptions. Planning here sits with Dorset Council, which absorbed the old North Dorset district, and the council's records include a conservation area for the village, designated in 1995, with the Grade I listed church of St Mary inside it. The permitted development rules have their own page, the planning guide, so this part sticks to the roofs and the vocabulary used to describe them.
When a quote refers to a trimmer, a flashing or a kerb, you can hold the word up against your own roof and see whether it fits. Here are the terms that turn up on village houses.
Terms from a village roof survey
- Rafter
- A sloping timber running from the ridge to the wall plate, carrying the battens and the tiles.
- Trimmer
- A short timber fixed across the gap where rafters are cut, so that the load travels around a new opening.
- Flashing
- A shaped collar that seals the joint between a roof window frame and the tiles or slates around it.
- Kerb
- A raised upstand around a flat-roof opening, built up so the rooflight stands clear of water on the covering.
- Wall plate
- The timber laid along the top of the wall on which the rafters rest.
- Listed building consent
- Separate permission needed for works to a listed building, in addition to anything else the work requires.
Cottages, bungalows and newer plots along the A350
The age of the house points to what is likely in the roof before the first ladder goes up.
The oldest Charlton Marshall houses are cottages, and any that are listed need checking. Listing is looked up by address in the national list that Historic England keeps, and a listed roof calls for consent before anything is cut. A thatched cottage raises a separate point. Thatch is dressed round any frame by a thatcher, so the position of a window and the neatness of the edge are agreed with that trade first, at the survey, and no order goes in before then.
Bungalows and detached houses from the twentieth century make up much of the rest. Their roofs are covered in clay or concrete tile and framed with cut timbers or, on later builds, trusses. A truss is a factory-made frame that cannot be cut on site, so the first question on a later house is whether the window will fit between two of them. A bungalow tends to have a deep plan and an inner hall with no window of its own, and the loft above it holds the answer. Detached homes on larger plots either have a loft room already or have a loft that could take one, and a roof window is the first thing owners ask about. In a loft that has already been converted, the question changes to whether the existing window is big enough, high enough and able to open. Replacing a small, old unit with a larger modern one can improve a room without altering its layout, though the opening may need to grow, and that brings structure into the job. Cutting wider into a pitched roof means more rafters trimmed, and the Building Regulations route applies in the same way as for a fresh opening. A second option is to keep the opening and fit a better window in it, which suits a room that needs better glazing more than it needs more light.
Garages, studios and rear extensions with flat roofs turn up behind houses of every age. A flat rooflight can turn a dark garage conversion or studio into a usable room, though the covering and the fall of the roof both need checking before a kerb is built. A roof lantern is the larger version of the same idea for a bigger extension, and it needs a supporting kerb designed for its weight. Because the glass is heavier and the opening wider, the roof structure around it gets a closer look than it would for a small window.
| House type | Roof detail | First measurement |
|---|---|---|
| Older cottage | Hand-cut rafters, mixed covering | Gap between each pair of rafters |
| Thatched cottage | Thatch over timber frame | Position agreed with the thatcher |
| Mid-century bungalow | Tile over cut or trussed frame | Loft depth above the hall |
| Detached family house | Pitched tile, often a roomy loft | Headroom and floor strength |
| Garage or studio | Flat roof with a covering | Fall and kerb height |
What shapes the cost of a village rooflight job
No figures here, because the survey fixes them. These are the things that move the total up or down.
A price for a rooflight cannot be given from a postcode. It comes from the measurements and the choices that follow, and in a village with such varied housing those can differ a great deal from one gate to the next. Every quote we issue is built from the survey sheet, so the line items correspond to things that were measured.
The largest swing is structural. Dropping a window into a gap between rafters is one job. Cutting rafters and trimming around the opening is another, and a trussed roof can need an engineer's input before anything happens. After that come the glass specification, the size of the unit and the finish inside, because plastering and lining a light well takes time.
Access follows. A house that stands back from the road with space for a tower is easier to work on than a cottage whose only approach is a narrow gate. Prices are left off because each depends on your roof, and these five items cover what to compare between quotes.
A fixed price quoted without a visit tends to leave out one of them, usually the finish inside or the work to the covering, and the gap shows up later as an extra. A quote tied to a survey sheet names each item, so a missing line is easy to spot. If two quotes differ, set them against the sheet and look for the line one has and the other has dropped.
Factors that move a Charlton Marshall quote
- Structure of the roofFitting between rafters, trimming around cut rafters, or a design for a trussed roof.
- Size and type of unitSmall and large roof windows, flat rooflights and lanterns each sit at a different level.
- Glass and fittingsSolar control, a blind, an electric opener or a higher thermal specification add to the base unit.
- Covering and flashingTile, slate and thatch each need a different flashing or detail around the frame.
- Finish insideA light well through a loft needs boarding, plaster and decoration to match the room.
How a Charlton Marshall job runs from survey to fitting
The order of work stays the same, whatever type of house it is.
A job starts with a visit to measure. We climb to the roof, take the readings and record them on the survey sheet, which you keep whatever you decide next. The same visit is the time to talk about which rooms you want lit, which slope you would choose, and how you want the finished room to look. Bring any earlier paperwork you have, such as plans from a previous extension or a decision notice; it saves time later and sometimes answers a planning question on the spot.
Fitting itself is quick in comparison with the preparation. For a roof window, the tiles around the opening are lifted, the rafters are trimmed where needed, the frame is set and the flashing is lapped into the covering course by course. The inside is then boarded and finished. Once the work is complete, the notification to building control is made where the work calls for it, and the paperwork is passed to you with the survey sheet.
Product choice comes next. Your options may include a fixed or opening window, a blind, a solar control pane, or an electric opener for a window you cannot reach. Each is shown on the sheet with its effect on the opening, and an opening or electric rooflight is explained on its own page.
Checks follow. Planning, listing and building control are looked up for the address, and you are told what each shows. Any planning application goes to Dorset Council. Where Building Regulations apply, a registered building control approver or the local authority handles the notification, and we explain which route suits the work.
Nearby Blandford Forum, Spetisbury and Blandford St Mary share similar housing, so a visit to one of them raises the same questions. For a flat roof or lantern we also check the supports.
Survey to finished room
- Measure on the roofSpacing of the rafters, slope, covering and loft depth go onto the survey sheet in your hands.
- Check the addressConservation, listing and past planning decisions are looked up and recorded in writing.
- Agree the productThe size code or kerb size is matched to the measured gap, and the glass and any blind or opener are chosen.
- Fit and finishThe opening is formed, the unit is flashed into the covering, and the inside is lined and left tidy.
faq
things Charlton Marshall owners ask
Is Charlton Marshall a conservation area?
Dorset Council's records include a conservation area for the village. Whether your house sits inside it depends on the exact address, which you can look up on the council's map or leave with us to confirm before quoting.
Can a thatched cottage have a roof window?
It can be done, but the thatcher has to be part of the planning. The detail around the frame matters as much as the window, so the position is agreed with the thatcher first.
My bungalow near the A350 has a dark inner hall. What are my options?
Either a roof window with a boxed light well or a sun tunnel. The loft depth and the slopes on offer point to one of them, and both are measured.
Will you work out of the village, towards Blandford?
Yes. Blandford Forum, Spetisbury and the villages between are all within our survey area.