27.9 road miles north-east of Bournemouth
skylights & rooflights in wellow
Bridge End, a thatched farmhouse on a seventeenth-century frame, is among the older roofs of West Wellow, and the village's later roads hold twentieth-century bungalows and newer infill plots. Every roof is measured with a tape and an inclinometer.
four kinds of roof in the village
- Older cottagesBrick or rendered walls, a few with thatch, timbers that were never cut to a pattern.
- Mid-century bungalowsA deep plan with a dark centre and a roof space above it.
- Infill housesBuilt on gaps between older plots, usually with modern roof framing.
- Rear extensionsFlat or low-pitched roofs added to kitchens and dining rooms.
what gets checked first at a Wellow address
- planning authority
- Test Valley Borough Council
- planning authority
- Test Valley: check the address
- road miles
- 27.9
Nearby
bridge end and the bungalow roads
a scattered village with mixed roofs
West Wellow is a village of mostly twentieth-century homes, with a handful of older cottages and farmhouses among them. The roof over a given front door can be three or four hundred years old or forty, and it is measured accordingly.
From farmsteads to bungalow roads
The age of a Wellow house tells us how its roof was framed.
The older buildings include listed farmhouses, among them Bridge End, a thatched farmhouse on a seventeenth-century timber frame, and Tarrants Farmhouse, now the Old Post Office, which dates in part from the late seventeenth century. West Wellow was a tithing of East Wellow and belonged to Wiltshire until 1895, when it moved into Hampshire, which is why an old deed or a family photograph can carry a surprising county name.
Most of what stands now was built in the twentieth century. The older cottages are the exception, and a few of them still carry thatch. Their roofs were framed by hand, so rafters can sit at slightly different spacings from one side of the slope to the other, and the only reliable way to find a gap wide enough for a window is to lift a tile or two and measure what is underneath.
The bungalows and houses that make up the bulk of the village were framed to a pattern. Rafters sit at regular centres, the loft is a clean rectangle, and a roof window can be planned around the timbers that are already there. That makes a mid-century bungalow the quicker roof to survey, although a dark hallway in the middle of its plan still needs the shaft down to the ceiling to be set out carefully.
Between the two sits the long run of semi-detached and detached houses from the middle decades of the twentieth century. Their roofs are mostly tiled, their lofts are often used for storage, and the question that comes up is whether the space above the landing could become a room. A loft that works for storage may not have the headroom for a bedroom, and that is measured before any window is chosen.
Infill plots have added a third kind of roof. Newer houses built in the gaps between older properties tend to have trussed rafters, and a truss is never cut for a window. On those roofs the survey looks for a window size that fits between two trusses, and a wider opening only goes ahead with a structural design approved under the Building Regulations. A roof window suits both, but the preparation differs.
Older cottage roofs
- Hand-cut rafters at uneven spacings
- Tile or thatch over deep timber, so the opening needs careful trimming
- Listing and local rules to check before anything is ordered
- Smaller window sizes often fit between existing rafters
Bungalow and infill roofs
- Rafters or trusses at regular centres
- Concrete or clay tile over a clean loft void
- Truss spacing sets the widest window without structural work
- Light needs to reach a hallway or inner bathroom
What a bungalow loft gives us to work with
The numbers we write down in a roof space before a window is chosen.
A mid-century bungalow in the village usually has a hipped roof and a loft that is too low to stand in but easy to crawl through. The tape goes across the rafters first, because every width code for a roof window is a fixed number: the opening has to sit between two rafters with room left over for the trimmer timbers, or one rafter has to be trimmed with a structural design behind it.
The inclinometer comes next. Makers publish a rated range of pitches for each roof window and each flashing kit, so the slope we read on the roof sets which models are open to you. A survey notes pitch, rafter centres and ceiling height, and your own roof will give its own readings.
The reading that most affects daylight is the one people forget to ask about: how far the ceiling sits below the rafters. In a bungalow hallway that gap is the length of the light shaft, and a longer shaft carries less light to the floor than a short one. A shaft that has to go round a duct or a tank is noted on the sheet too, and the sheet goes to you in writing before any order is placed. Where the hallway has a flat ceiling and a tiled roof directly above, a sun tunnel is sometimes the better fit.
Where a Wellow rooflight actually earns a place
A rooflight is not limited to bedrooms in the roof.
The picture most people have is a loft conversion with a window over the bed. In West Wellow the more common request is for a room that already exists and is darker than it should be. Bungalows lose light in the middle of the plan, and rear extensions added over the years often have a deep kitchen or dining area where the back door is the only source of daylight.
Extensions add a different kind of roof to the survey. A flat or low-pitched extension roof is fitted with a flat unit or a lantern instead of a pitched roof window, and the upstand height, the fall and the existing covering all go on the sheet. A flat rooflight set in a kitchen extension brings daylight into the middle of a deep room without a new wall opening.
Bathrooms need the same look. An inner bathroom with no window in an outer wall can only be lit from above, so a small roof window or a tube from the roof may be the only route for daylight. Where the loft above is shallow, the shaft is short and the light travels well; where the roof is deep, the survey weighs a tube against a window and sets out both on the sheet.
An opening rooflight helps ventilate a room, because warm air can leave through the unit once it is open. A motorised opener is worth considering in a kitchen where the unit sits out of reach, and a rain sensor can close it if the weather turns. These are options we set out at the survey so you can compare them.
Myth
A rooflight is only for converting a loft.
Most people picture a window over a bed, so they assume a house needs a loft room before a rooflight makes sense.
Fact
A rooflight lights any room that has a roof above it.
That includes a bungalow hallway, a bathroom with no outside wall, and a kitchen extension. The survey for those rooms covers the shaft or the upstand, not a loft floor.
Swapping an old rooflight for a new one
Replacement units have to meet current thermal limits.
Plenty of Wellow roofs already carry a rooflight or roof window from an earlier alteration. When one fails or its glass has misted, the replacement is covered by the current Building Regulations. For a rooflight the limit is 2.2 W/m²K. A roof window has a target of 1.4 W/m²K, with Band B of the Window Energy Rating as the alternative. A swap for the same size can therefore bring a better glass specification with it.
A new sealed glass unit set into the existing frame does not need notifying. Replacing the whole unit, frame and glass together, is, and it goes to the local authority building control service or to a private approver on the register. The Building Regulations guide lists the work that is notifiable.
Escape is the third figure on a bungalow survey. Single-storey and chalet homes can use a roof window with a large enough clear opening as the way out of a bedroom in the roof. A house with two full floors under the roof is different: the room at the top needs a protected stair, because a window cannot serve a storey more than 4.5 m up. Approved Document B sets out the sizes, and we measure the opening on the unit you are considering.
- limit for a new rooflight
- 2.2 W/m²K
- limit for a new roof window, or Band B
- 1.4 W/m²K
- highest storey a window can serve for escape
- 4.5 m
Looking up a West Wellow address with Test Valley
Test Valley Borough Council is the planning authority for the village.
West Wellow sits in the borough of Test Valley, in Hampshire, and applications are lodged with Test Valley Borough Council. If any part of the address falls inside the New Forest National Park, the New Forest National Park Authority takes over as the planning authority for that address, so the boundary map is worth a look on any road close to the forest.
We did not find a conservation area for West Wellow in the sources we checked, so the safest course is to confirm on the council's own conservation map rather than rely on that. An older cottage may be listed, and listed status raises its own question, because listed building consent is likely to be needed before any rooflight goes in. Our planning guide explains what permitted development allows.
The planning register for West Wellow is worth a search by house name as well as by number, because older cottages in the village are often known by name. A record may sit under a former name or an earlier extension, and the survey sheet lists what turns up.
Thatch is its own case. A thatched roof is a deep layer over the rafters, so the build-up at an opening differs from a tiled slope, and a thatcher has to be involved. We say so at the survey, and the planning checks apply in the same way. Neighbouring villages such as Landford and Cadnam share parts of this housing mix.
Checking a Wellow address before a rooflight is planned
- Search the National Heritage ListType in the address. A listing takes in the entire building, roof included.
- Find the council's conservation mapTest Valley publishes its designated areas online. Use the whole postal address, since a boundary may follow a lane.
- Read the planning registerPast applications on your property show any conditions attached to the original permission. Read each decision notice you find.
- Check the National Park mapIf the address is inside the boundary, the National Park Authority is the body to ask, and Test Valley is not.
- Let us run the recordsOur quote follows a look through those records, and the survey sheet lists what each one showed.
faq
what Wellow owners ask before booking
Can a rooflight go into a thatched roof?
It can be possible, but thatch is a deep layer over the rafters and a thatcher has to be part of the plan. We note the build-up on the sheet and report what the roof allows.
Is West Wellow inside the New Forest National Park?
Check your exact address on the National Park Authority's boundary map. If it falls inside, that authority handles planning; if not, Test Valley Borough Council does.
How do I find out whether my cottage is listed?
Search the address on the National Heritage List. We run the same check before quoting and record the result on the survey sheet.
How wide a window fits between rafters at 600 mm centres?
A 55 cm wide unit such as a CK04 fits the gap between two rafters at that spacing. A 78 cm wide MK04 needs one rafter trimmed, which is structural work the survey plans for.