Skylights & rooflights in Ansley Common
Rooflights for the old colliery village.
Ansley Common took its shape from coal, brick and the railway, so the roofs here run from workers' terraces and outbuildings to the extensions that later owners have added behind them.
- North Warwickshire Borough Council
- Old mining village roofs
- Close to Hartshill and Nuneaton
A pit village shaped by coal, brick and the railway
Ansley Common is 11.5 road miles out from Coventry, to the north, in the civil parish of Ansley, which also takes in Ansley, Church End, Birchley Heath and the site of the old Ansley Hall Colliery. The parish record is clear about what shaped it. Until coalmining arrived in the 1870s, the main industry was farming, with some silk ribbon weaving and brick making. After that the pit changed the village, and the colliery became important enough to have its own branch railway, which opened in 1876.
For anyone thinking about a rooflight, a village shaped by a mine and local brick making tells you a good deal about the likely housing. Communities like this grew quickly to put roofs over working families, and the usual result is rows of modest terraces and pairs of cottages, with outbuildings, sheds and later lean-to additions behind them. Brick was made close by, so brick walls under tile or slate are a reasonable expectation, though we confirm the covering of every roof at the survey and do not assume it.
Roofs of that kind were built to be practical. Rafters can be lighter than modern timber, loft spaces can be low, and the ceilings below can be plain, flat and a long way from the ridge. A rooflight can still suit them well. A roof window between the rafters can turn a cramped back bedroom into a bright one, and a flat glass unit in a rear extension can lift a kitchen that was added long after the house was built.
The parish lies on the River Bourne, a tributary of the Tame, and Bourne Brook has run through the parish with an Irish bridge ford at Ansley Mill since the 12th century. Older buildings near water and old mill sites sometimes carry outbuildings with their own roofs, and converted outbuildings are a common reason to ask us about a rooflight. We look at each structure for what it is: its span, its covering and what is underneath.
Newer homes in and around the village add their own pitched roofs, usually with trussed rafters, and we treat those separately because a truss cannot simply be cut. The opening is planned to sit between the trusses, or the timbers are strengthened to a design before any are removed.
The railway left its mark too. The line through the parish was built in 1864 as part of the Birmingham to Leicester route, and the colliery branch followed twelve years later. Housing tends to cluster along routes like these, so the oldest homes are often found near the roads and the line, with later development filling in around them. We mention it because the age of a house is the first clue to the roof we expect to find, and our survey checks the real roof against that clue.
One more local detail is worth noting for anyone with a period property. The parish has a village green, a listed war memorial built of Portland stone and Hollington sandstone, and a Norman past with traces of a castle from 1125. These are the landmarks of an old settlement. Houses nearby may be much newer, but anything that is itself old deserves a closer look before a roof is opened up.
Terrace slopes, lean-tos, outbuildings: the survey decides
In an old mining village the roof types vary widely: low terrace slopes, converted outbuildings, flat extensions and newer trussed roofs. Each suggests a different unit, and the survey settles which. You do not need to decide before we visit.
- Roof windowsA pitched terrace roof with a spare back bedroom is a natural place for a roof window set between two rafters.
- Flat roof rooflightsRear lean-tos and kitchen extensions with flat roofs take flat glass set on a new insulated upstand.
- Walk-on rooflightsA walk-on rooflight can bring daylight down from a yard or terrace roof into a room below.
- Misted rooflight replacementWhere an older sealed unit has clouded over, the whole rooflight can be swapped for a new one, with the opening made good.
Also fitted here
Near Ansley Common
- Hartshill3 min
- Mancetter8 min
- Atherstone9 min
- Nuneaton10 min
Drive times from Ansley Common.
A war memorial listing and no named conservation area
Ansley Common falls under North Warwickshire Borough Council for planning. The parish facts list a Grade II listed war memorial on the corner of Birmingham Road and Nuneaton Road, and a Grade II* listed building, yet no conservation area, so we check your street ourselves before pricing anything.
A home that is itself listed requires listed building consent, which is a separate matter from a standard householder question. The council is also the place to ask about an Article 4 direction. We send the Building Control notification whenever the work calls for one, and the rooflight planning guide sets out the national rules for you to read in advance.
Early in the conversation we ask whether the building is a house, a flat or a converted outbuilding, since the answer changes which rules apply.
01 Workers' terraces
Low slopes, lightweight rafters and back bedrooms that have never had enough daylight.
On the roof
A terrace built for mining families rarely had generous roof timbers. The rafters tend to be slim, and they may be spaced to suit the slates or tiles that were available, not a modern window width. When we survey one we measure the gap between the rafters at the exact spot where the window will go, because that gap decides the size of the unit.
Where the gap is narrower than the unit we would like, there are two ways forward. A smaller roof window fits between the rafters with no timber cut at all. Or we cut one rafter and frame the opening with new, correctly sized timbers that carry the load round it. The survey tells you which applies, and the quote names it.
The covering matters as much as the frame. On slate, we fit flashing that sits down onto the roof plane. On clay or concrete tile, the flashing is matched to the profile of the tile. In both cases we dress the flashing at the head, the sides and the sill and seal them, so the join between window and roof is weathertight before anything inside is touched.
Terrace roofs often share a party wall with the neighbour, so we also look at how close the opening comes to that wall and keep the work within your own roof.
Gutters and downpipes matter on a low roof. If the opening sits near the eaves, we check that rain running off the slope above is carried clear of the window and its flashing, and we say at the survey if a small change to the guttering would help.
In the room
The back bedroom of an old terrace is usually small and often has only a single window. A roof window above the bed or the desk adds a second source of daylight from a different direction, which changes how the room feels.
Under the window we frame the opening with timber and line the reveal with insulated plasterboard. Where the roof depth allows, the reveal is splayed, wider at the ceiling than at the glass, so the light spreads across the room instead of falling on one spot. The plaster is skimmed to meet the existing ceiling, and the edge is made good so the old plaster and the new reveal read as a single surface.
If the ceiling is lath and plaster, we cut back to sound edges first, because a careless cut can send a crack across the whole ceiling.
You get the room back ready to decorate, and the written quote already includes this finish.
A lightweight terrace ceiling may also need a little extra support around the opening, and we frame it so the plasterboard has a solid edge to fix to. The result is a reveal that stays straight and crack-free for years.
The short version
On a worker's terrace, the gap between two rafters sets the window, and the plasterwork sets how it feels.
02 Outbuildings and extensions
Converted sheds, mill-side stores and the flat roofs added at the back.
On the roof
A parish with a mill ford, a brick-making past and a mining history tends to have a good many outbuildings, and some of them have been turned into studios, workshops or extra rooms. Their roofs vary: a pitched tile roof on a brick store, a corrugated sheet, a flat felt roof laid years ago. The first thing we check is what the roof is made of and whether the structure under it will carry a new opening.
For a flat roof, the answer is usually a flat glass rooflight on an insulated kerb. We build the kerb on the existing deck, run the weathering up the upstand and fit the unit to it. If the deck itself is soft or the fall is poor, we say so at the survey and include the work in the same fixed written quote.
For a pitched outbuilding roof, a roof window set into the slope can turn a dark workshop into a usable room. Where the roof is a simple sheet or panel, we discuss the options at the survey, because the right fix depends on what is underneath.
Old plastic domes on extensions are a common sight on this kind of building, and replacing one with flat glass is one of the most effective upgrades available.
Where an outbuilding backs onto a boundary, we keep the opening and its flashing well within your own roof and tell you at the survey exactly where it will sit.
In the room
A converted outbuilding often has a lower ceiling than a house, so the shape of the reveal matters even more. We splay the sides as far as the roof depth allows and plaster them smooth, which lets the light run along the ceiling and down the walls.
In a kitchen extension that was added to an old terrace, the opening can be widened as part of the same job. A rooflight that is twice the size of the old dome lights up a dining table and a worktop that were previously in shadow.
We close the ceiling around the new opening, finish the plaster to match the old and leave the room ready to paint, so the new rooflight looks like part of the house.
If the room will be used as a studio, an office or a workshop, we ask where the desk, bench or easel will stand. Light from above is steady and shadow-free, which is why people who work with their hands often choose it, and the splay can be angled to put it where the work happens.
Electric opening units are worth considering in a closed room like this, since warm air can leave through the ceiling when the window is raised. We can talk through the choice at the survey.
An old outbuilding becomes a room people want to use once the roof lets the daylight in.
Narrow rafters and outbuildings: Ansley Common answered
My terrace has narrow rafters. Can it take a roof window?
Usually yes. A narrower unit fits between the rafters with no timber cut, and a wider one can be framed in with new timbers sized for the load. At the survey we measure the actual gap at the position you want, then name the unit and the framing in the written quote.
Can you put a rooflight into a converted outbuilding in Ansley Common?
We can look at it. We check the roof covering, the structure underneath and the room below, then recommend a roof window for a pitched roof or a flat glass rooflight for a flat one. The finished opening is plastered or lined so the room looks complete, and the quote sets out everything included.
How far is Ansley Common from your base?
The drive out from Coventry is about 20 minutes, and Hartshill, Atherstone and Nuneaton are all close by. That keeps survey visits easy to arrange. Message us on WhatsApp or use the form, and we will offer you a time.
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