Skylights & rooflights in Bishop's Itchington
Bishop's Itchington homes, lit from above.
Two miles from the M40 and half a mile from the Chiltern Main Line, Bishop's Itchington suits households that commute, and their detached houses and home offices are where our rooflights go.
- Stratford-on-Avon District Council
- M40 and Chiltern line commuters
- Home offices and garages
Rail and motorway access, and a village named for its river
Bishop's Itchington is a Warwickshire village within the Stratford-on-Avon district, 19 road miles and 30 minutes by road from central Coventry, heading south. It is about three miles south-south-west of Southam and six and a half miles south-east of Royal Leamington Spa. The 2021 census counted around 2,530 people in the built-up area. The River Itchen flows north through the parish, and the village takes its name from the river.
The access is what stands out. Junction 12 of the M40 is about two miles south-west of the village, the A423 bounds it partly on the east, and the Chiltern Main Line passes through the parish less than half a mile east. The Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway was built through the parish, and in 1852 Southam Road and Harbury station opened at Deppers Bridge, a mile north of the village. The railway remains open, carrying both Chiltern Railways and CrossCountry passenger trains. That kind of access suits households who work elsewhere and come home to a village.
The railway also served a local works. Completion of the line in 1852 made it easier for the works to obtain coal and distribute its lime and cement, and the Great Western revised the railway junction to the works in 1883. Industry of that kind left its mark on the village, but many roofs in a village like this are likely to belong to homes built for families: detached and semi-detached houses with tiled pitched roofs, garages, and rear extensions.
Older buildings exist too. Parts of the chapel date from the 17th century, and a small brick-built tower was added to it in 1834. Any building of that sort is a candidate for listing and gets checked first.
Commuter households have particular wishes. A spare room that has become a home office wants daylight without glare. A kitchen-diner wants brightness in the middle of the room. A dark landing or utility room wants a source of light with no window to give it. A garage conversion needs the sky.
The first step is a free survey; the quote that follows is fixed and in writing.
The railway also had a signal box, built in 1899, and the standard gauge line that served the works survived until the 1960s. Those details place the village in a century and a half of rail history, and they also remind us that roofs here have been added to and altered through every one of those decades. Two houses on one street can differ widely, so each survey starts from the roof in front of us.
Home offices, big kitchens and windowless landings
For households in Bishop's Itchington who travel for work, the common rooms to brighten are the home office, the kitchen and the landing. The lines below show the unit we would start with in each.
- Roof windowsA loft room used as an office or bedroom takes a roof window with the reveal splayed towards the desk or bed.
- Roof lanternsA large kitchen extension on a detached house is the usual home for a roof lantern.
- Sun tunnelsA landing, utility room or inner bathroom with no outside wall gets daylight from a sun tunnel.
- Flat roof rooflightsA converted garage with a flat or shallow roof takes a flat glass rooflight.
Also fitted here
Near Bishop's Itchington
- Harbury5 min
- Southam7 min
- Long Itchington12 min
- Radford Semele11 min
Drive times from Bishop's Itchington village centre.
Listing, consent and a chapel with 17th century parts
Planning in Bishop's Itchington falls to Stratford-on-Avon District Council. A good number of family houses can take a rooflight without an application, but the council confirms the position, while a conservation area, or an Article 4 direction, would alter it. Your address is checked for both before a quote, with the result written down for you.
Parts of the village chapel date from the 17th century, and any building of that age that is listed needs listed building consent, and that has to be in hand before work begins. Notifiable installations are reported to Building Control by us. The wider rules are set out in our rooflight planning guide, worth reading ahead of the survey.
Not sure how your street is classed? WhatsApp the address and we will find out before the visit. It is better to settle this first, before the survey day.
01 Commuter houses and their lofts
Detached family homes where the loft has become the study.
On the roof
The loft is often where a commuter household first thinks about a rooflight. A boarded space over the bedrooms can become an office, a guest room or a teenager's retreat, and a roof window is the first step. Before anything else we want to know how the roof is framed, because that decides the size and cost.
On factory trusses, the window is sized to fit between two of them and tied into the timbers either side. On a cut roof with rafters and purlins, we have more freedom, and two windows side by side can give an even light. We open the hatch, look, and tell you which you have.
The outside work is simple to describe and exacting to do. Tiles are lifted, the frame is set at the right height, the flashing kit for your tile is dressed into place and the covering is laid back neatly around the new glass.
If the house faces south, a roof window can add a lot of warmth in summer. We talk about glazing that limits heat gain, and about blinds, which can be fitted to most roof windows. Opening units help as well, since warm air leaves at the highest point.
For roof windows that need to be replaced, as opposed to newly fitted, the job is shorter, and the quote shows the size of the existing opening and the new unit.
Bungalows can be found in villages of this size, and their roofs are a good candidate for a pair of roof windows over the rooms in the middle of the plan. A bungalow loft that has never been used is a blank canvas, and a rooflight is often how an owner finds out whether the space is worth converting.
In the room
Desks and screens are particular about light. Direct sun on a monitor is a nuisance, and a dark corner is tiring. We ask where the desk will go before we mark the roof, then pick a position and a reveal angle that lights the work surface without throwing glare at the screen.
Insulated board lines the reveal, which is splayed in line with the depth of the roof, skimmed to match the ceiling and handed over ready for paint. In a loft room with sloping walls, the splay helps spread the light into the corners.
We protect the stairs, landing and floors, because the route to a loft passes through the rest of the house. When the job is complete the dust is cleared and the room is ready to use.
A home office also has to cope with changing light through the day. A roof window facing north gives steady, even light with little glare, while one facing south gives more brightness and warmth. We talk through aspect with you, and blinds can be chosen to soften sun at its strongest.
If the room is a bedroom, think about where the bed will stand. A window directly above the pillow can be bright at dawn, while one over the foot of the bed lets in sky without waking anyone early. Small choices of this kind are easy to settle at the survey, with a tape measure and a pencil mark on the rafter.
The short version
Choose the window position by the desk, not by the tile, and the room will work for years.
02 Garages, kitchens and dark landings
The rooms that were built without enough sky.
On the roof
A garage conversion changes what a roof must do. A garage roof is often a simple pitched or flat structure with minimal insulation, and once the space is lived in, the lack of daylight becomes obvious. A flat glass rooflight or a pair of roof windows can fix that in a single visit once the roof has been inspected.
For a kitchen extension, a lantern is the natural choice where the ceiling is high enough and the budget allows. It sits on an insulated upstand, with a covering sealed up to it, and brings daylight into the middle of the room. A flat rooflight is the simpler alternative where the roof is low or the budget tighter.
Opening units are worth considering in both. Warm air and cooking heat leave a room through a rooflight that opens, and a rain sensor can close an electric one if a shower arrives. We plan the power supply and control position at the survey.
Where a room sits in the middle of the house, under a pitched roof with a loft above, a sun tunnel can light it without changing the roof structure. Three parts do it: a small round opening, a reflective tube and a ceiling diffuser. The work is quick.
If a flat roof in poor condition lies under the new rooflight, we advise renewing it at the same time and price both in one quote.
The roofs of conservatories, porches and side extensions are another set of candidates. Where an older glazed roof is hot, cold or leaking, replacing it with an insulated glazed roof or a lantern brings the room into regular use. We survey the supporting structure before agreeing the work.
In the room
Inside a converted garage, the ceiling is often plasterboard fixed to joists, and straightforward to open. The opening is framed, the reveal lined and splayed, and the finish skimmed flush with the surrounding ceiling. A room that used to be a garage then reads as a room.
For a kitchen, we plan the position over the part of the room that most needs daylight. A bright island or table changes how the whole space feels. A lantern's plastered upstand is finished crisply, and the surrounding ceiling is tidied to match.
Landings and inner rooms with a sun tunnel get a diffuser set flush in the ceiling, and the plaster is made good around it. The change is noticed the first day: the landing is bright without the light on.
Where a rooflight is added to an extension that has already been decorated, we take particular care of the finished surfaces. Dust sheets cover floors and units, and we vacuum as we go. The ceiling is made good and left ready for paint, so you can finish it in your own colour the same week.
A room that was never given a window can be given the sky.
The short version
Garage, kitchen or landing: the roof decides the unit, and the plaster decides how it looks.
Loft offices, sun tunnels and distance: Bishop's Itchington
We work from home. Where should the roof window go in a loft office?
Where it lights the desk without glare on the screen. We ask where the desk and monitor will sit, check the roof framing from inside the loft, and mark the position with you at the free survey. The reveal is splayed to spread light into the room, and the quote sets out the size, position and finish before any work is booked.
Is a sun tunnel really enough for a windowless landing?
On a bright day it lights a landing well, and it needs no change to the roof structure. A small round opening, a reflective tube through the loft and a ceiling diffuser carry the daylight down. We check the loft layout first to be sure the tube can run, and make good the ceiling around the diffuser.
How far is Bishop's Itchington from Coventry for a survey?
Bishop's Itchington is 19 road miles from central Coventry, about 30 minutes, so it sits comfortably in our range. WhatsApp us a photograph of the roof or room, or phone, and a survey time will be offered. Our workmanship carries a ten-year guarantee.
We survey before we price.
Then we finish the room.
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