Skylights & rooflights in Glenfield
Glenfield’s estates, with flat roofs and domes ready to swap.
Glenfield was enlarged between the 1920s and the 1950s when the Faire Estate was built, and its houses and later additions may well include dated domes and dim rooms.
- Blaby District Council
- Faire Estate era housing
- Dome and flat roof replacement
Faire Estate roofs and maisonettes in the old centre
Glenfield is a large village within Blaby district, Leicestershire, directly west of Leicester and just off junction 21A of the M1. It lies roughly twenty-five road miles north-east from central Coventry. It appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, but the village you see today owes more to the twentieth century: it was greatly enlarged between the 1920s and the 1950s when the Faire Estate was built.
That building history gives the roofs a clear character. Houses of the inter-war and post-war years vary in pitch and covering, so we check the loft and the roof of each one. Many have been extended at the back and the side over the decades, and those additions are usually single storey with a flat or near-flat roof. They are a large part of the story, because a flat roof is where a dated plastic dome is most likely to be found.
The village centre changed too. Some earlier buildings were demolished in the 1950s and 1960s to make room for a roundabout, and maisonettes were built in place of the grocer, post office and butcher’s shop. So there is a mix of maisonettes and traditional houses, and each has its own roof construction. Flat-roofed maisonettes and blocks are different from pitched houses, and who owns and maintains the roof is a question we ask at the start.
At a free survey we measure what you have: the pitch, the covering, the structure beneath and the room below. Then we say which rooflight fits and give you a fixed written quote. If a dome is to come out, the quote shows what replaces it, how the roof is weathered around it, and how the ceiling opening inside is finished.
Glenfield has a railway story that is hard to ignore. The first station out of Leicester West Bridge on the Leicester and Swannington Railway opened here on 17 July 1832 as the world’s third steam railway, and the Glenfield Tunnel, built by Robert Stephenson, was at the time the longest railway tunnel in the world. The station served the village between 1832 and 1928. Today the nearest station is in Leicester, and the A50, the A46 and the M1 carry most of the traffic, which suits households who travel for work and want the house itself to do more.
The Millennium Green, managed by a local trust, sits near the A50 and the boundary with Groby. Gardens in the surrounding streets vary in size, and houses that face them gain a lot from a bright rear room. That is why the back of the house gets our closest look.
Flat-topped additions, clouded glass and low pitches
Glenfield’s mix of shallow-pitched estate houses, flat-roofed additions and old domes points to a few products in particular. Pick from the roof you have: a flat-topped addition to flat glass or a lantern, a pitched loft to a roof window, and a tired or clouded unit to replacement glazing.
- Flat roof rooflightsFor single-storey additions where a dated dome is to be replaced with flat glass on a new upstand.
- Misted rooflight replacementFor rooflights whose glass has misted inside, replaced with a new sealed unit.
- Roof windowsFor shallow-pitched lofts, where headroom and pitch decide the size and position.
- Walk-on rooflightsFor flat roofs over rooms that also serve as a terrace or access, lighting the room beneath.
Also fitted here
Near Glenfield
- Kirby Muxloe5 min
- Anstey5 min
- Groby6 min
- Ratby6 min
Drive times from Glenfield village centre.
Houses, maisonettes and the freeholder's say
Glenfield's planning authority is Blaby District Council. A standard house can often fit a rooflight with no application, and conservation area status is looked up before any quote. Flats and maisonettes differ: the roof may belong to the freeholder, whose permission is needed alongside anything the council requires.
Article 4 is a matter for the council to confirm. For notifiable work, the Building Control paperwork is ours. The rooflight planning guide explains the underlying rules.
Timing matters for flats. Freeholder consent can take longer than the survey and quote, so ask for our written specification early. The installation can be arranged to follow approval, so nothing is ordered before permission is in place.
01 Estate houses and shallow pitches
Concrete tiles, low pitches and lofts that could do more.
On the roof
The shallower the pitch of a roof, the more carefully the rooflight has to be chosen. A roof window has a minimum pitch for which its flashing is rated, and below that the manufacturer’s kit does not apply. On a shallow estate roof, we measure the pitch at the survey and pick a window and flashing that are intended for it.
Where the roof is too shallow for a standard roof window, there are other answers: a window rated for lower pitches, a flat rooflight set on an upstand, or a different position on the roof where the pitch is steeper. We set the options out and tell you which we recommend.
Concrete tiles of that era are uniform and well-fitting, which makes the flashing easy to lay neatly. Where tiles have been replaced over the years with mismatched ones, we adjust, and where a batten near the opening has rotted, the quote includes the fix.
Loft headroom on these houses can be modest. A window that sits at the right height gives a view out and light in, even where the sloping ceiling is low, and we advise on the position with that in mind.
One more thing to look at is the verge and the eaves. On older estate houses the bargeboards and soffits may have aged, and a roof window is a good moment to note them. We tell you what we see, and anything beyond the rooflight is yours to decide on, shown separately in the quote.
In the room
The inside of a shallow roof has a flatter ceiling than a steep one, so the splay has less room to work with. We still line the reveal with insulated plasterboard and splay it as far as we can and finish it clean, because even a small splay spreads the light out of the opening and into the room.
A loft in an estate house is often a storage space and a bedroom in waiting. Light is the first thing it needs. One or two windows, correctly placed, turn it into a room that can be used. Ventilation follows from an opening sash.
We protect the floor below the opening, close off the work area from the rest of the house and clear up every day. The house stays liveable throughout.
The finish is a smooth plaster surface ready to paint, with the frame set tight against it. You are left with a clean, finished room.
Often the best position for a window on these roofs is not the middle of the slope. It might be higher up, where the ceiling is tallest, or towards the gable where the floor space is greatest. At the survey we climb into the loft with you, mark the options on the rafters, and choose together.
For a family with a growing child, a loft room is often the answer to a shared bedroom. We think about the practical things: a window that opens safely, a sill that cannot be climbed, and a blind that keeps the room dark on a summer evening. Each can be fitted with the rooflight and priced in the same quote.
The short version
On a shallow pitch, check the flashing rating first; the glass comes second.
02 Flat roofs and dated domes
Extensions, maisonettes and the plastic domes that came with them.
On the roof
Plastic domes were a popular way to light a kitchen or hallway under a flat roof. After years of sun and weather they yellow, craze, leak or cloud between their two skins, and they are poor insulators. Replacing one with a flat glass rooflight is a worthwhile change.
The dome and its kerb come out first, then we check the deck, build up a new insulated upstand and fit the flat glass unit, then seal the covering up to it. If the deck has soft spots or the covering is near the end of its life, the survey identifies them, and the quote deals with them alongside the glass.
For a maisonette or a block with a shared roof, the roof is often the freeholder’s. Their permission is needed and so is clarity about who maintains the covering. We can supply a written specification to show them, so the request is easy to make.
Where a flat roof is also used for access, a walk-on rooflight is made to take foot traffic and lets daylight into the room below. It is a good answer where a roof doubles as a terrace.
Flat roofs of this age have often been recovered more than once. We look at how many layers there are, where the water sits, and whether the fall is enough to clear it. A rooflight should go on a deck that is sound and falls to the gutter, so we deal with those points honestly in the quote.
In the room
A dome sits over a shaft, often a narrow square, and the light from it is poor. When the dome goes, the shaft can be widened where the joists permit and the reveal splayed, so the room gets far more daylight from a similar opening.
It is worth deciding where the light should fall. In a kitchen, over the worktop or the table; in a hallway, down the middle. The splay can be tilted to suit. We discuss it at the survey and write it into the quote.
Plastering follows, with a smooth finish, a neat corner and a clean edge to the frame. The opening is ready to paint when we leave.
If lights, extractor ducts or cables run through the ceiling near the opening, we find that out beforehand and plan around it.
Ventilation matters in a kitchen that is being brightened. An opening rooflight, electric or manual, lets steam and heat leave through the roof. We explain the options and the price of each, and fit the one you choose with a rain sensor if you want automatic closing.
After the job, the surfaces are cleaned, the glass is wiped, and the old dome and its debris leave with us.
The short version
Replacing a dome with flat glass is the quickest way to brighten an estate-house kitchen.
Between the 1920s and 1950s Glenfield grew; its roofs are still catching up.
Low pitches, maisonettes, a quick visit: Glenfield asks
Is the roof pitch on my Glenfield house too low for a roof window?
It may not be. Roof windows come with a rated pitch range, and we measure yours at the free survey. If the pitch is low, we suggest a window rated for it, a flat rooflight on an upstand, or a position where the roof is steeper. The recommendation goes into a fixed written quote with the finish inside. A photograph of the roof from the garden and one of the loft help us give a first view. If your loft is shallow, we will say plainly whether a roof window or a different position makes sense.
Who decides about a rooflight on a Glenfield maisonette?
Usually the freeholder or management company for the roof, as well as the council where permission applies. We check the planning position and can provide a written specification to send to the freeholder. If the work is notifiable, we handle the Building Control notification as part of the job. We aim to make the freeholder’s decision as simple as we can.
How soon can you visit a house in Glenfield?
Glenfield is a drive of roughly thirty-four minutes from central Coventry. Surveys are easy to arrange: send the form or WhatsApp us, and a time is offered. Anything you can add, such as a photograph of the roof from the garden and one of the loft, helps a first view.
We survey before we price.
Then we finish the room.
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