Skylights & rooflights in Grendon
From Suckle Green to New Grendon, rooflights finished.
New Grendon grew from a hamlet into a 1950s settlement beside the old village on the A5, and its estate houses and later additions are the roofs where better glass makes the biggest difference.
- North Warwickshire Borough Council
- 1950s estate roofs
- Old and New Grendon
Old Grendon, Watling Street and the River Anker bridge
Grendon is a civil parish in North Warwickshire that includes both Old Grendon and New Grendon, 16.7 road miles and 30 minutes by road from central Coventry, directly to the north of the city. Old Grendon is a village three miles west of Atherstone and five miles east of Tamworth, centred on the A5, which is Watling Street. The parish lies on the north-western tip of Warwickshire, divided from Leicestershire by a small stream and by the River Anker. The 2021 census counted around 2,400 people in the built-up area.
Grendon is mentioned in the Domesday Book, and a few old structures remain, most notably the bridge over the River Anker, which in its current form dates back to 1633. In the woods off Farm Lane there is a well-preserved underground ice house that would have served the manor house, built of red brick with a domed ceiling and covered in a thin layer of earth.
But the housing most owners live in comes from later. Grendon was originally a small hamlet called Suckle Green, and the building of what became New Grendon did not start fully until the 1950s, when it sat within the Atherstone Rural District. That makes much of the parish a post-war settlement, and post-war settlements have a recognisable roof: a modest pitched roof, often hipped, covered in concrete tiles on light timbers, with small eaves, a single chimney and a lean-to or flat-roofed addition at the back.
Those houses were built to be affordable and warm for their day, not light. Rooms are modest, landings are narrow, and the middle of the house can be dark. Many houses of that age have since been altered by their owners: a kitchen extended, a garage converted, a loft boarded or fitted out as a bedroom.
The roofs are straightforward to work with, and the benefit of daylight is large. We start with a free survey, then give you a fixed written quote setting out the unit, its position and the finish inside.
The A5 matters to the way the parish feels. Watling Street was a Roman road, and Old Grendon sits centred on it, so traffic, noise and weather from the road shape the way many owners think about their windows and glass. A rooflight can add light without opening a room to the road, which suits a house that stands close to a busy main route.
With small parishes, where the old village and the newer estate sit close together, it is worth saying that we treat the two ends separately. An older cottage near the ice house woods, a bridge-side home by the River Anker or a 1950s semi in the newer settlement each get their own survey and their own quote.
1950s lofts, flat kitchens and inner bathrooms
Much of Grendon's housing dates from the 1950s, often with later additions. The lines below suggest the first unit we would put forward for each part of the house.
- Roof windowsA boarded loft under a post-war roof takes a roof window set between the rafters or trusses.
- Flat roof rooflightsA flat-roofed kitchen or garage addition suits flat glass on a fresh insulated kerb.
- Sun tunnelsA narrow landing or inner bathroom suits a sun tunnel through the loft.
- Misted rooflight replacementAn older unit fitted by a previous owner can often be replaced in the same opening.
Also fitted here
Near Grendon
- Dordon4 min
- Atherstone6 min
- Mancetter6 min
- Kingsbury9 min
Drive times from Grendon village centre.
Post-war permission, and listing near Old Grendon
North Warwickshire Borough Council is the planning authority for Grendon. A number of post-war houses can take a rooflight with no application, though the council confirms the position, and an Article 4 direction on a road would change it. A conservation area search on your address comes ahead of any quote, and the result is sent to you on paper.
Older buildings around Old Grendon, near the bridge over the River Anker or the woods off Farm Lane, may be listed, and listing brings a consent requirement before work begins. The Building Control notification for notifiable work is made by us. Our rooflight planning guide explains the rules that apply nationally.
01 Fifties estate houses and their roofs
Hipped tiles, small eaves and a loft that has seen a lot of boxes.
On the roof
A 1950s semi usually has a hipped roof, with all four sides sloping, and a covering of concrete interlocking tiles. The rafters are light and regularly spaced, and the roof is often framed with simple timbers rather than modern factory trusses. That makes it easier than many later houses to work on, and a roof window usually fits between two rafters without cutting either.
We check the timbers from inside the loft, then set out the opening on the roof. Tiles are lifted around it, the frame is fixed, the flashing is dressed to the tile profile and the covering is relaid. Where a rafter must be trimmed, the opening is framed with new timber and tied back into the roof.
The hips and valleys deserve care. A roof window placed too close to a hip is awkward to flash, and we choose a position that keeps the flashing simple and the result neat from the street. On a hipped roof the rear slope is usually the best choice.
Some loft conversions in these streets were done long ago, with an old roof window of a type that is no longer made. Replacing it is possible when the opening is a standard size, and the quote shows the size of the new unit and whether any alteration to the opening is needed.
Chimney stacks on estate houses were often shared between semis. We leave stacks and their flashings alone unless the covering is worn, in which case we tell you before we start.
Dormers are the main alternative to roof windows in a loft conversion on this type of house. A dormer adds floor space and headroom but takes more time and money, while a roof window keeps the roofline as it is. Some owners start with roof windows and consider a dormer only if they need more volume. We explain what each does so you can choose.
In the room
The landing and stairs in a post-war house are narrow and often dark, with no window on the upper floor. A roof window in the loft, with the stairwell open, can send daylight down. Where the loft layout does not allow that, a sun tunnel is the alternative, bringing light through a diffuser in the landing ceiling.
In a loft bedroom, the reveal is faced with insulated board and splayed as deep as the rafters permit. The plaster is skimmed to match the ceiling and left ready for painting.
These houses have often been decorated and carpeted with care, so we sheet the stairs, work tidily and clear away dust before we go. Where the job is neat, you hardly know we have been, except that the room is brighter.
A bathroom in the loft or on the landing benefits from fresh air as well as light. An opening roof window gives steam somewhere to go, and a rain sensor can close an electric one on its own. The control position is worked out at the survey so the switch or handle ends up where you will use it.
The short version
Light rafters and a hipped roof make a roof window straightforward, once the position is clear of the hips.
A narrow landing brightens the moment the roof opens above it.
02 Lean-tos, garages and flat-roofed additions
What was added at the back, and the old unit that has been there since.
On the roof
New Grendon grew in the 1950s, and a house that old has had decades to be altered. A lean-to or a garage added to the side, a kitchen pushed out at the back under a flat roof, a porch with a shallow slope: they are familiar on post-war streets. Their roofs are usually thinner and older than the main house, and they are the roofs most in need of attention.
The first decision is whether the roof beneath can carry a new rooflight. We lift the covering at the edge of the proposed opening, look at the deck and the framing, and judge the fall. A sound deck takes the insulated upstand and the flat glass directly. A weak or ponding deck needs work first, and that work is priced in the quote.
For a small lean-to or porch, a fixed flat rooflight is often enough. For a larger kitchen, an opening unit lets steam and heat escape. For a garage turned into a play space or office, a pair of roof windows or a lantern may do more.
Many of these additions carry a plastic dome or a basic fixed unit that has weathered badly. Out come the dome and kerb, in goes the new upstand with the glass on it, and the covering is brought up to the new frame.
Junctions with the main wall are inspected and re-flashed where they are worn, so the join between old house and new addition is sealed and clear.
Walk-on glass has a place on some additions, such as a flat roof over a room that doubles as a small terrace. The glass carries footsteps and lets light into the room below, so the space is useful twice over. It needs a stronger structure, and we check that on site before we suggest it.
In the room
Under an old dome the opening is typically small. With a flat glass unit in place, the ceiling hole is cut larger wherever the framing permits and the sides are bevelled outward so that the light reaches across the room. The kitchen, utility room or garage conversion immediately feels more open.
The reveal is lined, skimmed and made good, and the ceiling around it is left ready for decoration. If there are lights, vents or an extractor nearby, we plan the work around them at the survey and leave a route for the cable before the plastering.
The back of a house is often where a household spends much of its day. A brighter kitchen or utility room repays the effort every day.
Think about the heating too. A larger area of glass needs good insulation to keep a room comfortable in winter, and the energy efficient range gives much better performance than the glass of earlier decades. Replacing a thin old dome with a modern unit is a change you feel as well as see.
The extension the first owners added is the room that now needs the sky.
The short version
Inspect the deck, fit a proper upstand, then widen the shaft below.
Hipped roofs, kitchen domes and how far we come to Grendon
Our semi is a 1950s hipped-roof house. Where would a roof window go?
Usually on the rear slope, between two rafters, clear of the hips and any chimney stack. We check the framing from inside the loft at the free survey, mark the position with you and confirm the size. The flashing is made for your tile profile, and the quote sets out the finish in the room below. A dormer can be considered later if you need more headroom.
Can the old dome on our flat-roofed kitchen be replaced with something better?
Yes. We remove the dome and kerb, inspect the deck, raise a fresh insulated upstand and mount a flat glass rooflight on it, with the covering sealed to it. Inside, the opening is widened where the joists allow and the reveal is splayed and plastered. If the deck needs work, it appears in the same written quote.
How far is Grendon from you, and how fast can you come?
Grendon is 16.7 road miles from central Coventry, about 30 minutes, so surveys here fit easily into our week. Send a photograph on WhatsApp or give us a ring, and a time will be offered. The workmanship is guaranteed for ten years.
We survey before we price.
Then we finish the room.
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