Skylights & rooflights in Huncote
Huncote’s small roofs, made brighter and finished neatly.
Huncote is a small village on the Thurlaston Brook, just west of Narborough, where cottage-scale roofs, single-storey additions and the odd barn-style room all ask for a rooflight chosen with care.
- Blaby District Council
- Thurlaston Brook village
- Cottage and barn-style roofs
Cottages, terraces and semis beside Thurlaston Brook
Huncote sits in the Blaby district of Leicestershire as a village and civil parish, about twenty road miles to the north-east of central Coventry. It lies just west of Narborough and sits on the Thurlaston Brook. At the edge of the village are Huncote Leisure Centre and, further along Forest Road near the M69, a pet rescue centre. It is a compact place, and the roofs of a compact village are on a smaller scale than those of a town: cottages, terraces, semis and a scattering of larger houses.
Rather than guess the date of every street, we describe what a homeowner in a village of this kind is likely to have. Older cottages tend to have a lower eaves line, a steeper pitch and thicker walls, with rooms under the roof that are small and short of light. Newer houses have tiled pitches over lofts, and extensions at the back with flat or low-pitched roofs.
The roof in each case decides the rooflight. A cottage roof calls for a slim unit sitting close to the plane of the slope. A tiled loft calls for a roof window sized to the rafters. A flat extension calls for a flat rooflight or a lantern. A barn-style outbuilding or garden room, if you have one, calls for something wider, because the roof is often deeper and the span longer.
Our free survey covers the rafters or joists, the covering and the room underneath. Afterwards we put a fixed written quote in your hands that says what is fitted, how the roof is flashed and sealed, and how the opening inside is finished.
Being so close to Narborough, Cosby and Whetstone, Huncote has neighbours with similar houses, and the housing around it shares many features, and the same range of rooflights tends to suit all of it. A rooflight is easier to picture once you have seen the sample against your own roof. At the survey we show you the product samples and finishes so you can judge them against your own roof and walls.
The M69 is close, and the village is within reach of Leicester, and a loft or garden room can make a good home office. For that use, daylight from above is the most useful thing it can have.
Slim windows for cottage lofts, wide glass for barn rooms
Village homes tend towards a few clear choices: a slim roof window for cottage lofts, a flat rooflight for single-storey additions, and a lantern or a wide glass unit for barn-style rooms. The roof you have points to the right one. The free survey settles which, and the choice is written into your quote with the price.
- Roof windowsFor cottage and terrace lofts, where a small window can turn a store into a room.
- Flat roof rooflightsFor single-storey additions behind the house, on a new insulated upstand.
- Roof lanternsFor barn-style and larger extension rooms with the span and height to take one.
- Sun tunnelsFor small landings and bathrooms that have no outside wall to put a window in.
Also fitted here
Near Huncote
- Narborough3 min
- Enderby7 min
- Whetstone7 min
- Cosby8 min
Drive times from Huncote village centre.
Blaby District Council and barn conversion history
Huncote falls to Blaby District Council for planning. A village house can often have a rooflight without an application, and conservation area and listing status are checked before we quote. Any Article 4 direction on your street is the council's to confirm.
Building Control is told by us when notification applies, and the rooflight meets current Building Regulations. Our rooflight planning guide gives the full rules.
If your home is a barn conversion or a building that changed use, the planning history can matter more than the house itself. Bring any decision notices or drawings to the survey, and we make sure the rooflight is consistent with what was approved.
01 Cottage lofts and low eaves
Small rooms under the roof, thick walls and a window that never quite lets enough in.
On the roof
A cottage roof has less to give than a modern one. The rafters are often close-spaced or uneven, the eaves are low and the covering, whether slate, clay tile or an older replacement, is laid in a tighter pattern. Our first job is to choose a rooflight that fits between the rafters, with the fewest cut.
A slim-framed unit sitting flush with the roof plane suits a cottage, because it reads as a line of glass in the slope. A larger roof window on a modern frame can look out of place on a small roof, so we talk about proportion at the survey. A narrow window placed high on the slope often gives a better result than a wide one placed low.
The flashing is formed to the covering, in sequence, and checked after fixing. Where a slate or tile is cracked beside the opening, we say so and put the replacement in the quote.
Chimneys are common in village roofs, and they limit where a window can go. We measure the distance from the chimney, the ridge and the eaves, and place the unit where the flashing has room to work properly.
Cottage lofts often have a floor that is a ceiling for the room below, and joists that are not designed to carry much. We take care to protect the plaster beneath and to keep weight off it while we work. If the loft is to become a bedroom, there are floor, stair and escape questions beyond the rooflight, and we tell you which ones fall to Building Control.
In the room
Rooms under a cottage roof tend to be small, and a small room is changed most by a well-made opening. We line the reveal with insulated plasterboard, angle it into the room where there is depth to do so, and finish it with a smooth plaster that takes paint cleanly.
Walls in older houses are often out of square, so the lining is built to suit the opening rather than forced into a straight line. The result looks natural, which is the aim.
The sill matters. A low sill lets light fall to the floor and gives you somewhere to put a plant. A sill that is too high leaves the lower part of the room dark. We choose the height with you, standing in the room.
If there are beams, they are left as they are, and we work around them. We protect the floor, contain the dust and sweep up before we leave.
Ventilation is a bonus. A roof window that opens gives a cottage bedroom a through draught in summer, and a venting position for winter. We set the sash so that it is reachable, and we show you how to use it.
The last thing to be done is the clean. Glass is wiped, dust sheets lifted, and the room handed back to you in a state you can paint the next day.
A cottage bedroom lit from above is a different place at night as well as by day. Stars and moonlight arrive through the glass, and a blackout blind fitted with the window gives you the choice. We describe the blind range at the survey, with sample fabrics, and fit your choice with the unit.
The short version
In a small roof, proportion matters more than size; a slim unit placed high often wins.
02 Single-storey additions and barn-style rooms
Extensions, garden rooms and long, deep roofs that need light from above.
On the roof
Many village homes have added a room at the back: a kitchen extension, a sunroom, a garden office or a converted outbuilding. The roof on such an addition is often flat or low-pitched, and the room beneath can be dim, because the walls give little glass and the ceiling is close.
A flat rooflight or a lantern fixes that. The glass sits on an insulated upstand built from the deck and is sealed into the roof covering. We check the deck is sound and the fall is enough to carry water away. If it is not, the survey tells you and the quote deals with it.
For a barn-style room, the roof is usually deeper and the span longer. A roof lantern or a wide glass unit suits that scale. It can be fitted between existing rafters or purlins, or the structure around it can be strengthened, depending on the loads. We work out which applies and write down the reason.
If an old plastic dome is fitted, we replace it with flat glass. Domes yellow and leak with age, and a new rooflight is a clear improvement in light and in warmth.
Garden rooms are often lightly built, with a roof that was never designed for a heavy unit. We check the structure and, where needed, add timber to carry the rooflight. That is a normal part of the job, shown in the quote so nothing changes on the day.
In the room
The room under a flat roof gains most when the opening is widened and splayed. A dome sits over a narrow shaft, but flat glass can sit over a wide, plastered splay that spreads the light out across the ceiling and down the walls.
In a barn-style room, the interior detail depends on what is there: exposed timbers are left alone, and the rooflight opening is framed neatly around them. A lantern has an internal box or funnel finished in plaster, painted to match the ceiling.
We talk about where the light should land: over a desk, a table, a sofa or a worktop. The splay is angled to suit, and the position is agreed on site.
Everything is made good before we leave, and the plaster is left ready for your paint.
Heat is worth thinking about in a glazed garden room. Solar-control glazing keeps the room comfortable in July, and an opening rooflight lets hot air out of the top. We describe what each option does, price it, and fit the one you choose.
Finally, we leave you with a short guide to cleaning the glass and looking after the seals, so the unit looks and works as it should for years.
For an office, a screen needs shade as well as light. An internal blind on the rooflight, manual or electric, controls glare at the desk, and we can fit one to suit.
The short version
A garden room or extension gains most from a wide splay, because the walls give so little glass.
A compact village, a compact roof: every opening has to earn its place.
Cottage looks, garden room lanterns and visits to Huncote
Will a rooflight look out of place on my Huncote cottage?
Not if the proportion is right. A slim flush unit sits quietly in the slope and reads as a line of glass from the road. We discuss size, position and frame at the free survey, and show you how each option would sit on your roof. The choice is yours, and the price in the quote is fixed. For a very small roof, we may suggest a sun tunnel or a narrow window to keep the look light.
Can a garden room or outbuilding in Huncote take a lantern?
Often yes, if the structure suits it. We check the span, the joists or purlins and the covering, and say whether the roof needs strengthening. The lantern sits on a new insulated upstand sealed into the roof. Inside, the box is plastered and made good. Everything is shown in the written quote. If a garden room is a timber building, we check the framing carefully before cutting. A timber garden room has a light frame, so the fixing is planned to suit it.
How quickly can you visit Huncote?
Huncote is roughly thirty-five minutes by road from central Coventry, and a visit can normally be offered within a few days. Send photographs of the roof and the room with the form or on WhatsApp. Nothing is charged for the survey, and the quote afterwards is fixed and written.
We survey before we price.
Then we finish the room.
Free survey · Coventry and 30 miles around
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