Skylights & rooflights in Marston Green
A leafy commuter village, lit from above.
Marston Green became a leafy suburb in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and its detached and semi-detached homes from the 1930s now carry the roofs and rear extensions that suit a rooflight best.
- Solihull Council
- 1930s suburban roofs
- Station village survey visits
A leafy 1930s suburb with generous lofts
Marston Green is a village in the civil parish of Bickenhill and Marston Green, in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, a drive of 12.2 road miles from Coventry. It lies in the historic county of Warwickshire, though it is now part of the West Midlands. The facts about its homes are specific and useful: the village grew into a leafy suburb in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with many detached and semi-detached homes built in the 1930s, typical of suburban housing in the area.
That building period tells us a good deal about the roofs. Houses of the 1930s were usually built with pitched roofs of clay or concrete tile, hipped or gabled, over a loft space of generous height. The rafters are cut and pitched by hand, spaced more widely than in modern trussed roofs, and often a good size. That gives us room to work. A roof window can be set between two of those rafters with plenty of margin, and a wider opening is simple to frame with new timber sized for the load.
Many of these homes have also been added to. A single-storey extension at the back is a familiar change, usually with a flat or shallow roof over the kitchen or a new dining space. Others have a garage or side addition that was converted to a room, which leaves a flat roof over a space that has no outside wall to bring daylight in.
The village grew further after Birmingham Airport, the National Exhibition Centre and the nearby Chelmsley Wood estate arrived, and Marston Green has become largely a commuter village, with many residents working in Solihull and beyond. Marston Green railway station, opened in 1838 on the Birmingham loop of the West Coast Main Line, carries local services to Birmingham and to Coventry. A home within reach of a station like that is often a home where people plan to stay, and staying is what leads to the loft being finished and the kitchen being opened up.
A house kept for the long term deserves a roof finished properly, and that is the thinking behind everything we propose here.
Between the 1930s semis and the later arrivals, the village has a layered feel, and one road can hold several different roof types. We look at yours as it stands, with its own pitch, its own covering and its own history of alterations, and we write the quote from that.
Deep 1930s lofts and flat-roofed backs: what suits
A 1930s house in a commuter village usually offers a deep loft, wide rafters and a flat-roofed addition at the back. That points to a roof window, a flat glass rooflight or both, chosen once we have seen the roof.
- Roof windowsThe loft of a 1930s house often has the height and rafter spacing to take a roof window with room to spare.
- Flat roof rooflightsA flat-roofed kitchen or converted garage at the back is a natural place for a flat glass rooflight.
- VELUX windowsA VELUX window suits a pitched tile roof and can be matched to an existing window elsewhere in the house.
- Roof lanternsA rear extension of reasonable width can carry a roof lantern to lift the whole room.
Also fitted here
Near Marston Green
- Chelmsley Wood4 min
- Fordbridge7 min
- Kingshurst7 min
- Smith's Wood8 min
Drive times from Marston Green.
Solihull, not Warwickshire: whose records we search
Marston Green sits in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull and not in Warwickshire County, so the authority to ask is Solihull Council, and its records are the ones we search. The facts we hold name no conservation area for the village, which means we confirm your street case by case. An Article 4 direction is for the council alone to confirm.
We lodge the Building Control notification where a job needs one. The rooflight planning guide lays out the national position, and a flat or maisonette can differ from a house, so say which you have when you get in touch.
Many households here work in Solihull or travel by train, so we agree a survey time that suits your working day. Send a few pictures of the roof and the room on WhatsApp, and we can often answer your first questions before we come.
01 Thirties tiles and wide rafters
A deep loft with generous timbers is a good place to put a window.
On the roof
The great advantage of a roof built by hand is that it can be read. At the survey we look along the rafters from inside the loft, measure the spacing and check the condition of the timbers and the battens that carry the tiles. Wide spacing means a wider window can fit with no cutting, and a strong set of rafters means that if one has to be trimmed, the new framing round it will carry the load comfortably.
The covering on a 1930s house is commonly a clay or concrete tile that has weathered over many decades. Weathered tiles are brittle at the edges, so we lift them with care and lay them back to a good lap over the flashing. If one is cracked, we replace it with a close match from stock as part of the job, and we point it out so you can see what was done.
The flashing kit for the window is chosen for the tile profile. It runs up the sides, laps over the head and finishes with a flashing at the sill, so that water running down the roof is led round the frame and onto the tiles below.
A roof window in a loft that is already a room is simple to arrange. A loft that is used for storage can be turned into a room later, and a window fitted now can be part of that plan.
Ridge and hip tiles need attention too. If the window sits close to a hip, we plan the flashing to run clear of the hip line, so the junction stays simple and dry.
On a clay-tile roof, the colour and texture of the surrounding tiles tell us how the new flashing will look from the road. We choose a finish that settles into the roof as the tiles weather.
In the room
Houses of this age often have a plaster ceiling in good shape. We cut around the opening with a neat edge, frame it and line the reveal with insulated plasterboard. Where the roof allows, we splay the sides so the opening is wider at the ceiling than at the glass.
That splay is the difference between a hole in the roof and a window in the room. It gives the light a wide surface to fall on and softens the contrast between the bright glass and the darker ceiling around it.
The lining is skimmed to match the surrounding plaster, and the joint is made good, so that in a few weeks you cannot tell where the old ceiling ends and the new one begins.
Landings and stairwells on a 1930s plan are often dark, and a roof window above the stairs brings light through the whole house. We ask about the stair and the landing at the survey, since a rooflight there can serve two floors at once.
We also look at how the attic floor and the ceiling below are tied together. If a bedroom ceiling will be opened, the joist run decides where the opening can sit, and we set it out so the framing is neat and the edges are straight.
The short version
A roof built by hand has room in it, and the right window uses that room well.
02 Single-storey additions
Kitchens, garden rooms and converted garages with a flat roof and no daylight overhead.
On the roof
A single-storey addition is the usual way a village home gains space. Its roof is flat or nearly so, and it is the easiest place to fit a rooflight, provided the deck beneath is sound. We check that first. A flat deck that ponds water or has a soft spot is dealt with before the new unit goes on, and the work is priced in the same fixed quote.
The new rooflight sits on an upstand that raises it clear of standing water. The upstand is insulated and wrapped in weathering that is tucked beneath the unit's frame flange, so the join between roof and glass is sealed from above and from the side. For a more substantial room, a roof lantern gives a raised crown of glass above the ceiling line and an architectural look from the garden.
On a converted garage, the old roof may be older than the conversion, and we look at how it was built before we cut into it. Some are simple joists with felt, and some have been re-roofed since. The survey tells us which, and the quote names the work.
Where the addition has a barn-style pitch or a timber frame, we choose a unit that matches the angle of the roof and discuss the covering with you.
Many additions of this kind were built some years after the house, with their own flat roof, their own gutters and their own history of patches. We read these roofs carefully and tell you the facts.
In the room
A room with a flat ceiling and light from only one wall can feel deep and dim at the back. A rooflight fixes that, but only if the opening is shaped to carry the light properly. We cut the ceiling opening to the agreed size and splay it, so the light fans out across the room.
For a kitchen, we ask where the worktop, hob and table sit before the angle is set. For a garden room, we ask where people will sit. For a converted garage, we think about the stretch of wall that has no window and aim the splay to wash it.
The finish is plaster that matches the existing ceiling, ready for paint, so the opening looks as though it was always part of the room.
A well-lit extension can change how a house feels, and the work above and below the ceiling is what makes that happen.
One further point for a garden room: glass above you changes the way a room feels at night, and a rooflight can show the sky and the moon. An opening unit with a blind lets you choose between a dark room and an open one.
We talk through blinds, controls and ventilation at the survey, so the finished room works in summer and winter alike.
Doors from the new room into the old house matter too, since a bright extension next to a dim hallway can feel unbalanced. A second, smaller unit nearer the hall evens it out.
A flat roof is where a village home gains space, and a rooflight is how it gains light.
Deep lofts, West Midlands postcodes, garages: Marston Green
Our 1930s semi has a deep loft. What sort of window works there?
A roof window is the usual answer, and 1930s rafters often allow a generous one. We measure the spacing and the pitch at the survey, then recommend a size and a position. The written quote names the unit, the flashing and the finish inside, so you know what is included.
Do you work in Marston Green even though it is in the West Midlands?
Yes. The run out from Coventry takes about 21 minutes, which puts Marston Green well inside our coverage. The planning authority is Solihull Council, and we check their records for your street before we quote.
Can a converted garage take a rooflight?
In many cases it can. We look at the roof structure and the room below, then propose a flat glass rooflight if the roof is flat, or a roof window if it is pitched. The opening is finished with a splayed, plastered reveal so the room looks complete.
We survey before we price.
Then we finish the room.
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