Skylights & rooflights in Ratby
Commuter-village homes, with the dark middle fixed.
Ratby is a commuter village in the Leicester urban area, a mile from the M1 and five miles from the city, and its roofs are those of ordinary family houses where small kitchens, lofts and hallways go short of daylight.
- Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council
- Leicester Urban Area
- M1 junction 21a nearby
Compact commuter homes a mile from the M1
Ratby is a commuter village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, west of Leicester and just south-east of the M1. By road it is about twenty-six miles from central Coventry, to the north-east, and the trip takes around thirty-six minutes. It is only a mile from junction 21a of the motorway and five miles from the centre of Leicester, with frequent buses into the city, and it forms part of the Leicester Urban Area.
That position says a lot about the housing. A village in an urban area that serves commuters tends to have the practical, compact homes of a city suburb: semis, terraces and small detached houses laid out on streets rather than around fields. We have no dates or named estates to quote for Ratby, so we describe the likely stock in general terms, and the survey tells us the specifics of yours.
Homes like this share some common problems. Kitchens are often small and fitted to the original rear wall, with a single window. Hallways and landings are narrow and rely on a front door panel or nothing at all. Middle rooms, the dining room or snug between front and back, can be dark because the windows are at the two ends. In the loft, a conversion for a bedroom or home office is the usual upgrade, and it is where a roof window pays for itself first.
Where families have extended, the flat-roofed single-storey addition is the usual form. It gives space but takes light away from the room behind it. A rooflight puts that light back. We look at each house in turn, measure what is there and recommend the unit that suits the roof and the room.
Life in a commuter village runs to a pattern: out early, back late, evenings and weekends at home. The rooms that matter are therefore the ones used in the evening and at the weekend, and in winter those are lit by lamp for most of their hours. A rooflight cannot change the season, but it does change how much of the short winter daylight reaches the middle of the house, and that is often noticeable on the first grey Saturday after it goes in.
Ratby also borders Groby on its north-eastern side, and neighbours Kirby Muxloe, Glenfield and Markfield, so the housing around it has the same suburban character. If you have noticed a neighbour fitting a rooflight and wondered whether your own roof could take one, the answer depends on structure and the survey will settle it.
Which dark room first: loft, kitchen or hallway
In a commuter suburb the question is usually which dark room to light first. A loft is a roof window job, a small kitchen or flat extension suits a flat rooflight, and a hallway or landing can be reached with a sun tunnel. A short description of the room and the roof above it is all we need to start.
- Roof windowsFor the loft bedroom or study that commuters want when the household outgrows the first floor.
- Sun tunnelsFor hallways and landings in compact houses where no window reaches the middle of the building.
- Flat roof rooflightsFor small kitchens extended at the back, where the original window is now buried behind new walls.
- Electric & opening rooflightsFor a roof out of reach, where opening by remote controls the air in a warm kitchen.
Also fitted here
Near Ratby
- Kirby Muxloe5 min
- Groby6 min
- Glenfield6 min
- Leicester Forest East9 min
Drive times from Ratby.
Hinckley and Bosworth and the conservation map
For planning in Ratby you deal with Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Family houses can usually take a rooflight, though we never take that as read: your street is checked against the conservation area map before a figure is quoted, and the council is asked directly if the property seems unusual.
The Building Control side of notifiable work is ours. You will find the principles in our rooflight planning guide, while the council holds the answer for your exact address. A flat, a maisonette or a listed building follows another route, so say so at the first call and we will plan the paperwork accordingly.
01 The dark middle of a city-edge house
Small kitchens, narrow halls and the room between front and back.
On the roof
A house on the edge of a city is usually built close to its neighbours, which means the best light has to come from above. The roof is where we get it. A compact house has little roof to spare, so the position of each unit is worked out at the survey, with a measuring tape and a view of the rafters from inside the loft.
For a pitched roof we choose a roof window with a flashing kit made for the covering on your house. It is lapped into the tiles, with the rafters trimmed and framed around it, so the water goes over the joint and away. The frame is set so you can see out from where you stand or sit.
For a flat extension roof, we build an upstand around the opening, insulate it and carry the waterproof layer up and over. A fall of the right amount runs rainwater away from the unit. The glass is flat or very slightly domed and is easy to keep clean.
Where the middle of the house has no flat roof above it and no loft route, a sun tunnel is the tool. A short rigid tube runs from a dome on the roof to a diffuser in the ceiling, and it needs only a modest opening in both.
Each unit meets current Building Regulations, with the notification made on your behalf.
Hinckley and Bosworth covers a wide range of housing, so we never assume your roof matches the one next door. Two houses in the same row can differ in rafter spacing, tile type and loft depth, and we measure each one separately before pricing.
In the room
A dark hallway is a surprisingly tiring place to live in. People switch the light on at midday, and it stays on. A sun tunnel in the ceiling changes that without changing the look of the hall. It gives a soft, even light that follows the weather outside.
In a small kitchen, a flat rooflight over the worktop puts daylight where you work, and it makes a narrow room feel wider. We splay the reveal where the depth allows, so the light spreads along the ceiling.
In the middle room, often a dining room with a window at each end, a rooflight above the table lights the space the windows miss. It turns a room used only at weekends into one the family actually sits in.
The inside finish is plastered and ready to paint. We keep the work tidy, protect floors and furniture, and leave the room as we found it, with the light as the only difference.
Ventilation is worth thinking about at the same time. A kitchen that lets steam out through an opening rooflight stays clearer and drier, and that protects the ceiling paint over years. We can fit a manual or an electric opening unit, and we talk through which suits the position.
The short version
In a compact house the light has to come from overhead, and the finish decides whether it feels designed.
A hallway that needs its lamp on at noon is waiting for a sun tunnel.
02 Lofts that become rooms
The commuter’s second bedroom, home office or quiet place to work.
On the roof
A loft is often the best place to create extra living space in a house that does not have room to extend. The first step is to see whether the roof structure will allow a window. A hand-framed roof with plain rafters is flexible; a factory-made roof with trusses is more constrained, and a window has to fit between them.
We measure the height from the floor to the underside of the rafters, since that affects how a window will feel inside. A window that looks fine on a drawing can be too high to see out of in a low loft, so we agree the position on site, standing in the room.
The roof window itself is set into the slope with a flashing kit matched to the tile profile. Rafters are trimmed with new timber, and the timber is sized for the load. We reset any loose tiles around the opening and check that battens are sound, so the flashing has a firm bed.
Some owners add a second window on the opposite slope to get cross-ventilation, which makes a loft much more comfortable in summer. An electric opening rooflight is another option where the window is out of easy reach.
Dormers are the usual alternative to a roof window, and they are worth comparing. A dormer adds headroom and floor area but brings more work, more cost and a bigger change to the outside of the house. A roof window is quicker and keeps the roofline as it is. We give you a straight view of both at the survey if your loft is a candidate.
Cables, pipes and water tanks often occupy the space where a loft window would go. We can see these on the survey and plan around them, and if something has to move we price it in the written quote so there is no extra on the day.
In the room
The room under the roof needs more than a window. It needs a reveal that guides the light down into the space. On a sloping ceiling the splay runs level at the top and plumb at the bottom, which sends daylight further into the room than a square cut would.
We frame the opening, line it with insulated board and plaster to a neat edge. Insulation behind the reveal keeps the area warm in winter, and the boards are fixed so there are no gaps at the frame.
If the loft is to be used as an office, we talk about glare. A blind designed for the window reduces reflection on a screen, and we can advise on the right type at the survey.
You end up with a room that is bright, ventilated and finished. That is the point of the job.
Quiet matters in a bedroom loft, particularly when the motorway is only a mile away. We can specify laminated glass on the inner pane, which takes some of the edge off road noise, and we show the options in the written quote.
The short version
A loft earns its place as a room only when the window sits where you can see out of it.
Hallway tunnels, roof window or flat unit: Ratby asks
My hallway has no window at all. Is a sun tunnel really enough?
For a hallway or landing it often is. A tube carries daylight from the roof to a ceiling diffuser, and it works well even on grey days. We check the route through the loft at the survey and tell you honestly whether it will do the job in your house. A survey in Ratby takes us around thirty-six minutes to reach, so it can be arranged within days.
How do I choose between a roof window and a flat rooflight for my Ratby house?
The roof decides it. A pitched slope takes a roof window; a flat extension roof takes a flat rooflight or lantern. If you have both, the dark room decides which to do first. We can quote for each so you can compare. We write the quote so each unit is priced separately.
Who decides if a rooflight on my street needs consent?
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council is the planning authority, which makes it the final authority. We check for conservation areas and restrictions before we quote. Our planning guide gives the national picture, and the council can confirm what applies at your address. If an application is needed, we say so in writing before you commit to anything.
We survey before we price.
Then we finish the room.
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