Skylights and rooflights in Ashburton

Ashburton grew rich on tin and wool, and the town still shows it. East Street, West Street and North Street carry a long run of tall Georgian and Victorian houses, some with shop fronts at street level, and many wear the slate hanging that suits the damp moorland weather: whole upper walls covered in overlapping slate, neatly pegged, to keep rain out of what is underneath. Behind the frontages, the plots run back into yards and gardens, with outbuildings and later extensions.

The older walls are granite, stone rubble and cob, often thick enough that a window sits in a deep reveal. Some houses are rendered over, some left bare, and many have been altered several times, so a straight line in an old Ashburton wall is the exception. Side streets and lanes such as St Lawrence Lane hold smaller cottages, many of them terraced and low, with small upstairs rooms tucked under the roof.

Between the two groups lies a good deal of Ashburton, and where a house falls decides almost everything about the job.

On the edges of the town the character changes. Interwar and postwar houses, and newer estates built since, are brick or render with concrete tile roofs and plasterboard ceilings. These have the regular rafters and loft space that make a roof window or sun tunnel a simple fit. Between the two groups lies a good deal of Ashburton, and where a house falls decides almost everything about the job.

Planning in Ashburton depends on exactly where your house stands. Ashburton is in Teignbridge district, and the Dartmoor National Park boundary runs close to the town or through it, so check whether your address is inside the park: inside it, Dartmoor National Park Authority is the planning authority, and outside it, Teignbridge District Council is. The boundary should be checked for your address instead of guessed, and the authority concerned will tell you quickly. National parks are classed as Article 2(3) land, which restricts some permitted development rights, so it is wise to confirm what applies before ordering anything.

Where householder rights do apply, most ordinary houses can take a rooflight that stays low to the slope, and the detailed limits are covered by the Devon planning guide on this site. What matters here is the historic centre, where a conservation area covers much of the old town and the council can withdraw those rights through an Article 4 direction, so ask whether one covers your street. The figures worth remembering are modest: 150mm is the most a rooflight may stand proud of the slope, and 1.7m above the floor is the height a side-facing one must clear before it can open with clear glass. Flats and maisonettes, including those above the shops, have no householder rights at all.

The town also has a good many listed buildings, and any external change to one, including a new rooflight, calls for listed building consent first. Our answer on whether rooflights are allowed in Dartmoor National Park goes through the park rules in detail.

Building Regulations run alongside planning and cannot be waived. Cutting a fresh opening, or swapping a complete frame with its glass, brings Part L into play and the work is notified to Building Control, which is our job. Changing just the sealed unit inside a frame that is still sound falls outside that notification.

The product follows the house and the planning position. In and around the town, the usual matches look like this:

• Slate-hung Georgian houses in the conservation area: a conservation rooflight, low and slim, on the rear slope.
• Small stone cottages in the lanes: a compact roof window, or a sun tunnel over a gloomy landing where the roof is too low or too restricted.
• Loft rooms in Victorian terraces: a roof window in the rear slope, its inner pane laminated because the glass is overhead.
• Newer homes on the edges: a VELUX roof window, or a flat rooflight on a rear extension.

Glazing is picked for the room: clear, high-performance double glazing for a north landing, a tinted or solar control pane for a west bedroom that gets the afternoon sun.

Replacement is common in a town with a lot of older roofs. A roof window fitted when a loft was first converted may now have misted glass or a failing seal. Renewing the entire unit in its opening is notifiable and we handle that, while a new glass pane in a frame that is still good is not. If a rooflight has failed in a listed or conservation-area house, ask the council before ordering a different style.

Opening units suit the upper rooms of tall town houses, where heat gathers under the roof in summer. An opening rooflight helps with purge ventilation under Part F, and in a loft bedroom a roof window can double as the escape route when it satisfies the size and height rules of Approved Document B, so the frame is chosen with the use of the room in mind.

Glazing is picked for the room: clear, high-performance double glazing for a north landing, a tinted or solar control pane for a west bedroom that gets the afternoon sun.

The A38 brings us from Exeter to Ashburton without fuss, so a survey is simple to fit in. Outside first, we study the roof; inside, we measure the room and climb into the loft, noting the ceiling material, the depth of the roof build, the rafter layout and any sign of damp or movement near the planned opening.

The centre has narrow streets and tight corners, and parking can be scarce, so access is worked out at the survey: where the van can unload, and if a tower or scaffold is required, where it would be set. Putting scaffold on the public highway requires a Devon County Council licence, and the wait for it goes into the programme.

Granite thresholds and narrow lanes mean a survey here pays for itself. After it, the quote arrives in writing with every inside detail listed, and the work is not booked until you accept it. Dust is contained, the room is left spotless and the installation is guaranteed for 10 years. Nearby we also serve Buckfastleigh and Bovey Tracey nearby. A visit can be booked through the quote form, by WhatsApp, or by emailing info@brightviewskylightsexeter.co.uk. The homepage sets out the whole service, and our areas page shows the rest of our patch.