Skylights and rooflights in Sampford Peverell

Sampford Peverell is an old village that has been added to in layers. The core is a scatter of cob and thatch cottages, some rendered and limewashed, some with later brick fronts, standing along the lanes close to the church. Thick cob walls, low eaves and small windows are the signs, and the ceilings inside are often low and uneven.

Alongside them stand Victorian houses and terraces in brick or render, built when the canal and the turnpike brought trade through the valley. These have regular rooms, taller ceilings and roofs that are easier to read than the cottages. Some sit close to the canal towpath, where a pleasant outlook is part of the appeal and where roof glazing is often used to bring light into back rooms.

So the first question we ask in Sampford Peverell is how old your house is, because that tells us what the walls, roof and ceiling are made of.

Many of the cottages have been extended over the years, with a kitchen added at the back, a lean-to turned into a utility room or a loft opened up under the thatch or slate. Those additions are where roof glazing most often goes, because a back extension has a flat or low-pitched roof that is out of sight from the lane.

Beyond the old centre you find twentieth century housing: semis, bungalows and cul-de-sacs from the middle decades, and newer estates added as the village has grown near the motorway and the A361. These homes are mostly brick or render under concrete tile, with plasterboard ceilings and trussed or rafter roofs that are simple to work in.

So the first question we ask in Sampford Peverell is how old your house is, because that tells us what the walls, roof and ceiling are made of.

For most houses in the village a new rooflight needs no planning application, because the general permitted development allowance covers it. The unit may stand only 150mm proud of the slope, may not rise above the ridge, and on a side slope any opening part must sit at least 1.7m above the floor. Where a house falls outside those limits, Mid Devon decides.

The older core of the village sits in a conservation area, so check its boundary against your address. The permitted allowance carries on there unless the council has issued an Article 4 direction, and the planning officers can say whether one applies. Listed cottages, thatched or not, are a separate matter, since consent is needed for outside changes and for anything that disturbs a historic ceiling or roof structure.

A flat or maisonette, converted houses included, has none of the householder allowance, so an application comes first.

A flat or maisonette, converted houses included, has none of the householder allowance, so an application comes first. The same goes for a newer estate house where an old planning condition removed the allowance, which is easy to miss and quick to check with the council.

The general limits are set out in the Devon guide to planning permission and Building Regulations, and our page on conservation rooflights covers the slim, low designs that suit older roofs.

Each kind of home in the village points towards a different unit:

A bedroom facing west takes solar control glazing if the evening heat is a problem, while a north-facing landing needs clear, high-performance glass to get the most daylight in.

Cob and thatch cottages

Often a small conservation rooflight on a slate or tile slope, or a sun tunnel to light a dark landing from a slate or tile slope or an extension roof.

Victorian terraces and villas

A loft room suits a roof window, hinged at the top or pivoting in the middle, set away from the street, with laminated glass on the inner pane because it hangs overhead.

Mid century semis and bungalows

Standard roof windows for a loft conversion, or a lantern over an extension, glazed with the room in mind.

Barn conversions and large extensions

Bigger flat rooflights or a lantern, sized to suit the span and the structure under them.

The glass is picked for the room. A bedroom facing west takes solar control glazing if the evening heat is a problem, while a north-facing landing needs clear, high-performance glass to get the most daylight in. Everything is fitted to the heat-loss standards that Part L sets for new and replacement windows.

The village is easy to reach from the M5 and the A361, so we can arrange a visit without fuss. We inspect the roof from the outside first, then go indoors to work out how much space lies between roof and ceiling, see how the ceiling was made and how it has aged, and look for anything that bears on the finish, such as a beam, a crack or a low point where the opening would land.

Measuring the loft matters as much as the roof. In an old house the distance from ceiling to underside of the roofing can vary from one end of the room to the other, and a timber purlin or a wall plate can sit exactly where the opening was meant to go. We note all of it, and photograph the room as it stands, so the finish schedule describes your ceiling and not a typical one.

At the survey we decide how glass and plaster will reach the room and whether a scaffold or tower has to go up

Access in an old village is its own question. Some cottages stand on narrow lanes with little room to unload, and some back onto the canal path where materials cannot be carried through a front door. At the survey we decide how glass and plaster will reach the room and whether a scaffold or tower has to go up, because a scaffold on a public road cannot go up until Devon County Council, as highway authority, has issued a licence.

The written quote that follows describes your ceiling, not a typical one, and nothing begins until you have agreed it. Dust is controlled while we work, the room is tidied afterwards, and our 10-year guarantee on workmanship stands behind the fitting. For a cottage by the canal or an estate semi, the quote form is the easy route, with WhatsApp and info@brightviewskylightsexeter.co.uk as alternatives. We also work in nearby Tiverton and Willand, our areas page shows the full patch, and the homepage gives the wider picture.