Eastlife Spring 2020

PROPERTY
Look Up!
Add a new, stylish dimension to your home
with the use of a rooflight. A great way of
letting extra light into a room,
Paul Trace, director of Stella Rooflight
(www.stellarooflight.co.uk,) offers some
practical advice for choosing the best option
for your home…
Rooflights, or skylights as they are often called, are an excellent
way to illuminate your home as they let in light from the brightest
part of the sky and are not generally affected by external
obstructions, such as tress or other buildings. They provide an
even distribution of light and can brighten the dark areas in a
room that vertical windows could never reach.
Of course, in applications such as loft conversions they may be
your only option to let in light. However, they are also a popular
choice for other parts of the home where the ceiling has the
potential to be opened up, and can make an excellent addition to
kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms and living spaces.
When specifying rooflights there are other aspects to consider
beyond its shape, size, and the materials that it is made from.
However, with so many options available, choosing the
most suitable rooflight for your home can be anything but
straightforward and there are a few key things to consider when
deciding which product is best for you.
Choosing the right frame
The first thing to consider is the type of materials that are
available for the rooflight frame. There are many different types
of rooflight on the market catering for the modern contemporary
style through to a more traditional look and feel.
Steel is the obvious choice for period properties and barn
conversions, but they are now also being more frequently
used in sleek new contemporary houses. Timber is a long-time
favourite on homes of any style, but getting onto the roof to
maintain the timber can be an awkward task. PVCu is also an
option and is often the cheapest, but it will not provide the slim
frames that metal is capable of, nor the natural look of wood.
The important thing is to select a rooflight that matches the
look and feel that you are trying to achieve with your home, as it
should blend in with your roof and the materials used throughout
the rest of the house.
Glazing options
Once you have chosen the most appropriate material for your
rooflight, you then need to consider the glazing options. Glazing
can also be a tricky subject when specifying a rooflight, not least
because there are so many different types of glass and glazing
system available.
Aside from thermal performance you need to decide if you need
toughened glass, for additional safety and protection against
falling objects. Toughened glass does not mean that it is suitable
to walk on, so if you need to stand on a rooflight it will require
specialist glazing.
Self-cleaning glass is another option. This technological
breakthrough was introduced to the UK in 2002 by Pilkington,
and is effectively the same as conventional glass, but with a
specially developed coating on the outside, that once exposed
to daylight, reacts in two ways. Firstly, it breaks down any organic
dirt deposits through a photocatalytic process, and secondly,
when it rains, instead of forming droplets, the water spreads
evenly over the surface and takes the dirt off with it. It is kinder to
the environment than ordinary glass and it is the ideal choice for
situations where cleaning will be costly or difficult.
You also have the option for double or triple glazing. This is
probably fairly obvious, but you should always opt for triple
glazing if budget allows as this will have a significant impact
on the thermal performance of the rooflight. Few rooflight
companies will offer triple glazing as standard, so be aware of
this when you are gathering and comparing quotes.
It is also possible to have solar control glazing, which
incorporates invisible layers of special materials on the glass
that has the dual effect of allowing sunlight in, while repelling
solar heat. Allowing sunlight to pass through your rooflight while
radiating and reflecting away a large degree of the sun’s heat
means that your indoor space stays bright and much cooler than
would be the case if normal glass were used.
Conservation style rooflights
If you have a Listed property or live within a Conservation Area,
you may be restricted in the type of rooflight you are allowed
to install and the chances are that you will need a traditional or
conservation style rooflight that complies with strict building
regulations.
The legislation around conservation rooflights state that new
openings should generally be kept to a minimum and should be
of a simple form that respects the building’s character.
Dormer windows are not usually appropriate, so any new
120