Rooflight Guides

These are the long explanations. Each guide takes one decision, works through the reasoning properly and lands on an answer you could argue with a builder about. They are written for a homeowner who wants to understand why a thing is done a particular way, not just be told that it is.

The five groups above, and what each is for

Choosing covers the decisions made before anything is ordered: which type of glazing suits which roof, how big it should be for the room underneath, and where it wants to sit. Specification is the detail that goes on the order form and cannot be added later, from glass build-ups and frame materials to kerbs, falls and flashing. Replacing deals with units that have reached the end of their working life, including what tends to be found once the old one comes off. Living with it is everything after handover: condensation, solar gain, rain noise, blinds, ventilation and cleaning. Costs explains what moves a figure, which is a separate subject from what a figure is.

Where to start when the project is still an idea

Read in the order the job happens. Something from Choosing first, to settle whether you are dealing with a flat roof or a pitched slope and roughly what size is sensible for the room. Then Specification, because those are the decisions with a deadline attached: glass build-up, opening method and blind provision are all fixed at the point of order and awkward to revisit afterwards. Living with it can wait, but reading one of those guides early tends to change a specification choice, usually for the better.

Guides, and the short answers alongside them

A guide sets out a whole subject. The answers take a single question and close it in a few hundred words, and where the two overlap the answer links back into the guide that carries the full reasoning. If you have a specific question, start there. If you have a decision to make, start here. The services pages sit above both and describe the installation work itself.