Rooflights and skylights in Godstone

Godstone sits in Tandridge District, 6 miles east of Reigate and 18 miles south of London. It is 13 road miles from us, close enough for an easy survey visit and for work planned around a family that stays put.

The 2011 census recorded 5,949 residents in 2,386 households. Of the houses, 655 were detached, 824 semi-detached and 498 terraced. That is a very even spread. No single house type sets the pattern of the roofs, so no single rooflight suits the village. A detached house on a generous plot, a semi with a loft waiting for a bedroom and a terrace with a dark landing each call for a different answer.

Planning decisions come from Tandridge District Council, and Surrey County Council sits above it. Newcomers from West Sussex will find different websites and forms. We handle the council side for your address.

Godstone has two conservation areas, both designated in 1972. Church Town covers 3 hectares. The Green covers 17. Together they hold the older core of the village, and inside them a rooflight becomes a question of consent as well as a question of glass.

A designation does not ban rooflights. It changes how the council reads a proposal, and it can withdraw rights that a householder would otherwise have. The position is checked for the address. A house near the edge of an area may sit on either side of the line, and the name of a road is a poor guide. We confirm the boundary on the council's own mapping before the quote is final, and the answer is written into the quote.

St Nicholas Church was significantly restored by George Gilbert Scott in 1872 and 1873. It is a reminder that this is a village which looks after its buildings, and that a planner near the church will think about the whole street scene, not only the one roof. A rear slope that nobody sees from the road is a simpler conversation than a front elevation facing the green.

Noise is where our approach differs, so it is worth being plain about what is known. The research for Godstone names three sources: the A22 and A25 meeting in the village, the M25 at Junction 6 to the north, and the railway. It gives no measure of how loud any street is, and we do not invent one.

So the listening happens at the house. The glass is the weak point of a roof for sound. Over a loft bedroom sit tiles, battens, felt, rafters, insulation and plasterboard, and then a window where none of that exists, so whatever the room will hear arrives there first. At the survey we stand in the room, close the door and note what gets through: a steady hum from the road, the rise and fall of a passing train, or only weather.

A house near the junction may hear traffic from morning to night. A house near the station hears trains at intervals, which is a different annoyance, because the ear starts waiting for the next one. A house tucked away from both may hear nothing but rain. Each case leads to a different written specification. Our guide to keeping road and rail noise out through a rooflight gives the reasoning behind the choices.

A quiet spec travels with each quote: a single written page about one room. It lists the sounds we noted on site, the glass we propose and the way the sealing and kerb are handled.

Nothing in it is a measured claim. For a loft room in a semi near a main road, the page might run:

1. Listening: traffic through the closed window, and train noise at the hours the room is used.
2. Glazing: laminated acoustic glass on the inner pane, a differently sized outer pane and a generous cavity.
3. Seals: gaskets that run unbroken round the sash, and a frame bedded tight against the kerb.
4. Finish: the lining completed inside, and on a flat roof a lined, insulated kerb.

The work is tidier and quicker than you might expect. A roof window in a pitched roof is typically a matter of days. A flat rooflight or lantern takes a little longer, because the kerb has to be built before the glass arrives.

The order never changes. Survey and listening come first. The quote and quiet spec follow in writing. On the day, the covering is lifted in a small area, the opening is formed and trimmed, the unit is fitted and flashed, and the covering is laid back round it. Inside, the lining is finished so the room looks complete.

A 10-year workmanship guarantee covers the job.