Clear SkylightsCrawley

Greater London · 20.6 miles from Crawley by road

Rooflights and skylights in Sutton, from the High Street to the garden suburb

Sutton grew around its 1847 station, and its streets run from Victorian facades to a garden suburb. We fit rooflights and skylights to each, check the planning position for your address, and write down the glass we choose.

Get a quote What is a quiet spec?

A small sun tunnel dome with neat flashing on a tiled roof
Planning
London Borough of Sutton, conservation areas checked per address
Homes
Victorian and Edwardian, some Georgian and 1930s
Protected
High Street, Landseer Road, Garden Suburb, Grove Avenue
Setting
Thanet Sands, 23 to 115 metres, beside Banstead Downs

Railway-age streets, four protected areas and glass that drums in rain

  • Roofs altered for a century

    Victorian and Edwardian lofts have often been changed since they were built, so the survey finds what is under the covering before any cut.

  • Extensions under rain

    Glass over a rear extension can drum in a shower unless the pane build, seals and upstand are specified for the rain.

  • Units with their best behind them

    Misted panes and worn seals in an older opening are a chance to renew with laminated acoustic glass and a rebuilt flashing.

  • Street-facing slopes

    In Landseer Road or the Garden Suburb, a slim flush unit keeps the roofline and still lights the loft room below.

A written spec for a Landseer Road loft bedroom

One way a spec could read for an Edwardian semi under a steep roof. Each quote brings its own, written after a visit to the room itself.

Room:
loft bedroom in an Edwardian semi, rear slope, reached by a narrow stair
What we would listen for:
rain on the roof slope and the ordinary noise of a built-up street
Glazing:
laminated acoustic glass for the inner pane, mixed glass weights, warm-edge spacer
Seals and upstand:
continuous gaskets all round, flashing built up with the covering, slim frame kept low on the slope

Noise out hereStill in here

The survey file

Rooflights in Sutton

Sutton is a Victorian railway town that became the centre of a London borough. Rooflight installation in Sutton usually starts with a house from the 1850s to the 1930s, a loft that has been asked to do more than its builder planned, and a skylight that has to earn its place in a roof that may sit inside a protected street. This page goes through the town as its records describe it, and sets out what we would specify for each kind of home.

Made by the railway

A town that the railway made

The railway turned a village into a town, with terraces, semis and villas laid out for people within reach of the line.

Sutton is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Sutton, about 10 miles south-southwest of Charing Cross. It is a town with a long high street, a station, and streets of older houses running off in every direction.

The station opened in 1847, and that date explains most of what you see. Before it, Sutton was a village. After it, the population more than doubled between 1851 and 1861. A place does not double in ten years without building, and the building came in terraces, semis and villas laid out for people who wanted a home within reach of the line.

The 2021 census recorded 58,880 residents in Sutton town and 209,639 across the borough. The town sits on a narrow bed of Thanet Sands, at between 23 and 115 metres above sea level, so some streets are on a slope and some are on the level. Banstead Downs, a 430-acre SSSI, lies close by, which gives the southern edge of the town an open outlook that the older streets to the north do not have.

How the railway built Sutton

  1. 1847The station opensBefore it, Sutton was a village.
  2. between 1851 and 1861The population more than doublesBuilding follows in terraces, semis and villas.
  3. 2021The census counts the town58,880 residents in Sutton town.

We work from Crawley, 20.6 road miles away, so a survey in Sutton is a planned visit. A rooflight is a simple idea: a hole in the roof with glass in it. The difficulty is that the roof is the thinnest part of a house, and whatever is happening outside is heard through it. Our page on what the words rooflight and skylight mean sets out the vocabulary, and the rest of this page applies it to Sutton.

NextVictorian and Edwardian roofs, and what they ask for

Reading an old roof

Victorian and Edwardian roofs, and what they ask for

A house built to a pattern and altered for a century has to be opened up in the loft before anyone knows what the roof is.

The housing is mainly Victorian and Edwardian, with some Georgian buildings, Sutton Lodge among them, and a scatter of 1930s homes. That spread of dates tells us what to expect before we have seen a single loft.

A Victorian or Edwardian house was built to a pattern and then altered for a hundred years. Chimneys came down, extensions went up, a previous owner boarded a loft or fitted a window of their own. So the survey starts with a question the records cannot answer: what is actually under the covering on this roof? We look at the rafters, their spacing and their condition, at the roof covering around the planned opening, and at any earlier unit already cut into the slope.

The research on Sutton does not list roof materials, so we do not guess them here. What we do is find out at the address. Whatever the covering turns out to be, the method is the same: lift the units around the opening in order, frame it square, build the flashing up course by course so that water runs over it and never under it, and relay what was lifted.

How a roof is opened for a rooflight

  1. 01Look at the roofRafters, spacing, covering and any earlier unit in the slope.
  2. 02Lift in orderThe units around the opening come off in sequence.
  3. 03Frame it squareThe opening is framed true to the slope.
  4. 04Build the flashing upCourse by course, so water runs over it and never under it.
  5. 05Relay what was liftedThe covering goes back around the new unit.

For a pitched roof, the usual answer is a flush roof window set level with the slope. Our page on roof window installation explains the units made for this. Where the loft is a real bedroom rather than storage, the choice of glass matters more than it does in a box room, and that is where the quiet spec starts to earn its keep.

NextFour protected areas and one borough to ask

Protected streets

Four protected areas and one borough to ask

Planning is a matter for the London Borough of Sutton, and the records name four conservation areas, each a different roof conversation.

Planning in Sutton is a matter for the London Borough of Sutton, and the town has several conservation areas. Whether one covers your address is something we check for the address, before any quote is written down.

The records name four worth knowing. Each one is a different kind of street, so each is a different kind of roof conversation.

  • Sutton Town Centre High Street Crossroads, designated on 9 May 2011, has Victorian facades in polychrome brick and stone. It was made a Heritage Action Zone in March 2017.
  • Landseer Road, designated in 1992, covers 9 hectares and 138 properties, mostly Edwardian detached and semi-detached houses.
  • Sutton Garden Suburb, designated in 1989, was built between 1912 and 1914 by Thomas Wall on garden city principles.
  • Grove Avenue is a private estate of the 1920s and early 1930s, with modernist and half-timbered maisonette blocks.

A conservation area does not forbid a rooflight. It changes the question. The council may care about a roof slope that faces the street, about the size and proportion of the opening, and about the frame. A slim conservation-style unit that sits flush with the covering is the usual answer for a street-facing slope, and our page on conservation rooflight installation goes through what that looks like. Our guide to planning permission for rooflights and skylights explains when permission is needed and when it is not.

The answer depends on the property, the slope and the council, and it is not something to assume from a street name. We raise it at the survey, tell you what we have found, and put it in writing with the quote.

NextThe Edwardian streets off Landseer Road

Edwardian streets

The Edwardian streets off Landseer Road

Landseer Road was designed as a whole street, so the first decision is which side of the roof the light comes from.

Landseer Road is a good example of a whole street that was designed together. Its 138 properties are Edwardian, detached and semi-detached, and they share a proportion and a rhythm that the conservation area exists to keep.

In a street like this, the loft is usually where the extra room is. A roof slope at the back is out of public view and gives the simplest case. A slope at the front is seen by everyone who walks past, and it carries the street's character with it. So the first decision is which side of the roof the light should come from, and the second is how small and quiet the unit can be while still filling the room.

A single well-placed roof window often does more than two small ones, because it lights the floor rather than just the ceiling. Our guide on where to position a skylight in a room covers the placement, and how to size a rooflight for the room covers the glass area against the floor it serves.

Where the light should come from

  • The back slopeOut of public view, and the simplest case.
  • The front slopeSeen by everyone who walks past, and carries the street's character.
  • One well-placed windowLights the floor rather than just the ceiling.
  • A small, quiet unitStill has to fill the room with light.

NextGarden city lanes and a modernist corner

Suburb and modernist blocks

Garden city lanes and a modernist corner

A garden suburb was laid out as a whole, so any new opening is judged against the row it belongs to.

Sutton Garden Suburb and Grove Avenue sit close together in time, and they could hardly look more different. One is a garden city estate built from 1912 to 1914. The other is a 1920s to early 1930s estate with modernist and half-timbered maisonette blocks.

A garden suburb was laid out as a whole, with houses in groups and gardens between. The value of the place is partly in how uniform it looks from the road, so any new opening has to be judged against the row it belongs to. The same is true in Grove Avenue, where the maisonette blocks bring a different set of questions because of how they are built.

Where a block or extension has a flat or low-pitched roof, the answer is a flat roof rooflight, and our page on flat roof rooflight installation covers the upstand, the fall and the sealing. A flat roof needs a fall so that water leaves it, written as a ratio such as 1:80, and a rooflight sits on a kerb above that surface, not flush with it.

Two estates, two sets of questions

  • Sutton Garden SuburbHouses in groups with gardens between, so uniformity matters.
  • Grove AvenueMaisonette blocks bring different questions because of how they are built.
  • Flat or low pitched roofsA flat rooflight on a kerb, over a fall such as 1:80.
  • The surveyWhat a building looks like from the road and what is on its roof can differ.

On these estates a survey is especially useful, because what a building looks like from the road and what is on its roof are not always the same thing. We measure first, then propose.

NextRain on glass, and a room that needs to stay quiet

Rain and quiet

Rain on glass, and a room that needs to stay quiet

Rain is the noise every rooflight faces, and glass has none of the muffling a pitched covering gives.

The research on Sutton names no aircraft route and no noise corridor, so we do not build a noise case on one. The noise that every rooflight faces, in Sutton as anywhere, is rain.

Rain on a pitched roof is muffled by the covering, the battens and the insulation. Rain on a sheet of glass has none of that. A flat rooflight or a roof lantern above a rear extension can sound like a drum in a downpour, and in a kitchen or a bedroom that is not a small thing.

The sound has three parts, and each can be chosen:

  • The glass itself. A laminated acoustic inner pane damps the sound of rain where a plain pane passes it through.
  • The build of the unit. Pane thickness and the cavity between panes change how the glass responds to impact.
  • The edge. Continuous seals and a properly built upstand stop the small rattles and whistles that a good pane cannot cover for.

We describe quiet by specification, not by a number. Our quiet spec page explains what goes into the written note that comes with every quote, and the guide on reducing rain noise under a flat rooflight goes deeper on the glass and the upstand.

At the survey we listen, because a room beside a busy road or an open garden will sound different from one in a quiet cul-de-sac, and the spec is written from what we hear at your address.

NextA unit for each kind of Sutton roof

Unit for each roof

A unit for each kind of Sutton roof

Terraces, villas, garden suburb houses and maisonette blocks each need a different answer.

A town with terraces, villas, garden suburb houses and maisonette blocks needs more than one answer. The table sets out the common cases in plain terms.

Pitched loft, rear slope

Usual unit
Flush roof window
Main concern
Rafter spacing, flashing

Pitched, street-facing

Usual unit
Slim conservation-style unit
Main concern
Planning position, proportion

Flat rear extension

Usual unit
Flat rooflight or lantern
Main concern
Fall, upstand, rain sound

Dark inner hall

Usual unit
Sun tunnel
Main concern
Route through the loft
RoofUsual unitMain concern
Pitched loft, rear slopeFlush roof windowRafter spacing, flashing
Pitched, street-facingSlim conservation-style unitPlanning position, proportion
Flat rear extensionFlat rooflight or lanternFall, upstand, rain sound
Dark inner hallSun tunnelRoute through the loft

A roof lantern suits a flat-roofed extension where there is room for the kerb and the ceiling below can take the light well. Our roof lantern installation page covers the details. A sun tunnel suits a hall or landing with no outside wall at all, and is covered on the sun tunnel installation page.

NextReplacing a rooflight that has had its time

Replacing old glazing

Replacing a rooflight that has had its time

A cracked seal, a misted pane or a frame that no longer closes properly is a good moment to improve the unit.

A house that is a hundred years old or more has very likely had its roof glazing changed at least once. A unit from an earlier decade may have a cracked seal, a misted pane or a frame that no longer closes properly. The answer is to replace or renew it, and that is a better moment than most to improve it.

Replacing like for like is the quick route. Upgrading is the better one. A new unit in the same opening can carry a laminated acoustic pane, a warm-edge spacer and modern seals, and the flashing is rebuilt around it so the old weak point is gone. Our guide to replacing an old skylight weighs the two routes, and the page on signs a rooflight has failed explains what to look for.

New work and replacement work in England both fall under the Building Regulations. We install to current standards, and where the work is notifiable we handle the Building Control notification. The guide on Building Regulations for rooflights explains the parts that apply: thermal performance, safety of glazing, ventilation and fire.

What an upgrade can carry

  1. 1Rebuilt flashing Built around the new unit so the old weak point is gone.
  2. 2Modern seals In place of a cracked or tired seal.
  3. 3Warm-edge spacer Between the panes.
  4. 4Laminated acoustic pane Fitted in the same opening.

NextFrom first message to a finished Sutton room

The five steps

From first message to a finished Sutton room

A Sutton job runs in five steps, from the first message to the last clean-up.

A job in a Sutton house runs in five steps, from the first message to the last clean-up.

  1. You send us the address and a few photographs of the room, through the quote form or on WhatsApp.
  2. We visit. We measure the rafters, look at the roof covering, check the planning position for the address and listen to the room.
  3. The written quote arrives with the quiet spec, naming the unit, the glass build and the way the upstand and seals will be finished.
  4. On the day, the roof is opened only as far as the work needs, and the opening is weathered and closed before we finish.
  5. We tidy, show you the finished room, and the work carries our 10-year workmanship guarantee.

A roof opened in the morning is weathered by the evening. That matters on an old roof, where a forecast can change between the survey and the day.

NextSutton questions: conservation streets, flats and old units

Common questions

Sutton questions: conservation streets, flats and old units

Short answers on conservation streets, street facing slopes, noisy flat roofs and the towns around Sutton.

These are the questions that a Sutton householder is likely to ask before they book a survey.

Is my house in one of Sutton's conservation areas?

That depends on the street, and we check it for the address. The records name the High Street Crossroads, Landseer Road, Sutton Garden Suburb and Grove Avenue areas, but boundaries are precise and a nearby street can fall on either side. We tell you what we find before we quote.

Can a skylight go on a street-facing slope?

Often it can, but the answer depends on the property and on the council. In a protected street the council may have views on the size and frame, so a slim flush unit is the usual proposal. Planning and permission are covered in our planning guide.

My flat roof is noisy in the rain. What can be done?

When a flat rooflight is replaced, the new glass build can be chosen for the sound of rain: a laminated acoustic inner pane, sensible pane thicknesses and continuous seals. The upstand is rebuilt at the same time. The specification goes into the written quiet spec.

Do you cover the towns around Sutton?

Yes. We cover Crawley and 30 miles around, which takes in Cheam, Carshalton and Wallington. The homepage, skylight and rooflight installation from Crawley, gives the whole picture, and the costs page explains what moves a price up or down.

When you are ready, get a quote or message us on WhatsApp.

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Prefer to message? WhatsApp us or call 01293 974093, or email info@clearskylightscrawley.co.uk.