Living The High Life Is Light Work

Apr 27 2008 Donny Sheridan

Make The Most Of An Underused Attic By Fitting A Roof Window.. And Give Yourself Extra Space

I've already given you the lowdown on converting your basement into a room but you're more likely to look for extra living space in your attic.

Apart fron having a proper floor put down and plasterboard walls fitted, the most important thing you need is a decent window.

The simplest way to let light in through a sloping roof is with a Velux window.

Velux make a huge range of roof windows such as the Terrace, Cabrio and Balcony, which you can see for yourself at www.velux.co.uk

Fitting a window involves cutting through the roof structure and the bigger the window, the more expensive the job will be.

To make life easier and keep costs down, you may be better off with two or three smaller windows that fit between your rafters to avoid any structural work.

Here are some of the things you will need to consider when putting a window in your roof.

BUILDING WARRANT

If you are converting an attic space into a room you will need to apply for a building warrant.

Even if you are just fitting a new window to an existing room, anything that involves altering the roof structure needs approval from your council's building control department.

The reason for this is that houses built around the 1960s have prefabricated roof trusses and span the outer walls. Cutting into any of the trusses considerably weakens the roof, so a building warrant is required to ensure it is carried out correctly.

Roofs on older (1950s and before) houses are easier to alter as the roofs were built on site and are supported with internal load-bearing walls as well as the external walls.

But the council will still need to be told if you want to fit a large Velux window which requires roof rafters to be cut.

To compensate for this you usually need to double up the timbers (trimmers and rafters) around the window. Again, fit smaller Velux windows between rafters and notify the council out of courtesy but you may not need a warrant.

WINDOW TYPES

Velux roof windows come in a range of sizes and you can double up windows or have an arrangement of four to six to flood a room with light.

You may just want a small window to provide ventilation and light in an extra upstairs toilet.

An important consideration is the pitch of your roof. Velux swivel open on a central pivot but if the pitch of the roof is too shallow you will crack your head on the window when it is open. In this case you should opt for a top-hung window, which opens upwards and outwards from the bottom of the frame while still having the centre-pivot action for cleaning.

There are also balcony systems which, when closed, look like a normal Velux window, once opened the top lifts up and out and the bottom forms a balcony. It is a marvel to behold.

BLINDS & ACCESSORIES

Even if you don't plan to sleep in your converted attic, it's a good idea to fit blinds.

If it is used as a games or TV room, you don't want sunlight bouncing off the screen and ruining the latest episode of Corrie.

And if you plan to use it as a bedroom, I recommend blackout blinds, which don't let in a peep of light. You'll struggle to find curtains which hang at a 45-degree angle.

If you fancy spending a bit more and going hi-tech, you can also have rain sensors that close the window if it starts to rain. You can never trust the kids to shut it when they're finished playing X-Box.

Finally, I like noise-reduction glass as the sound of rain falling on roof windows can be very annoying. Even when you sleep on the floor below.