Side return extension roof & rooflight advice

3 years ago

I would really appreciate some advice on maximising light into a dark house. We are about to start a side return extension 7.45m in length, currently our plans show 2 rooflights set into a flat roof that joins the outer line of the original house then pitches down to the party wall. One rooflight (1m x 1.8m) is set directly above and the French doors of the room behind the kitchen to maximise light into this dark room, the second (1m x 2.5m) will be positioned about half way down the extension (the diagram below shows the 2nd window in the wrong position, it will be roughly where the table is). Apart from wanting to bring light into a dark house I also want to maintain privacy from next door neighbours.
Our builder has suggested a pitched roof with a number of opening velux windows will bring much more light into the space and help with ventilation than our current plan. I think a pitched roof will give neighbours a clear view into our space and give us a view of their house. Any thoughts or ideas would be great, thank you.

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Comments (4)

Sarah U-S
3 years ago
Our side return extension is similar.
We went with a pitch roof and velux windows - this is partly because it was about 10 years ago and we didn’t think about these things, and partly because we’re in a conservation area and the planners wanted the roofline to look as traditional as possible.
The positives about the velux windows is that they are relatively easy to clean (although we left a small path along the side - so that helps!). There’s no getting away from the fact that the room is quite dark - we always seem to have to have lights on, and now I wish we had much bigger windows.
My brother has literally just finished his side return and gone for the flat roof and flat roof lights. It looks amazing - but like yours, he has no path and cleaning them is going to be a real pain.
Regarding the neighbours - the velux windows nearest the main part of the house are overlooked - but really not very much - when sitting underneath you need to strain your neck to see the neighbours back bedroom. It really isn’t a problem, and unless your neighbours spend their time in their back bedroom spying down on you, I can’t see it being an issue at all!!
Ellie
3 years ago
A rooflight is to bring in light where it's dark... I don't see the point in putting a rooflight right above the French doors as the doors will bring in light. Why not just have one larger?

Also, rooflights does make lighting a bit trickier so you should think of your layout more.

That dining table will be lost there plonked in middle of what is over 7m in length. I assume you plan other furniture on that side. Do you want a pendant above dining table?
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I assume the roof is pitched (opposed to flat). In which case Velux are really a very cost-effective solution. You can be fairly imaginative with the internal finishing to differentiate it looking bog-standard. For example, introducing various angles away from the rooflight. However, as an alternative, you may wish to consider one of numerous products from Glazing Vision. The Ridgeglaze Sized Rooflight would introduce a fantastic amount of natural light and a a view of the sky above but will rely on a hipped roof. Alternatively a Pitchglaze Fixed Roof Light will again flood the space with natural light within a standard pitched roof, and can be up to 3m2 in size.
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the extension will just be 10 meters but from the start of the living room to the back would be over 20 if we knocked the whole thing through. in the current dining area is a 16 seater table. we dont have children yet but might in the future. the washing machine in the kitchen but i think ill move it upstairs. i hate going up and down like a yoyo. boiler is upstairs also. the garden is small but this doesnt effect it much. we would be knocking down our current narrower kitchen which is just as long.
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Hey Andrei, Thanks for your advice - I should have mentioned that yes we are getting the proper advice, we are choosing an architect at the moment and I will make a note to ask them specifically about the stairs/kitchen fire risk aspect. I totally agree that if the kitchen was moved to the middle room (ie next to the open stairs) it would be ok to have it as the 'passage' to other rooms, however if it isn't a kitchen and is used as living space I'm more concerned about this. I guess because in a kitchen you're probably busy, whereas if you're in living area you're more likely to be relaxing and regular disturbance isnt great? We're not keen on moving the kitchen to another room, I feel it would look really out of place in either the front room with bay window, or the middle room with the open stairs (cooking smells/smoke/noise would travel upstairs easily etc). Equally, we're keen to avoid closing off the stairs too - worried it would make them pretty dark and would also affect the light to the middle room! I think I've narrowed down my worries to being basically that if the current dining room becomes living space, and has a large entrance to the kitchen where the current window is (plus maybe an additional entrance where the current doorway is), it makes the room really hard to use in terms of layout and furniture etc. It won't have much usable wall space and I'm struggling to think of how we could layout anything like storage/some seating, maybe a desk etc. Does that make more sense?
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Hi Jane! You said you have little ones so want to avoid climbing opportunities for now. That makes sense but it's also worth thinking about in a year or so when you might want to start involving them in cooking, baking cakes etc, and then you could find it really helpful to be able to sit them up so they can also "work" along with you. If you're on the other side of a peninsula or island to them then you can keep sharp stuff away from them and help them with mixing, weighing, etc... Always worth looking towards the next stages when you're designing with kids because they'll grow and it can take a bit of time to finish a project - they likely will have changed in many tiny and maybe big ways before it's all complete. Hope this helps! Jane, i-architect.co.uk
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HU-690430118
Original Author
3 years ago
Sarah thanks for your comments, all very helpful.
Ellie thanks for your observations, interesting to hear you think larger rooflight not directly above French door would suffice, I’m worried that losing natural light above the French doors would make the back room very dark. The room layout shown doesn’t in fact represent our layout, I agree table in the middle with no other furniture would be very weird :)
Danielle Costin
3 years ago
hi are you able to advise roughly how much this cost for the extension as looking to do very similar thanks so much

Side return extension roof & rooflight advice

Comments (4)

Sarah U-S

Ellie

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Side return extension roof & rooflight advice

Comments (4)

Sarah U-S

Ellie

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Danielle Costin

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