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Smart Home, Smart Choice

Dec 25, 2021 | Decorating

Innovative home technology offers incredible ways to improve security, manage your utilities remotely, and make life more comfortable. These intelligent systems rely on inter-connectivity, so you can monitor and control devices wherever you happen to be.

Home automation means the same thing – it’s all about energy efficiency, convenience, and ensuring your property runs smoothly. Here we’ll explain more about what a smart home is, why it’s worth having, and how you can make your property work a little harder!

What is a Smart Home?

A smart house often uses a central hub, such as Amazon Echo, Samsung SmartThings, or Google Home, to operate many appliances, settings, and functions.

Need to ramp up the heating before you wake up each morning, set the alarm to let you know when someone rings your doorbell, or make sure the cooker is preheating as soon as you leave the office? Smart homes can make all those things happen and much more.

One of the joys of a smart home is that it mitigates tonnes of manual actions, such as switching on lights when it gets dim, locking or unlocking doors, or turning on the radio to keep your pets company. These applications are brilliant for busy families and those who want to improve their energy efficiency or have mobility restrictions that make everyday chores a challenge.

Typical Assets You’ll Find in a Modern Smart Home

Let’s run through some of the appliances you might choose to include in your clever home design.

Home Media Centres

Entertainment is a big part of family life, and a home media centre with home automation can make it easy to:

Watch, pause, record and rewind live TV.
Check your emails or messages from any device.
Control your home systems from your remote.
Use your phone app rather than a physical remote.
Instruct your TV to record your favourite show through your app.

Apps command everything, so you don’t need to flick on a light, use a wall touchpad, or move from your spot. Many systems also incorporate a range of voice activations.

Smart Heating and Lighting

Intelligent heating systems work by operating your thermostats, lights and boiler through your smart device. You can turn the heat up or down, activate air conditioning, ask the lights to be switched on according to weather conditions, or pre-set instructions.

Smart home systems can be automated to turn off the heating and lights when you leave the house, so you’ll immediately start to conserve energy when there’s nobody home.

Smart Home Security

Alarm systems have come a long way from a simple motion detector and include brands such as Ring alarms and doorbells.

Options include:

Arming or disarming alarms through an app on your mobile.
Receiving instant notifications if an alarm or doorbell is triggered.
Automatic surveillance recording when motion is detected.

If you opt for a smart home security package with dual communication channels, it’ll keep working even if the Wi-Fi is down.

Smart Home Efficiency

The average smart home is a whopping 30-40% more efficient than a regular house. Even though always-on speakers or connected cameras tend to use a little energy, the outflow is usually much less with better utility management. Your smart home metres will ensure you know how much you’ve spent, where your energy is going and allow you to keep firm control of your utility budgets.

Monitoring water leaks, closing and locking gates and doors, automating sprinklers or checking whether or not you locked the garage door is all possible through a smart home hub.

Popular Smart Home Entertainment Apps or Services

The best smart home system for you depends on how you want to use it, but we’ll take a brief look at some of the most popular options:

Logitech Harmony Home Hub controls up to eight home entertainment or automation devices through a smartphone app, interacting with lights, thermostats and other home essentials.
Amazon Echo is designed to respond to your voice with total hands-free operation. It can play music and control devices from lighting to heaters, and anything electrical plugged in (whether it is an intelligent appliance or not).
Samsung SmartThings is a hub that connects wirelessly with various devices, controlled via an app on a smartphone or tablet.
iRule is an app rather than hardware and turns a mobile into a universal control, directly managing TV streaming apps or electronics.
Google Home is another app to handle Google Nest or Google Home speakers and compatible lights, cameras and calendars.

Benefits of Having a Smart Home

Of the many benefits of intelligent home automation, the most significant is that you can manage all devices from one place. It is usually straightforward to add new appliances or update your app as new versions are released. You can integrate with existing systems rather than needing to update every switch and socket in your home.

Smart homes have maximised security, with options such as automated locking, motion detection and instant video surveillance, all streamed to your app to keep an eye on things from anywhere in the world.

Remote control functions ensure you don’t use unnecessary electricity or gas and can tap into insights into how your home works, how you consume energy, and ways to cut down on your utility bills.

Options to Make Your Property Smarter

Making your home smarter can save you a massively on costs in the long run! Here are some simple steps to optimise your home intelligence systems:

Invest in a smart home assistant – you can choose from some of the options and brands we’ve mentioned above, or get in touch for more recommendations.
Choose smart lighting – that can include rewiring, bulb replacements or plugging in a relay box.
Replacing wall sockets – smart plugs convert a standard socket into a smart one, whereby you can turn on the TV, lamps or the kettle on your app or activate electric heaters from your phone.
Upgrade to intelligent security – indoor security cameras usually come with pedestals with no wall mounting, including environmental sensors and linking with smart doorbell cams for added safety.
Adding smart central heating – a connected boiler system will allow you to either instruct your temperature to adjust automatically to the weather or respond to manual controls in your app.

Homes of the future will be more efficient, easier to operate, streamlined, and connected so that every homeowner can control their property from entertainment to security, lighting to water temperature, all with a couple of clicks in an app.

If you’re interested in making your home a smart home, please contact the Pinnacle Works team for more information about any of the options discussed here.

Benefits of Investing in Your Property Instead of Moving

Nov 20, 2021 | Construction, Decorating

When you’ve outgrown your living space or feel like your home isn’t meeting your requirements, choosing whether to move or remodel is a big decision.

There are many compelling reasons to look at opportunities to upgrade your property, expand the number of bedrooms, or go for a loft conversion or extension, particularly if you love where you live.

Let us explain the benefits of home improvements and provide some suggestions from decades of successful renovation projects to solve your property dilemmas. If you’d like tailored advice about the options available within your home, please give us a call, and we’ll be happy to make some recommendations.

Reconfiguring Your Home Rather Than Relocating

One of the most significant challenges, if you’re considering selling up, is that a lot rides on the property market, which is notoriously turbulent. Currently, we’re seeing volatile demand, with peaks in some areas and dips in others.

Selling while the market is flat will undoubtedly mean either:

Accepting a lower offer than you’d like.
The stress of waiting for months for a buyer.
Breaking a property chain if you are unable to sell.

Another issue is around mortgage rates. Interest base rates are expected to rise steeply in 2022, which means that mortgages will become more expensive, in addition to the need to raise a large deposit, usually of at least 10% of the new property value.

Remortgaging to extend your current home loan or even short-term finance may be far cheaper than taking out a brand new mortgage on a different property. As lenders increase mortgage interest charges, it can also mean that homeowners cannot pass stricter affordability assessments to raise enough finance to purchase a larger home.

Costs aside, there are lots of other reasons to explore the renovation opportunities you have and rethink how you use your home to make it better fit your family.

The Best Home Improvement Projects for Investment Returns

Investing in home improvements does more than enhance your living standards – you can drive up the market value of your property if you later decide to move and retain a bricks and mortar asset that will likely grow in value in the meantime.

Some home investments deliver exceptionally high returns, depending on your region. A good example is off-road parking, which can cause no end of hassle for families in busy urban areas struggling to find parking spaces close by. Fitting a driveway or constructing a garage solves the problem while making your home appealing to prospective buyers in the future, and you don’t need to budget for the cost of moving.

While these are averages, the statistics below reflect how you can often double the value of your investment in a home improvement project:

Home improvement	Average UK cost	Average return on investment
Extending into loft space	£21,000 – £44,000	170%
Adding a bedroom	£15,000 – £40,000	115%
Building a single story extension	£30,000 – £48,000	108%
Outdoor landscaping	£100 – £125 per m²	100%
Installing a new bathroom	£6,500 – £7,000	93.2%
Installing a new kitchen	£5,000 – £14,000	91%
Replacing entrance doors	£850 – £1,500	90.7%
Adding a deck, patio or porch	£15 – £80 per m²	90.3%
Converting a basement	£800 – £1,500 per m²	90.1%
Replacing windows	£500 – £3,200 per window	89.6%

In comparison, moving from a three-bedroom house to a four-bed to acquire an extra bedroom will typically cost an average of:

£142,400 in the property value
£1,700 in removal costs
£11,300 in Stamp Duty
£800 – £1,500 in legal fees

Unless there is a tangible benefit in selling your home and moving to a larger property, it is hugely more cost-effective to expand or reconfigure your existing home. Eco-friendly improvements, such as replacing an old boiler, will also mean that your utility bills drop and your home achieves a better energy efficiency rating if you choose to put the property on the market at a later date.

Benefits of a Home Improvement Project

There are countless ways to change your property, from a complete remodel, removing internal doors, repositioning walls and building extensions. If you have an existing space that isn’t used, for example, an empty attic or a redundant side return, this space is perfect for extending into.

An experienced contractor, such as Pinnacle Works, is helpful since we can recommend the best solutions based on your existing home and the key aims you have for your home improvement, for example:

A rear single-storey extension doesn’t usually require planning permission. It could enable you to create a new living room, playroom, home office, sunroom, or increase the size of your ground floor.
If that might eat into your outdoor garden space, a side return extension is often a great option for semi-detached or detached properties.
Standalone home offices are ideal for professionals needing a dedicated working space but without the capacity to build extra rooms within their property layout. A separate office at the end of the garden can be fitted with complete plumbing and heating or used as a home gym or studio.
If you want to improve natural light, you could contemplate replacing old windows with energy-efficient double or triple glazing, installing roof lights or a dormer window.
Rooms that feel cold and draughty can be easily updated with a suspended ceiling.

Modern materials and efficient installations often mean your renovation or extension will be finished in a matter of weeks, creating a new way of living in your house with minimal disruption and heavily reduced costs.

Making your home a home and one that is suited to your tastes and preferences will ensure you feel truly comfortable in your property, with custom-designed spaces aligned with your family’s needs.

If you’d like more inspiration for ways to modernise your home, please get in touch with Pinnacle Works, and we’ll discuss some ideas to improve your living standards – and property value – for the long term.

The Benefits of a Professional Plastering Contractor for your Interiors

Sep 20, 2021 | Decorating, Maintenance

There are many home maintenance and decoration tasks you can do yourself, and DIY can be a great way to express your creativity and learn new skills. However, DIY plastering often ends in disaster and is far more skilled and intricate than many other general jobs.

At Pinnacle Works we offer a complete plastering service, whether you require a razor-sharp, smooth edge or a more detailed plaster effect to restore a period property feature.

In this article we share some guidance to explain the importance of using an accomplished plastering contractor and some of the common pitfalls we see following a DIY plaster disaster!

What is Plastering?

You’ll likely find plaster throughout your home, on the walls and ceilings. In essence, this finish protects your interior and provides a smooth surface to paint or hang wallpaper.

Typical plasters are blended from gypsum, cement or lime, which come in a dry powder and are mixed carefully with an accurate water measurement to develop a paste ready for application.

The Plastering Process

Let’s run through a basic explanation of what’s involved:

1. Surface Preparation

First, we assess the condition of the surface and prepare it for plastering. You must address any issues with damp, mould, rust or other deterioration before plastering takes place.

2. Plaster Mixing

Next, our plastering team prepares the plaster. There are multiple different application types, and heritage properties may require a specific blend of materials to comply with Listed Building requirements.

3. Plaster Application

Watching a skilled plasterer can be mesmerising. The process involves using firm upward strokes with an angled trowel and flattening the tool at the end of each motion to perfectly smooth the plaster.

4. Drying Time

Finally, your plaster needs to dry, and then your selected decoration is applied. Correctly applied plaster will dry relatively quickly and can be primed ready for painting.

Getting the blend and the application right is vital for appearance and ensuring the surface maintains fire-proof qualities for household safety.

Skimming vs Plastering Explained

The exact work you require will depend on the nature of your project. Skimming and plastering are often interchanged, but to a contractor are two different tasks.

Skimming, or skim plastering, means that a thin coat of plaster is applied to an existing wall on top of the current layer. This work is usually necessary when the surface area isn’t smooth and can be a restorative task for period properties to ensure the walls can be painted and kept in good condition.

A skimming project may sound simpler than plastering a bare wall. Still, it’s often a more difficult job, whereby the finish must be precise, absolutely smooth, and provide a perfect surface that you can paint or decorate.

Why Is Quality Plastering Important?

Pinnacle Works plasterers have years of training and vast experience in achieving outstanding finishes in a minimal application time.

The quality of your plastering work will have a significant impact on the aesthetic of your completed room and on the overall cost you need to budget for:

Poor plastering will crack or produce lumps and unsightly bubbles.
Inconsistent finishes make it very tricky to hang wallpaper and will be highlighted when applying paint.
Improper technique means that tight corners and edges will usually crumble or show gaps and uneven edges.
The wrong type of plaster can be catastrophic! Interior plaster used outdoors, for example, can fall away from the wall or collapse entirely.
A badly plastered wall will need to be removed and replaced from scratch, costing considerably more than a capable plastering contractor.
Substandard interiors will often impact the saleable value of your property.
Too much or too little plaster applied unequally will mean an uneven, wobbly wall.

While many DIY videos make plastering look effortless, don’t be mistaken in that it’s easy to get right without training.

One of the most severe issues is that any task involving wet materials, ladders and potentially handling live wiring requires a competent contractor to ensure all the work is compliant with health and safety regulations.

DIY Plastering or Professional Plastering Contractor?

Before you’re tempted to give plastering a go, we’d advise taking a look at some of the frequent mistakes we come across.

One of the common problems with DIY plaster is that the type of plaster isn’t appropriate. There isn’t one universal plaster mix suited for indoor and outdoor sites or rooms with higher damp concentrations, so the wrong plaster mix will inevitably need to be replaced.

Home improvements can be an exciting opportunity to get hands-on, but the exacting nature of plastering and the delicate blend to achieve an optimal plaster mix isn’t usually something you can achieve without practice.

Benefits of Using a Plastering Contractor

As we’ve explained, it’s highly advisable you use a qualified plastering contractor to ensure you get the quality and look you’re after.

There are many benefits to using an experienced professional:

Detail is crucial. Plastering with gaps and bubbles is impossible to disguise, so attention to the finish is vital.
Skilled plastering contractors work fast. Our teams are efficient and provide all the necessary equipment to complete your job from start to end – meaning you can move on to the next phase promptly.
Properly applied plaster is durable and will last for decades. Poorly applied plaster, conversely, will often require replacement in just a few short months.

Plaster might be a rigid material, but mistakes at the application stage can be costly and cause irreparable damage to your walls. Particularly when looking at plaster coving, ceiling roses or cornices, the level of detail is impossible to achieve without using a contractor with ample experience in similarly complex projects.

Pinnacle Works is a full-service building contractor working with clients across Sussex and beyond. We hope this brief guide to plastering helps identify the right way to achieve the quality and appearance you expect! If you need any assistance with a plastering project or a plastering problem, please get in touch for friendly advice from the plastering professionals.

Pinnacle’s 2021 Guide to Kitchen Renovation

Jul 2, 2021 | Construction, Decorating

Many clients come to us for inspiration with their kitchen renovation, in hopes of achieving their dream kitchen. The cliché that kitchens are the heart of our homes stands true – and with modern materials, a massive range of layouts and exciting ways to transform your dining space, we’ve got lots of ideas to share.

In this article, our kitchen experts run through the leading trends for 2021 kitchen design to shed light on the options out there. We’ll also showcase how sometimes, just a tiny tweak in your property can make a substantial difference to the way you use your kitchen space.

Ready, steady, let’s cook!

Kitchen Renovation on a Budget

First, let’s clarify that there are many kitchen design options out there that fit a range of budgets. It’s easy to assume a beautiful kitchen space is out of reach, and yes, a bespoke granite worktop, hardwood flooring and marble fixtures can be expensive. Still, our kitchen design teams work with suppliers across the pricing spectrum.

Contemporary appliances offer such a breadth of functionality. You could opt for:

Freestanding or fully fitted cookers and washers.
Steel, chrome, plastic, wood – materials selected for price, quality, eco-friendliness, durability, texture, aesthetic and finish.
Smart appliances, energy-saving devices and remote lighting management.

If you would like to update your kitchen or elevate the design, it’s absolutely possible to do so without breaking the budget.

Easy Ways to Expand Your Kitchen Space

One of the most popular ways to enhance your kitchen is to look at the layout.

Period properties often have small, dark galley kitchens to the rear of the home, which aren’t comfortable spaces to work in, and aren’t conducive to socialising and eating together. Again, there are many opportunities to transform your kitchen and make the space feel fresh, bright and airy.

Here are some ideas to think about:

Removing Walls: separate kitchens and dining rooms are a prime example – knock through an internal wall, and create an ample, free-flowing, open plan space that will add value to family time and quality dinners.
Kitchen Islands: a brilliant way to create an additional workspace and stylish addition to a modern kitchen (under counter wine fridges work brilliantly). However, you need to have plenty of space around each side, so this option is best for larger spaces.
Breakfast Bars: an alternative to an island, a breakfast bar adds a dining space even to a smaller kitchen, constructed in an L-shape. Kids can tuck into their breakfast while you prepare their lunch boxes, and you’ve got plenty of extra surface area too.
Kitchen Lighting: we’ve mentioned the tendency to overlook lighting, and if you’re cooking in a darker room, you can make a considerable difference with a skylight or roof lantern. Optimising natural light makes the whole room feel much more inviting.

Remember – you don’t need to have a huge kitchen to make it feel generous. You can use design tricks such as lighter colours to lift dark spaces, replace tired cabinets with fresh materials, or swap solid back doors for a great glass fixture or sliding door.

Dining al fresco is all the rage, and fitting a Bifold door, for example, instantly makes a kitchen feel bigger and brighter.

Using an Extension to Upgrade Your Kitchen

If you’re considering a complete kitchen renovation, it’s worth thinking about a rear extension.

This type of project is one of the most frequently requested, and the Pinnacle Works team has some incredible projects in our portfolio that show how dramatic an impact you can achieve. Kitchen extensions offer flexibility and the choice to tailor your design, colours and materials to the style you’re after.

Think sustainable fitted floors connecting with outdoor decking, fully opening sliding doors to flood your kitchen with fresh air, and low-hanging spotlights to make cooking a breeze even in the depths of winter.

A kitchen extension offers:

Scope to significantly increase the size of your kitchen – the only limitation is how much outdoor room you have to build on.
Linking the garden with your home makes it feel more spacious and provides a great way to join outdoor dining areas.
Variable glazing and lighting – from skylights, large-pane windows, LEDs, under-counter lights, automatic motion sensors and mood lighting for romantic meals.

The choice is yours, whether to use the extension to add to the existing kitchen or whether you’d like a brand new space and renovate the old room into something different.

Do I Need Planning Permission for a Kitchen Renovation?

Don’t let planning permission rules put you off – our teams are always on hand to advise and help you navigate the process! Generally, if you’re redesigning your kitchen, knocking down an internal wall, or renovating a pre-existing space, you won’t need approval.

Kitchen extensions can need permission, but many fall under the Permitted Development rules. That means you don’t need local authority approval and can get your ideal kitchen project underway.

Permitted Development rules, in brief, state that you won’t need permission if:

The extension isn’t on the front of the house by the road and is up to one storey tall (maximum of four metres in height).
It isn’t over three metres tall if within two metres of the boundary.
Your extension shouldn’t take up over 50% of your garden or outdoor space.
It cannot feature a balcony or veranda and mustn’t be any taller than the house.

There are some exceptions – primarily listed buildings – but Pinnacle Works recommends kitchen design options that fall under Permitted Development if you’re keen to avoid the extra time and cost of a planning permission application.

In summary, there are so many options to breathe new life into your kitchen space. From a simple cabinet upgrade to a total refit or a new extension construction, there is an option for every size kitchen, every style property, and every homeowner budget.

To explore more inspiration for your kitchen upgrade, get in touch with Pinnacle Works, and our experienced team will be happy to share ideas!

Designing the Ultimate Garden Fire Pit

Mar 17, 2021 | Construction, Decorating

A garden fire pit is a stylish, chic and popular way to make the most of your outside spaces.

Our team receives frequent enquiries about constructing bespoke garden fire pits – and as the weather warms and we all appreciate the benefits of spending more time outdoors, that’s only going to increase! Your fire pit style depends very much on the shape, size and aesthetic of your landscaping and what garden inspiration you want to bring to your home.

Here, we’ll run through some of the many benefits of garden fire pits to revitalise your outdoors and how you can adapt your entertaining areas to your own unique tastes.

What are the Benefits of Having a Garden Fire Pit?

There’s little more romantic and relaxing than having a softly cracking fire, warming your toes (and perhaps your marshmallows) as you chill out with friends, enjoy dinner with family, or catch up with your nearest and dearest.

While fires have always been an autumnal tradition, garden fire pits bring this instant ambience into year-round use.

A garden fire pit can be purely decorative or used for cooking and toasting.
Year-round use means you can have a cosy garden seating area, whatever the weather.
Fire pits provide gentle light, mood and atmosphere perfect for entertaining.
Being usable throughout the summer extends your garden space into the night.
Garden fire pits are safe, with flames properly contained and limited to your drum and fuel source. You can also add fire guards and covers if there are young children around.

Fire pits can be as straightforward or as intricate as you like – speak to us about your garden inspiration, and we’ll be delighted to share some design ideas with you. There are thousands of garden design styles to choose between, from slick, contemporary sunken seating areas to snuggly warm dens, functional outdoor kitchen spaces to casual family relaxation pods.

Another benefit is that having a fitted garden fire pit in your property can add value to your home! That depends on what fuel source you use, how well the fire pit has been maintained, and whether it’s a permanent installation or occasionally used in a seating area or deck.

Are Fire Pits Expensive to Maintain?

Garden fire pits are multifunctional, used for warmth, cooking, as a design statement, or entertainment. You can burn a wide range of fuels on your fire pit, and if installed correctly with stable foundations, they require little maintenance apart from periodic cleaning.

Examples of suitable fuel sources include:

Charcoal
Kiln-dried logs
Almost any dried wood – birch, oak, alder and ash are popular.
Smokeless fuels
Wood briquettes

Choosing an aromatic kiln-dried wood is a great way to bring a pleasant scent to the evening air and add to the atmosphere.

Maintenance is simple – you should remove ash and any debris from the garden fire pit, clean with a non-toxic solution, and rinse. Most fire pits only need a general clean from time to time and a deep clean every six months or so. It’s essential to allow your fire pit time to dry after it has been cleaned to ensure it will burn just as brightly next time you want to use it.

Most garden fire pits will burn for anything from three to six hours, depending on how regularly you top up the fuel source. They can be lined with sand to ensure the heat distributes evenly, and cleaning is a little easier.

With so many diverse styles available, Pinnacle can also fit bespoke seating areas, raised or sunken, around a standalone fire pit of your choice. Some homeowners prefer an option with a removable drum for easy storage when not in use.

Why are Garden Fire Pits so Popular?

There’s little doubt that what was once an unusual quirk is now something that millions of homeowners wish to install in their gardens – and the trend for fire pits has taken off significantly in the last few years. Many of the reasons relate to personal taste and how we value our gardens and want to maximise the fresh air and natural light we experience daily.

Particularly over the last year, when so many of us were confined to our homes, we have a newfound appreciation for how much our outdoor spaces bring to our lives. It is essential to ensure your property is somewhere you can relax, spend quality time, and enjoy the best that British summertime has to offer.

Garden design is also completely adaptable, and so you can create any seating area, decking, patio or landscaping that captures the personality of your home and family. Some of the most popular options include:

Using sunken rendered walls to create a sleek feel, with curved edges and a smooth finish to deliver a dedicated seating area for dining with guests.
Tiling your garden fire pit area, whether a bright pop of colour to inject energy or a subtle pattern, to blend in seamlessly with your garden design.
Creating shape with elongated fire pit designs, complementing your garden’s layout and bringing unused areas back into value.
Making your fire pit a focal and social hub of your garden, by building outwards from the seating area.

There are also multiple material options, ranging from modern concrete block to Mediterranean inspired designs, robust brickwork to traditional stone.

Whatever your garden inspiration might be and how you use your outside spaces, a garden fire pit can bring a new dimension to your property and expand your use of the outdoors. From warming winter evenings to relaxing summer nights, family dinner times to barbecue parties, fire pits bring a touch of luxury living that offers real benefits to our wellbeing.

For more information about garden design inspiration or to view previous garden fire pit installation projects, get in touch with the Pinnacle Works team to begin your garden transformation – just in time for summer!

Benefits of Roof Lanterns and Skylights

Oct 28, 2020 | Decorating, Construction

As we look for new ways to elevate our quality of living and make the best of our homes, skylights and roof lanterns continue to grow in popularity.

Here we’ll run through the top benefits, and why a simple lighting enhancement can make a massive difference to your home!

Roof Lanterns vs Skylights

First up, let’s clarify what we mean when we talk about roof lanterns and skylights – since you might come across a lot of different terminologies that, essentially, mean the same thing.

– Roof lanterns sit on top of the construction of your roof, installed horizontally with a bespoke finish according to your design aesthetic.

– Skylights are windows installed in the roof of your property, set flush into the construction.

Both options allow your home to be flooded with natural light, with the primary difference being that a skylight is fitted in line with the roof. In contrast, a roof lantern sits above the roofline, increasing the design options and light capture.

Other options and descriptions include:

Sun tubes (also referred to as light tubes, solar tubes and tubular daylighting devices) – these fit into recessed light fixtures, and provide a route for sunlight to reach darker areas of your property.
Glass block windows – both a decorative statement and a way to improve lighting, a block window is built into an interior or exterior wall, with any combination of colours to create a dramatic impact.
Roof lights or ceiling windows – refer to skylights.
Lantern windows – like a roof lantern, but installed on any aspect of your home.

Now we’ve cleared that up, let’s consider why they are so popular, and why ceiling windows might be the fastest and most cost-effective way to revamp your living space!

Benefits of Overhead Natural Light

Daylight is essential; it improves our sense of well-being, helps us cope with those short winter days, and provides a warm, pleasant ambience to make our homes feel more welcoming.

Some of the powerful benefits available from installing overhead glazing include:

Natural Light: Dramatically increase natural light, ideal for enclosed spaces, smaller homes, or darker areas of your property.
Low-Maintenance: Improve the brightness and energy of your house without power costs or maintenance.
Improve Space: Add height to lower ceilings, making cramped rooms feel more spacious and airy.
Design Versatility: Creates a design statement, with no end of glass colourways, design structures, materials or innovative constructions that add value and style to your property.
Fast & Efficient: Provides a watertight, quick installation for the feel of a significant renovation in a fraction of the time.
Transformative: Transforms a bland, dull or dark space into an inviting and attractive area – thereby increasing the uses and functionality of rooms.
Flexible Finishes: Offer flexibility in terms of size, shape, structure and finish.
Energy Conscious: Are energy-efficient, both retaining warmth in winter and filtering heat in the summer, with toughened glass strong enough to withstand the wildest elements.

Roof Lighting Design Options and Ideas

Flexibility is one of the key things we love about overhead glass. While functional, self-cleaning glazing is at the height of innovative building materials, there are multiple ways to make your skylights stand apart as a unique room feature.

Some of our favourite design statements include:

Slim, modern profile roof lanterns creating volume and height with minimalistic styling.
Adding electric opening functions, for the ultimate feeling of bringing the outside indoors.
Using lighting and spotlights to create drama, with coloured glass being a fantastic way to draw together your room colourways and design.
Making your roof light the centrepiece for your space, and using symmetry around it to elevate the sense of balance.
Creating a sizeable contemporary roof lantern to cover the width of a room, with a geometric pyramid construction for a modern feel.

One of the top questions we get asked about overhead glazing concerns types of roofs – and whether you can choose any window or light feature, and what restrictions there are around how original you can make your design. We are delighted to confirm that these flexible options work in almost any scenario – and we are always on hand to take a look at your roofing and recommend the best solutions for your property!

Skylight design options:

Can be fitted into either flat or pitched roofs.
Are available as non-opening flat lights, or as an opening roof window.
Can be hung on a centre pivot, or be top-hung.

Roof lantern design options:

Typically fitted to a flat roof, or as an elevated feature above a ceiling.
Usually in a pyramid shape, although the design can be tailored.
Most often non-opening, with optional ventilation.

Practical Applications for Roof Lanterns

Roof lights work in any room, space or hallway, and are ideal in tall rooms to add interest and draw the eye upwards. They also work perfectly in dark, gloomy areas providing an instant injection of brightness!

Some of the most popular locations for roof features included in Pinnacle Works building projects include:

Extensions and Conversions

Construction projects are an ideal time to add style, flair and energy to your home, with a seamless skylight installation slotting in perfectly around other renovation works. Flat roof extensions are ideally suited to a modern roof lantern, spanning across kitchen extensions, living room conversions and home offices and playroom areas.

Kitchens and Bathrooms

Bathroom lighting is typically quite dim, with textured glass to aid privacy yet blocking out daylight. A skylight is an ideal addition, bringing freshness and light to a dull space, without opening any views into your bathroom, and helping to reduce moisture and condensation build-up.

Overhead lighting is also an excellent way to amplify visibility in kitchens, making cooking and entertaining comfortable and better ventilated.

Attic & Loft Renovations

Most attic renovations find a dark, dusty area that needs a jolt of professional renovation to bring them into use as a functional, and enjoyable room. A skylight is ideally suited to increasing overhead space, providing emergency escape points, and adding fresh air and ventilation to make your loft add value to your home.

We hope this has helped to explain the types of roof light available, and how they can transform your living spaces into bright, airy, and beautiful rooms!

For more information about the best-suited skylights for your property, design inspiration to help with crafting your own bespoke roof lantern design, or to uncover the possibilities yet to discover throughout your home renovation projects, give the Pinnacle Works team a call, or drop us an enquiry!

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