Weekend update time. Break in the rain meant only one thing, Velux time. I'll be honest, this is the job I was dreading the most - something sphincter tightening about cutting a hole in your own roof in September in this country - literally anything could happen.
The roof has nasty pitch/access issues and I've no head for heights so this all had to be done from the inside. The window is a uPVC Rooflite with the tile flashing kit, the one that comes in a bazillion pieces and in hindsight I would go a simpler single part design if I were to do it again like my other Velux that I didn't fit.
There are pics below but here's the summary:
- Brace across the rafter I'm cutting above and below the proposed hole, prob didn't need this as the sarking boards hold everything together anyway
- Cut out existing sarking boards using my trusty multitool. They're wedge shaped and the tile hangs on each leading top edge. With a little care I was able to pull the first tile inside and then cut more/remove more as I went. No felt on this roof so at least I didn't have that to contend with
- Once I have my hole I framed inside with 4/2 and lots of 100mm 5mm screws. As luck would have it the 4x2 directly screwed to existing rafters either side left me exactly the gap I needed
- Brackets screw to window, remove the sash and offer it up to the new hole
- Stuff fitting the roofing felt around the new hole .. the flashing kit is fine and the rest of the roof doesn't have felt so I'm not about to start now. Any water it did catch will just run under the existing tiles and leak somewhere else anyway
- Begin fitting bottom flashing. Typically tiles line up just so I can't get another course right underneath window, plus it'd upset the angles for the side flashing to slot into, I used a strip of roofing felt on top of the last course before window, will replace with lead flashing if it causes an issue. Realistically it's prob fine without as the but I'm being careful as I don't want to do this again.
- Fit side flashing .. they're a pain but I get the hang eventually. Each section sits on top of the last tile and they sit together nicely, lots of overlap so I'm not worried about water blowing up in the joins. Used my trusty master plug tile cutter for the cuts, made a hell of a mess but did a lovely job I reckon (await abuse)
- Fit top flashing .. took off a fair few tiles to get it in but went in pretty well really
- Fit the side bottom top cover things .. all screws together nice and tight, looking good now
- Replace the sash into the frame .. this is made to look WAY easier on youtube trust me, teetering on a ladder trying not to chuck my new window out into the garden wasn't much fun but got there eventually - would have been lovely to have a pair of hands on the outside but it is doable. Suspect the centre hinge on mine didn't help, hinge nearer the bottom would have been a lot easier, or even the top, but middle makes the weight distribution tricky to handle.
Could have done it in a day (start at
but in reality it took me 1.5 due to faffing and general incompetence.
Managed to get a bit more flooring down and the first few slabs of celotex in also.
Anyway, pictures speak a thousand words, added the new pics to the flickr album:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskjUV76P
..next step, get the celotex and membrane in place for the lower half of the walls which will form the storage. Then I can get the stud up route cables/pipes for rads etc.. It's SO much nicer working with natural light.
The roof has nasty pitch/access issues and I've no head for heights so this all had to be done from the inside. The window is a uPVC Rooflite with the tile flashing kit, the one that comes in a bazillion pieces and in hindsight I would go a simpler single part design if I were to do it again like my other Velux that I didn't fit.
There are pics below but here's the summary:
- Brace across the rafter I'm cutting above and below the proposed hole, prob didn't need this as the sarking boards hold everything together anyway
- Cut out existing sarking boards using my trusty multitool. They're wedge shaped and the tile hangs on each leading top edge. With a little care I was able to pull the first tile inside and then cut more/remove more as I went. No felt on this roof so at least I didn't have that to contend with
- Once I have my hole I framed inside with 4/2 and lots of 100mm 5mm screws. As luck would have it the 4x2 directly screwed to existing rafters either side left me exactly the gap I needed
- Brackets screw to window, remove the sash and offer it up to the new hole
- Stuff fitting the roofing felt around the new hole .. the flashing kit is fine and the rest of the roof doesn't have felt so I'm not about to start now. Any water it did catch will just run under the existing tiles and leak somewhere else anyway
- Begin fitting bottom flashing. Typically tiles line up just so I can't get another course right underneath window, plus it'd upset the angles for the side flashing to slot into, I used a strip of roofing felt on top of the last course before window, will replace with lead flashing if it causes an issue. Realistically it's prob fine without as the but I'm being careful as I don't want to do this again.
- Fit side flashing .. they're a pain but I get the hang eventually. Each section sits on top of the last tile and they sit together nicely, lots of overlap so I'm not worried about water blowing up in the joins. Used my trusty master plug tile cutter for the cuts, made a hell of a mess but did a lovely job I reckon (await abuse)
- Fit top flashing .. took off a fair few tiles to get it in but went in pretty well really
- Fit the side bottom top cover things .. all screws together nice and tight, looking good now
- Replace the sash into the frame .. this is made to look WAY easier on youtube trust me, teetering on a ladder trying not to chuck my new window out into the garden wasn't much fun but got there eventually - would have been lovely to have a pair of hands on the outside but it is doable. Suspect the centre hinge on mine didn't help, hinge nearer the bottom would have been a lot easier, or even the top, but middle makes the weight distribution tricky to handle.
Could have done it in a day (start at
but in reality it took me 1.5 due to faffing and general incompetence.Managed to get a bit more flooring down and the first few slabs of celotex in also.
Anyway, pictures speak a thousand words, added the new pics to the flickr album:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskjUV76P
..next step, get the celotex and membrane in place for the lower half of the walls which will form the storage. Then I can get the stud up route cables/pipes for rads etc.. It's SO much nicer working with natural light.
