Internally , Stella rooflights are finished with real wood linings . American ash is the most popular choice , but we can produce these from any timber required . The use of real wood gives a neat , warm appearance to the internal element of your conservation rooflight . Nowadays , most rooflight suppliers tend to use cheaper softwood or plastic , which is painted white as an internal finish and these liners can result in deeper frame profiles or reduced viewable areas . While a white internal frame can be sold as ‘ clean ’ or ‘ neat ’, these can sometimes feel a little soulless and is a finish more often associated with modern flat rooflights than traditional conservation products .
Single or double glazed ?
Victorian rooflights would have been single glazed , however , today ’ s modern building standards are much higher and so single glazing does not meet the minimum requirements for thermal efficiency ( Part L ). Double glazing is now the most popular option for genuine conservation rooflights because glazing technology is such that a modern double glazed unit can provide a number of benefits while remaining reasonably slender . The units used in a Stella conservation rooflight offer both self-clean and solar control elements , while also providing excellent thermal efficiency with an inner pane of Planitherm One . Using warm edge spacer technology and argon gas our units are also silicone edge sealed , which gives them greater protection against UV light .
Some conservation rooflight suppliers are keen to boast about offering triple glazing in their products but while this does offer a slightly improved thermal performance it comes at the expense of appearance . The optimal spacer bar thickness is 16mm so any decent triple-glazed unit is going to be almost 50 % thicker than a doubleglazed version . Now with a flush fitting profile being one of the main requirements of a conservation rooflight , the introduction of triple glazing makes that almost impossible on some roof types .
Glazing bars ?
There is often a stipulation from the conservation officer that a conservation rooflight should have a glazing bar to replicate that original Victorian appearance . It is not always the case but it is definitely worth checking whether you need them before purchasing any conservation rooflight .
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