Anyone have any experience with these? Or have an alternative suggestion?

Thanks

Posted By: WillInAberdeenthe biggest standard velux we could fit and it was top-hung and fitted at carefully chosen height, so when fully open it swung up above head height, the space beneath then became a little balcony with a glass roof.

The lowest edge of the velux became the handrail of the balcony, which had to be the correct height for safety and escape.

Exactly - a great feature, which I design-in frequently.

Er - that's entirely dependant on the geometry of the situation, and how it looks on elevation - but as you say, as large as poss. Done it with a pair, close coupled together - very spacious!

Posted By: Victorianeco2 next to eachother would be ideal BUT getting rid of the middle beam would be ideal if anyway possible??

As long as you can structurally trim the combined opening, so a middle rafter is not necessary, then pairs of Veluxes can be placed very close together - there's a coupling kit - without any support at the adjoining edges. You can buy a Velux cover strip for the visible uderside, or make your own.

Looking to revisit this, so I need to look for 2 top hung velux Windows.

Any alternatives? Fakro or similar?

Posted By: WillInAberdeenThe top hung velux windows actually have a clever hidden centre pivot as well as the main top pivot, so you can rotate them 180⁰ the same as a standard Velux. That way you can clean both sides of the glass from safely inside the building. That's required by Scottish building standards for most upstairs windows, and it's so handy I don't know why it isn't a universal requirement, no need to get a window cleaner up a ladder or with a pole. Sorry not an answer to VE's recent question.

I'm curious, when you say most upstairs windows does that mean that fixed panes are prohibited? We fitted tilt-n-turn windows mostly 'cos of PH requirements but at the back of my mind was the thought that we could clean the windows ourselves. In practice most of the upstairs windows have one opening pane and one fixed, which would make it awkward, and there's also a totally fixed pane* that would be very difficult. It turns out even the opening panes are awkward because there are things in front of the windows (a bed and a desk) so in practice we get a window cleaner to clean them every three months. We found one that comes with his own tank (IBC) of distilled (well purified at least) water in the back of his van and the arrangement has worked well so far at least.

* We have some windows that are single fixed panes. One that is a picture window in the living room and one in our bedroom. There are other opening windows in the rooms. But going for single fixed panes reduces the cost and also results in more elegant windows, IMHO.

And in partial answer to VE, yes Fakro are an alternative. We don't have any roof windows, except a multi-layer plastic PH-certified rooflight in the 'conservatory'.

Ah, thanks. So two major exceptions that cover almost all domestic situations:

(a) "Any window or rooflight, all or part of which is more than 4m above the adjacent ground or internal floor level" - not many roofs are more than 4 m from the associated internal floor.

(b) "within a dwelling, any rooflight, all of which is more than 1.8m above both adjacent ground and internal floor level, need not be constructed so that it may be safely cleaned."

Perhaps the biggest case that would be covered is a double-height wall of glass in a hall or living space? Big architectural statement kind of stuff?

VE, I think that might have been what we had. (Edit : ours was 1140x1600) Remember that the Velux sits level with the outer 'skin' of the roof and so the inner face of the roof construction is at a slightly lower height than the Velux is, so there might be a reveal edge that projects downward around the top edge of the window, as does a control handle for the window.. Try and position these above your head height!

The window itself opens far enough so it points upwards above the horizontal, so that will make more headroom when open.

Good luck getting that one past Building Standards, DJH!
If any window exceeds 4m above external ground level, you need to clean it from the inside, while "standing on the floor" - normally that would be the first floor. (Or subsequent floors if applicable)

If it's too high on the inside for the householder to reach safely from any of the internal floor levels, say a double height glass wall, then they'd need a balcony or a safe access system.

We did have a fixed rooflight under the "too high to see out of" exemption. I occasionally cleaned it from the ground using a squeegee tied to a very long gardening pole-pruner, bit of a faff but worked ok. Our other upstairs windows were veluxes, or were triple-pane windows with two fixed panes and one inward-opening pane, to reach out of and clean the other two.