Reroof with tiles and panels or solar tiles?

chrisgeary

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Our victorian terrace slate roof is leaking and the local roofer seems unable to isolate it, despite all tiles being in position. A re-roof might be on the cards as the slates are pretty old and the insulation has shifted causing varying levels of insulation performance and in many places no air gap so there is condensation problems on the underside as well.

I'm wondering whether this is a good time to consider solar options. Living in a conservation area (although the south facing side is away from the main road), solar tiles may make more sense. Anyone had any experience of solar tiles or should I just get it reroofed as normal and put panels up?
 
Have you had a quote for them compared to panels ?
 
No, not yet. Honestly, I don't even know where to start.
 
I gather, broadly, they are more expensive than simple tiles, but similar in total price to {normal tiles plus separate panels}. google will direct you to some suppliers from whom you could get more details.
 
I gather, broadly, they are more expensive than simple tiles, but similar in total price to {normal tiles plus separate panels}. google will direct you to some suppliers from whom you could get more details.
They aren't broadly similar in price, they are significantly more expensive unless things have changed in the last 5 years.

Tesla do them but not available in the UK yet, will probably be the cheapest ones when they do come out. Also as far as I could find existing suppliers only offer 10 years warranty. Not saying they are worse quality but just something to bear in mind.

 
They aren't broadly similar in price, they are significantly more expensive
Yes - but my broad comparison was against the total cost of {normal tiles plus separate panels} since the OP's roof already needs renewing. That's where, as far as I know, it gets into a similar ballpark.
 
Yes - but my broad comparison was against the total cost of {normal tiles plus separate panels} since the OP's roof already needs renewing. That's where, as far as I know, it gets into a similar ballpark.
I was talking about normal tiles + panels vs solar tiles. AFAIK they aren't cheap.
 
I may not have a choice about panels or tiles, if I decide to go solar. I'm consulting with the council planning department first to see what is permitted in a conservation area. There may also be the matter of additional loading on a victorian terraced house roof where the attic space has already been converted into a bedroom.
 
When re-doing my roof I had a look at doing integrated IMO they look a lot better. Would save on the tile load if the council have a worry about weight. I would think the risk off wind up lift is reduced as well.
GAF-Energy-Solar-Roof-1.png
 
Those are really sleek @BorkenArrow

Our attic conversion master bedroom gets very warm in summer and I do wonder if panels on top of slates would provide some thermal shielding from the sun's warmth but there's no doubt that when the wind whips up, there will be greater piece of mind with integrated pv.
 
I live in a conservation area, and was refused permission to install integrated Solar PV Panels.

I’m now investigating stealth-like Solar PV Tiles by Ergosun - who have successfully installed their product in a Grade1 listed home.


Their UK distributor is…

 
Getting a wide variety of quotes from £4.4k to £10k, some saying they don't deal with inroof at all, some saying inroof panel replacements for whatever reason are problematic eg you're left with a hole in the roof. I'm thinking now that if something went wrong with a panel, I think I'd want it to be on roof rather than inroof. Also the inroofs are 10-20% less efficient.
On roof is starting to look favourable.

However, one issue I hadn't considered is the location of the inverter (and batteries if I went that route). In our Victorian mid-terrace, we don't have a garage. Would probably have to install the inverter etc in the utility room at the back of the extension with long cable runs from the roof to the utility and back again to the consumer unit at the front of the house. Ugh. This is sounding messy. Lots to think about. Then there's the breakeven time which is still the best part of a decade.
 
The are old classic things to consider. Builder back in the day replace slate with tiles. The then sold the slate as a little bonus to themselves. Now tiles are much heavier than slate and so many of those old jobs lead to broken roofing beams and the roof needing re-enforcing at a later date.

I'd personally would have the roof. re-slated replacing broken slates. If. you recycle the good slates then you might only need a few m2 of replacement, which could re-claimed ones.

I'd personally look around for a roofer who can find a the leak and get quotes. A large part of the cost will be scaffolding thats like to be a 1K alone. And once again if you go with tiles be very careful about the extra weight.

Yes thats quite. expensive but have a new waterproof membrane. and flashing and pointed properly should do the job. No sure on your location but modern solar panels are are efficient and decent ones should have a warranty.

I would go with quotes and what works for you. Regarding above roof panels they are not pretty, but if you don't save a few pennies, next door will.
 
We're in a conservation area, so very much we will be sticking with slate and keeping as much of the existing as we can. One of the main drivers for the reroof, apart from the leak is the poor state of the rockwool insulation. So the plan is to have that out and replaced with celotex or similar.

I'm considering adding PV while the scaffold is up but I'm not sure if the numbers stack up.
 
If I was permitted to install 8 x Solar Panels on part of my roof (conservation area), it would give me a 2.5kW array, but installing Ergosun Solar PV Tiles that covers nearly all of my roof will give me 3.5kW.
 
For modestly sized (and priced) storage batteries, look at Varta Pulse, and those from GivEnergy.
 
The important side from a Conservation Area pov is the highway facing side, which in my case is north facing. So the rear of the property is the only side that matters for PV, it isn't highway facing and I've had confirmation from the council that roof mounted panels on the rear are perfectly fine to proceed with. I also have extension surface area I can use. I might be able to get 6kw or so of panels installed which, with storage, should cover our daily usage on good solar days. But it all comes down to cost and the reroof costs are looking steeper than I imagined.
Thanks for the tip on batteries!
 
The local (conservation) planners have sanctioned my utilising Ergosun Solar PV Tiles. I’ve been given 2 years grace to install them. Now looking at suitable storage battery.
 
So has anyone got any calculations showing the pay back period for solar panels for a typical UK home? I presume there are figures based on surface area to enable some fag packet maths.
 
Unlike the FIT payment era, you‘re unlikely to achieve anything like the same kind of payback period as before - especially via the replacement SEG payments.

My approach is to offset my electricity usage during the daytime, and store some energy for use during the evening.
 

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