If you’ve been thinking about installing a solar energy system in your home, you might be wondering if your roof type is suitable for mounting solar panels. While a solar panel energy system can be installed on almost any type of roof, the installation process and hardware can vary depending on the type of roof. At Kosmos Solar in Grand Prairie, TX, our team of professional solar panel installation specialists is always ready to work with home and business owners throughout the DFW Metroplex to help them make the best possible decisions about their solar panel energy project plans.
If you look around, you might find that more and more roofs in your neighborhood are filled with solar panels. This makes sense because all of these homes use electricity and solar panels can help these property owners save money on their monthly utility costs. At the same time, not every roof is a perfect place for a solar panel installation. So, let’s talk about what makes a roof suitable for solar energy.
Take Your Roofing Materials Into Consideration
In many cases, your roof may be made of asphalt shingles, and this material is very suitable for solar module installation. If you have a metal, clay, rubber or standing seam roof tiles, these materials can also be used to process solar panels. Slate or wood shingles can be rather complicated for installation projects (they are fragile), but it is still possible to get the job done.
Think About the Age of Your Roof
When planning a solar panel installation on your existing roof system, it is always important to think about the future. Because of the longevity of a solar panel system, it is always advisable to think about adding a solar panel system close to the time of a planned major repair or replacement of your roofing system. This is because it just wouldn’t make sense to install solar panels on a system that will need to be replaced soon anyway. After all, that would increase the costs associated with your upcoming roof work.
Will Your Roof Handle the Weight Properly?
An important part of planning a solar panel installation project is making sure that the structure itself will be able to properly support all of the equipment and panels. In some cases, certain roofing systems may not be able to meet the load requirements of your planned solar panel installation. In this type of situation, it is important to have a conversation with your installation specialists about the options that are available for dealing with this issue.
Is Your Roof Angled in the Right Direction?
While this particular question is not something that is easily addressed, it is still an important topic to consider when planning a solar panel energy project. Although it is still possible to get results from your solar panel system regardless of facing, achieving optimal results from your system can be a challenge if the facing of your roof prevents the panels from facing the right way. This means that it may need necessary to add additional panels or adopt alternative methods to make sure your energy needs are achieved.
