Solar panels on Dormer roof

shibli

Hi,

Not sure if anyone can confirm this, I popped into my local Ikea and spoke to a representative from Harnegy regarding soloar panels and was advised that as I have a dormer it would not be suitable to have solar panels fitted due to the weight of the panels placed on a dormer (generally dormer are not built with strong roofing). Disappointed as was considering the possibility of solar. Could someone advise if this is correct and if there is an alternative solution ?

TIA

EricMears

shibli wrote: »

Hi,

Not sure if anyone can confirm this, I popped into my local Ikea and spoke to a representative from Harnegy regarding soloar panels and was advised that as I have a dormer it would not be suitable to have solar panels fitted due to the weight of the panels placed on a dormer (generally dormer are not built with strong roofing). Disappointed as was considering the possibility of solar. Could someone advise if this is correct and if there is an alternative solution ?

TIA

I don't think anyone could say without inspecting whether a particular roof construction has or has not the ability to support the extra weight of solar panels. And it would probably be possible to strengthen a roof if it was initially deemed not to be strong enough.


What you need is a proper survey from someone who knows what they're doing rather than a wild guess from some part time leaflet hander-out.

travellerboy

The added weight is negligible, it is the added wind loading due to uplift that is the main concern.

shibli

I am sure the representative said a typical dormer would not be able to handle the weight of several panels.

EricMears

shibli wrote: »

I am sure the representative said a typical dormer would not be able to handle the weight of several panels.

Even if true (which frankly I doubt) it's no help to you. Your house hasn't got "a typical dormer" - it's got "your dormer" and a reputable installer would take appropriate steps to check out whether or not it was suitable for SP installation rather than relying on guesswork.