Will Your Roof Take Solar Panels?
Plenty of people are thinking about solar panels as they can save a lot of money.
But is your roof strong enough?
In the old days a house roof had a good factor of safety so they could take the additional weight of solar panels, or a solar hot water system easily.
These days it would seem some builders are cutting costs by using lighter trusses in the roof.
This means that the roof doesn’t have the strength to take the weight of solar panels.
I have heard of new builders asking for $300, or more to upgrade the roof.
If you think you might want solar panels, and I suggest that it is a good idea, make sure you ask the builder if the roof is strong enough.
How do you know whether the roof is strong enough? Even if you pay the builder extra money, how do you know that they’ve done the additional trusses?
The details of the trusses should be shown on the ‘approved for construction’ drawings.
It won’t be additional trusses just more timber in the trusses.