Solar Panels on Slate Roofs

Why slate needs more care

Slate is thin, brittle and fixed with nails rather than hung on a nib. Anchors have to be placed carefully and the slate dressed or replaced around them. A rushed job on slate shows up as cracked slates and, eventually, water ingress.

The Edinburgh context

Much of the older housing here is stone tenements and Georgian terraces in the centre, with interwar and post-war housing in the suburbs, with natural slate almost everywhere in the older stock, concrete tile in the suburbs. The New Town and much of central Edinburgh is a World Heritage Site and heavily conservation-designated, so panel visibility from the street is often the deciding factor.

Fixing detail

Anchors fix to the rafters, with the slate above dressed over the bracket or replaced with a lead soaker. Done properly there is no reliance on sealant to keep the water out.

Age and condition

Old slate can be sound for decades more or can be at the end of its life with failing nails. A survey should include a genuine assessment of that, because it changes the sequencing of the whole job.