Solar & Roofing

Pre-Solar Roof Remediation

Rooftop solar is one of the better investments a South African business can make right now. But an array is typically warranted for twenty to twenty-five years, and it gets bolted to a surface most owners have never had properly assessed. If the roof underneath has ten years left in it, you haven't bought a twenty-five year asset. You've bought a ten-year one with an expensive dismantling job attached.

The Mismatch Nobody Costs For

Solar quotes are detailed about panels, inverters, racking, cabling and payback periods. What they almost never mention is the condition of the roof, because that isn't the solar installer's job and, in fairness, isn't their expertise either.

So the question goes unasked. Does this roof have twenty-five years left? For a great many industrial buildings in this country — sheeting that's already twenty years old, corroding at the gutter lines, with a coating that's chalking and fixings that need attention — the honest answer is no. And once the array is up, finding that out gets expensive.

What It Costs to Fix a Roof Under an Array

Suppose the roof needs remedial work in year eight. What was a straightforward job on an open roof now involves:

• De-installing the array — panels removed, labelled, handled carefully and stored somewhere safe
• Stripping the mounting system — racking off, and every existing penetration disturbed
• Electrical isolation and recommissioning — by a certified installer, at both ends of the job
• The roof work itself — the part you actually wanted to do
• Reinstallation — new mounting penetrations, all of them fresh leak paths to be sealed properly
• Lost generation for the entire duration, which on a large array is not a rounding error
• Warranty exposure — check what dismantling and reinstalling does to the guarantees on both the solar installation and the roof

A two-week roof job becomes a multi-month coordination exercise between two trades, and the roof work is the cheapest line on the invoice.

What Solar Actually Does to a Roof

Even on a sound roof, an array changes things. It's worth going in with clear eyes:

What Pre-Solar Remediation Involves

Done properly, remediation happens in the window between deciding on solar and the installers arriving — and it isn't complicated:

Questions to Ask Before You Sign the Solar Contract

• How many years does my roof realistically have left? Get that assessed independently of the solar quote
• Does the mounting method penetrate the sheeting? If so, how many points, and who seals them
• If it leaks afterwards, whose problem is it? Get the answer in writing before anyone drills anything
• Can the structure carry the load and the uplift? Confirmed by someone qualified to say so
• What do my existing roof warranties say about third-party penetrations? Many exclude them — check yours before, not after
• What's the plan if the roof needs work in year eight? If nobody has an answer, that's the answer

The Right Sequence Is Also the Cheaper One

Doing the roof first isn't just safer, it's less expensive. Access and safety arrangements are already in place, the roof is open and unobstructed, the work happens in one planned shutdown instead of two, and nothing has to be dismantled and rebuilt. The remediation costs what remediation costs — no de-installation, no storage, no lost generation, no second electrical commissioning.

Sicon Group carries out pre-solar roof assessments and remediation for industrial and commercial properties across South Africa. We'll tell you honestly what condition the roof is in, how long it has left, and what it needs so that it outlives the array you're about to put on it. If the answer is that the roof is fine as it stands, we'll tell you that too.