Installing solar panels on homes in Bowthorpe involves every stage, from the first roof check to the final tidy-up.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
A solar panel installation is not simply bolting panels to a roof. It involves a structural survey, careful design, penetrations through the roof covering, electrical work inside the property, and a formal connection to the grid. Getting any one of those stages wrong costs far more to put right than it did to do properly in the first place.
This page walks you through the full process, step by step, so you know exactly what to expect and what to look out for at each stage. A good installer should not mind you asking questions at every point.
Before a single panel is ordered, the roof itself needs a proper look. This means checking the condition of the tiles or slates, the state of the felt or membrane underneath, the battens, and the structural timbers in the loft. Panels add weight and wind loading to a roof, so any weakness needs to be found and dealt with before installation begins.
The survey also takes in the roof's orientation and pitch. South-facing roofs with a pitch between 30 and 40 degrees give the best year-round output, but east-west splits and shallower pitches still work well and are worth calculating properly rather than dismissing. Shading from chimneys, neighbouring properties or trees is noted at this stage too, because partial shading on even one panel can affect the whole string if the system is not designed around it.
A structural survey of the loft space confirms the rafter size and spacing. Building regulations require the roof to handle the additional load. Most standard UK roof constructions manage this without alteration, but it is better to know before you have panels on order.
Once the survey data is in, the system is designed around your roof and your household's actual electricity use. The number of panels, the inverter type, and whether a battery is included all follow from that, rather than from a one-size package.
Panels themselves are typically monocrystalline or polycrystalline silicon. Monocrystalline panels are more efficient and better suited to limited roof space. Most residential installations now use monocrystalline panels as standard. Panel wattage has risen considerably over recent years: 400W-450W panels are now common in domestic systems.
The inverter converts the DC electricity the panels produce into the AC electricity your home uses. A string inverter handles the whole array from a central point. Microinverters or DC optimisers are fitted to individual panels and reduce the impact of shading. Which is right depends on your roof layout and whether shading is a factor.
Battery storage is an optional extra that stores surplus energy generated during the day for use in the evening. A typical home battery holds 5kWh-10kWh. It makes the most difference for households that are out during the day and use most of their electricity in the morning and evening.
Scaffolding goes up before any roof work begins. The scaffold needs to provide safe access across the whole working area and, for most standard houses, this takes half a day to erect. It stays in place until the installation is signed off and any minor snagging is complete.
The roof surface is checked again once the scaffold is up and the roofer is working at close range. Small problems such as a cracked tile or a slipped ridge mortar joint that were not obvious from the ground often show up at this point. Any tile or slate that needs replacing before the mounting brackets go on is dealt with now, not later.
The mounting system is the framework that holds the panels away from the roof surface and carries the load back to the rafters. The most common type on a tiled or slated roof uses hooks that fix directly through the tile or slate into the rafter below. A flashing or waterproof seal is fitted around each hook penetration so the fixing does not become a leak point.
The hooks are spaced to align with the rafters, which are located by measurement from the eaves and confirmed in the loft. Rails are then fixed across the hooks to create the grid on which the panels will sit. The rails need to be level and correctly spaced for the panel frames.
This stage is where the roofer's contribution matters most. Every penetration through the weatherproofing of the roof is a potential future leak if not done correctly. The seal around each hook needs to be right for the tile or slate type in use.
Panels are lifted to the roof and clipped to the rails using mid and end clamps. The frames are earthed and the panels are connected together in strings using MC4 connectors. The DC cables are routed neatly along the rails and down into the property, typically through the soffit or via an agreed route into the loft.
Cable management matters: poorly routed cables catch the wind, chafe on roof edges, and are harder to fault-find years later. The cables should be clipped, not loose, and protected where they pass through any roof surface.
The inverter is usually mounted on an interior wall close to the consumer unit, often in a garage, utility room or loft. The DC cables from the roof connect to the input side of the inverter, and the AC output connects to the consumer unit via a dedicated circuit breaker.
A generation meter records the total electricity your panels produce. If you are registered for the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), your electricity supplier pays you for the surplus you export to the grid. The installer needs to provide the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certificate for you to access SEG payments. Ask your installer to confirm this at the design stage.
The Distribution Network Operator (DNO) for your area needs to be notified for systems over a certain size. For most residential installations this is a notification rather than an application for permission, but it is the installer's responsibility to handle it.
Once the electrical connections are complete, the system is tested. The electrician checks insulation resistance, polarity, and that the inverter is reading panel output correctly. The system is then switched on and the inverter display or monitoring app should show live generation data within minutes of the sun being out.
A good handover means you leave knowing how to read the monitoring, what to do if the inverter shows a fault code, and who to contact about the MCS documentation. You should receive the MCS certificate, a commissioning sheet, and any paperwork from the DNO notification.
Once snagging is checked and the handover is done, the scaffold comes down and any debris is removed. The roof should look neat: cables out of sight, tiles undamaged, and no loose fixings left on the surface. It is worth doing a walk around the property with the installer before the scaffold goes so any visible issue can be dealt with while access is still easy.
The cost of a straightforward system on a typical semi-detached or detached house in this part of Norfolk depends on system size and what is included, such as panels, inverter, mounting system, electrical work, and scaffolding. A larger 6kWp system on a bigger roof typically runs to £8,500-£11,000. Adding a battery to a system adds £2,500-£5,000 depending on capacity.
These are honest current UK market figures. Prices vary between installers, and the cheapest quote is not always the one to choose. Ask each installer exactly what is included, whether MCS certification is part of the price, and how the mounting penetrations are sealed.
Many solar installers come from an electrical background and subcontract the roofing element or treat it as secondary. The roof penetrations, the waterproofing around hooks, and the condition of the roof itself are roofing matters. An installer who treats the roof as an afterthought is the most common source of solar-related leak problems.
Wymondham Roofers approaches solar installation from the roof outward. The roof structure and weatherproofing come first, and the system is designed around what the roof can properly support and what will keep it watertight for the long term.
Solar panels work by converting daylight, not direct sunshine alone, into electricity. They still generate on overcast days, just at reduced output. Running high-draw appliances such as dishwashers, washing machines, and electric vehicle chargers during daylight hours shifts consumption to when generation is highest, which increases the proportion of your own electricity you actually use.
Pairing solar with a heat pump is increasingly popular. A heat pump runs on electricity, and a properly sized solar array can offset a significant proportion of its running cost. The combination of solar and a heat pump is one of the most effective ways to reduce a household's energy bills over the long term.
If you are in Bowthorpe or nearby and want a straightforward roof survey and a no-pressure conversation about what a solar installation would look like on your property, call us to arrange a visit.
No obligation · We'll call you to arrange a free visit
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
