The Ins and Outs of 2026

The slipping slates revealed rotten battens and sheared off nails holding the slates. Also lots of dry grass and nutshells which look very old! I've bitten the bullet (and my bank account) and am going to have this section of roof completely replaced. New timbers, original Welsh slates reused where possible and damaged ones will be replaced with "new" Welsh slates. Materials and scaffolding will be delivered today and they start work tomorrow.
On the bright side, this is the southfacing part of the roof and would be the best place for solar panels which I have been considering but thought that the roof might not take the weight. The house was built about 1936 so I can't complain about it needing a bit of work.

A spreadsheet means computers and working for a living. Those days are over, Vinny. Give me a pen and paper and I'm happy.

I used to work with spreadsheets a lot, Microsoft Excel and I hated anything Microsoft, a big US corporation. I'm happy to use Linux though and all the FREE software that comes with it including Libreoffice (Libre as in free) that I think you can get even if you use MSDOS or whatever it is now. You can have a different sheet for each year and, if in similar formats, easily check how things do from year to year. As long as you record it which is where I regularly fall down.

On the bright side, this is the southfacing part of the roof and would be the best place for solar panels which I have been considering but thought that the roof might not take the weight. The house was built about 1936 so I can't complain about it needing a bit of work.

If you are thinking of installing solar, it would likely be best to do it at same time as re-slating I would have thought but you need to ask your roofers.

I thought about that, but I need to do a bit of research first - get quotes etc. These roofers are really, just builders but I have checked that the new roof will be strong enough for panels. There may be other places where panels could be fitted too. Its all too much to think about at the moment. I just want the roof to be weathertight.

From what i can gather it depends on which solar panels you have, the fully owned or the leased? The leased ones can actually devalue your house when it comes to a sale methinks 

I'd never consider leasing them. My little cottage down west, was rebuilt, had a new roof and solar panels were installed at the same time. It was at the start of the Feed In Tariff so made sense. The panels are much cheaper now but the payments are also lower.

UPDATE on the roof! The scaffolders have finished. The roofer has gone to Merthyr Tydfil for the Welsh Slate. The Rain has arrived and the roofer has said that he won't strip any of the roof unless he has a 4-5 hour window of good weather - when he'll do it section by section.

Never one to miss an opportunity, I asked the scaffolders what they did with any damaged boards. He said he'd ask the Boss if there were any in the yard and, if so, would bring them when they come to take the scaffolding down.

I had no idea leasing solar panels was a thing. The pay in tariffs are barely worth the paper they’re written on. We couldn’t get it anywhere because we’re fitting them ourselves. More bureaucratic BS. But the price of batteries are also coming down. So we’ve got one of them to store any excess our panels produce. If money allows when we’ve finished building we’ll add more batteries.
Hope you get your good weather back so they can get on with your roof.
Nice score on the scaff boards. Like your thinking. Maybe pushing your luck but see what they do with damage scaffolding bars. They make a great bean frame.

I'd never consider leasing them. My little cottage down west, was rebuilt, had a new roof and solar panels were installed at the same time. It was at the start of the Feed In Tariff so made sense. The panels are much cheaper now but the payments are also lower.

UPDATE on the roof! The scaffolders have finished. The roofer has gone to Merthyr Tydfil for the Welsh Slate. The Rain has arrived and the roofer has said that he won't strip any of the roof unless he has a 4-5 hour window of good weather - when he'll do it section by section.

Never one to miss an opportunity, I asked the scaffolders what they did with any damaged boards. He said he'd ask the Boss if there were any in the yard and, if so, would bring them when they come to take the scaffolding down.

Old scaffold planks are very very useful. Lucky you.