Solar with older roof question

[ldigz]

tldr - We're getting solar installed on a 10 year old Florida roof, 5-10 year lifespan left.
Do we replace the roof before installing solar ($23K), or wait 5-10 years for roof replacement; it will cost at least $6K more to have panels removed & reinstalled then.

Background: My spouse & I purchased a home in May 2022. We had our two year old solar system removed from our old home (it's going to be torn down for redevelopment), and planned to install it at the new. We're trying to decide if it's worth it to replace our roof first our not?

Our home is in central Florida, where roof lifespans are 15-20 years, and home insurance rates vary a lot by roof age. When a roof is 15-20 years old, insurance companies will either drop you, or raise your rates substantially. Our current roof is 10 years old, according to the previous homeowners, but it appears that other work they had done on the home was not done very well, and often not done by a professional.

It currently costs $6K to take the panels down and put them back up when replacing a roof. That cost has gone up over 50% from 2020. So, we don't especially want to pay $6K now, and again in 5-10 years when the roof needs replacing.

A new metal roof will cost $23K. Metal is a much better roof material in Florida, has a longer lifespan, more resistant to wind, sun, mold, etc. However, we bought this home at the height of market pricing, and probably overpaid a little bit. I'm hesitant to invest a lot more money into this home - we've already purchased new windows, we still need a fence, and possibly more; there's a lot of deferred maintenance, at least.

My spouse doesn't like Florida, so this probably isn't our forever home. I suspect we'll live here for 2-5 years, depending on life changes and the housing market.

We're not FI, but we could pay for the roof in cash after closing on our previous house.

Any opinions? Replace the roof now or later?

My calculations suggest it's financially better to replace it now, IF we're going to own the house for more than 3 years.

[Jon Bon]

How big is the system and what sort of electric savings do you expect to see? I would assume Florida it probably does pretty well at generating power/savings?

On the roof itself who says 5-10 years left? I assume asphalt shingles? I mean 5-10 years can be mean anywhere for replacement next week to 20 years!

Is there any type of insurance break for going with a metal roof now that would need to go into your calculations? A metal roof and solar panels sounds awesome but if your not living there long your kind of jamming a square peg into a round hole.

Do you just want to have solar panels on your house? That's fine if you do, but my gut tells me its marginal from a money prospective to have them put on now just to be pulled back off.

[sonofsven]

If I was doing it I would do the new roof first, but I wouldn't do any of it if I was planning on moving in 2-3 years.

[PMJL34]

OP, you're not in a good place (time) to get solar. As you know, you want your roof and solar expirations to line up. It's just not a wise use of your funds to do otherwise (what you are proposing of doing).  My vote is for your wait.

[GilesMM]

Are you going to save more than $1,000/yr on electricity?  If so, maybe wait on the roof.  You could get lucky and the roof lasts ten years or you move in a few years.

[bacchi]

Can you put the panels on a pole mount? No roof penetrations, no worry about roof replacement, and you can move them in the future yourself.

[ldigz]

How big is the system and what sort of electric savings do you expect to see? I would assume Florida it probably does pretty well at generating power/savings?

On the roof itself who says 5-10 years left? I assume asphalt shingles? I mean 5-10 years can be mean anywhere for replacement next week to 20 years!

Is there any type of insurance break for going with a metal roof now that would need to go into your calculations? A metal roof and solar panels sounds awesome but if your not living there long your kind of jamming a square peg into a round hole.

Do you just want to have solar panels on your house? That's fine if you do, but my gut tells me its marginal from a money prospective to have them put on now just to be pulled back off.

7.5 kW system. I expect at least $1350 savings annually.

InterNACHI - home inspectors - say 15-20 years life expectancy for an asphalt roof in Florida. (for architectural shingles; 3 tab is even less). Also the insurance companies - at 15 years roof age, they either drop your policy or your rate goes up thousands per year. They pretty much force roof replacement at 15 years.

Our insurance agent said we wouldn't see a metal roof discount from our current rates (we have wind mitigation on the roof - discount), but again, rates rise with roof age.

I definitely do want solar panels on the home - I'm paying a $400 electric bill in the summer with 20K worth of panels stacked in my garage, so that's less than ideal. But I'm hesitant to keep pushing up our investment into this property.

bacchi - I'm not sure how we'd put 22 panels on a pole mount. I think that usually costs more. It's an interesting idea, I could ask our installer. If you mean ground mount, I'm pretty certain we wouldn't want to lose the yard space.

Conventional advice is that the panels (and metal roof) add a lot of resale value to a home, but things are so uncertain in this market. We've considered maybe renting this home in a few years instead of selling, so we don't have to wait out the market downturn, but that is a whole other set of problems. :)

[Paper Chaser]

I definitely do want solar panels on the home - I'm paying a $400 electric bill in the summer with 20K worth of panels stacked in my garage, so that's less than ideal. But I'm hesitant to keep pushing up our investment into this property.

I know that you have these panels just sitting there, but a metal roof and solar are typically going to take time to pay for themselves. If you don't plan to live in this house long term, I'd probably skip that amount of capital investment and look for alternatives. There are probably less expensive ways to reduce the monthly electric bill. Things like air sealing, insulating, replacing older less efficient HVAC, etc can go a long way toward dropping consumption and energy costs. And that's assuming that you're already living a pretty mustachian lifestyle and energy consumption can't be reduced much more through changing habits/lifestyle.

Standing seam metal and solar are a great combo. But it's not going to make financial sense with a short timeline. If you want those things on your house for other reasons, like energy independence, sustainability, etc that's great but I think you need to accept that it's likely to be a money losing proposition if you won't be in this house long term. It's like putting really expensive appliances in a flip house. It might have appeal to buyers, but you're really just cutting into potential profit to pay for luxury items the next owner will enjoy.