No, your roof doesn't have to face south

Ask most people what makes a roof "good for solar" and you'll get one word: south. It's the myth that's talked more UK homeowners out of solar than anything else — and it's mostly wrong.

South is great. South is not the only answer. East- and west-facing roofs perform far better than their reputation, and a lot of them are well worth doing. The "south or nothing" rule mainly serves people who can't be bothered to look at your actual roof.

We score every direction on its merits

Plenty of tools quietly treat anything that isn't south as a write-off. Ours doesn't. Solarable's roof check rates each slope on what it actually delivers — and an east- or west-facing roof comes out a genuinely strong candidate, not a consolation prize. An east/west split can even be a quiet advantage: you catch the morning sun on one side and the evening sun on the other, which lines up nicely with when most households actually use power.

ScreenshotSolarable Report for an east/west roof

What we'll tell you, and what we won't

We'll tell you the direction your roof appears to face and give it an honest score. We won't bury you in pitch angles and decimal places to look clever — the direction and a clear suitability read are what actually help you decide. And the on-roof survey is still the final word on shading and the fine detail.

If someone once told you your roof "faces the wrong way," it's worth a second opinion from something that actually looked at it. Our guides on the best roof direction for solar and north-facing roofs go deeper on the why.

Check which way your roof faces — it might be better news than you've been told.