The "south or nothing" rule is the most expensive myth in UK solar. East and west roofs perform better than most people think — and Solarable's roof check scores them fairly instead of writing them off.
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.
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.
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.
The sky made this point for us during the August 2026 eclipse: with the sun almost due west when the moon crossed it, west-facing roofs were the only ones still generating enough to lose anything. Being the roof that's still working at seven in the evening is the whole argument.
Check which way your roof faces — it might be better news than you've been told.
Enough about the theory.
Enter your property number and postcode today, and we'll read your roof from the sky to get a better understanding of whether or not your roof is suitable for solar panels. Free, takes minutes, and no account necessary.
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Tools
Check your roof
Address-based roof check. Postcode in, Solarable Report out.
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Solar savings calculator
Annual benefit and payback in honest UK ranges.
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Browse listed installers
Solar installers covering UK postcodes.
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Can I get solar panels?
Top-of-funnel suitability check for UK homes.
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