Do Homes With Solar Need a New Roof Sooner? Re-Roof Permits Before and After Solar on 11,106 LA Homes
No — but many replace the roof first. Of 11,106 homes in the City of Los Angeles that took out a solar permit between mid-2019 and May 2023, 10.7% also took out a re-roof permit within 90 days of it, most of them just before. After that, they re-roofed at about the same rate as comparable homes without solar: 1.3% a year in the three years after installation, against 1.4% a year for similar homes in the same ZIP codes.
A roof under solar panels is harder to replace: the array has to come off and go back on. That raises two questions homeowners ask before going solar — do panels wear a roof out faster, and how often does the array end up being removed for a new roof? Every re-roof and every solar installation in the City of Los Angeles needs a permit, and the city publishes them, so the records can answer both for thousands of homes.
Re-roof permits around the solar permit
11,106 City of Los Angeles homes with a first solar permit from July 2019 to May 2023.
| Window | Homes observed | Re-roofed | Share | Share per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 to 1 years before | 4,828 | 170 | 3.5% | 1.8% |
| 1 year to 90 days before | 10,063 | 299 | 3.0% | 3.9% |
| 90 days before | 11,106 | 718 | 6.5% | 26.2% |
| 90 days after | 11,106 | 470 | 4.2% | 17.2% |
| 90 days to 1 year after | 11,106 | 188 | 1.7% | 2.2% |
| 1 to 2 years after | 11,106 | 118 | 1.1% | 1.1% |
| 2 to 3 years after | 11,021 | 116 | 1.1% | 1.1% |
| A window counts a home only when the whole window falls inside the permit data (January 2019 – May 2026), so the earliest windows cover fewer homes. | ||||
https://cali-energy.com/research/solar-homes-reroof-before-after-los-angeles. Aggregated data are free to use under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page.The pattern is a single sharp peak. In the 90 days before the solar permit, 6.5% of homes took out a re-roof permit — a yearly rate of about 26%, many times the normal 1.4%. Another 4.2% re-roofed in the 90 days after, in many cases likely the same project with the roofing permit filed second. Owners and installers clearly time the roof with the solar job: replacing an old roof first avoids paying later to take the panels off and put them back. How the two jobs fit together: a new roof and solar at the same time and should you replace your roof before solar.
After installation: compared with similar homes
| Group | Re-roofs a year |
|---|---|
| Solar homes, 90 days to 3 years after the solar permit | 1.3% |
| Solar homes, 1 to 2 years after | 1.1% |
| Solar homes, 2 to 3 years after | 1.1% |
| Solar homes, 3 to 1 years before the solar permit | 1.8% |
| Similar homes without solar, 2020 | 1.5% |
| Similar homes without solar, 2021 | 1.1% |
| Similar homes without solar, 2022 | 1.2% |
| Similar homes without solar, 2023 | 1.7% |
| Similar homes without solar, 2024 | 1.6% |
| Similar homes without solar, 2025 | 1.3% |
| Similar homes: City of Los Angeles one- and two-family homes that appear in the 2019 permit data through a permit unrelated to roofing or solar, weighted to the ZIP codes of the solar homes. | |
Once the panels were up, solar homes did not re-roof any sooner than their neighbors: 1.3% a year against 1.4%, and only about 1% a year in years two and three. Part of that is the roofs themselves — many were brand new — and part may be that owners put off a re-roof that now means removing the array. Three years is a short window, though, and roofs age; leaks and repairs that do not need a permit are not in these records. Whether panels damage a roof, and what the mounts do to it: do solar panels damage your roof.
How likely is a remove-and-reinstall?
| Within | Share of homes (model) |
|---|---|
| 10 years | at least 13% |
| 20 years | at least 24% |
| 25 years | at least 29% |
| Model: a constant 1.3% a year. Roofs age, so the real rate is likely to rise over time; read these as floors, not forecasts. | |
Each re-roof on a solar home means taking the array off and putting it back. If the measured 1.3% a year held, at least 13% of solar homes would face that within 10 years and 29% within 25 — and more if roofs age into replacement. That is the main reason to look hard at the roof before installing; what removal and reinstallation involves is in solar removal and reinstall for a roof.
Methodology
- Solar homes
- City of Los Angeles addresses with an electrical permit for solar on a one- or two-family dwelling, from the LADBS permit dataset covering January 2019 to May 2023; the date is the first solar permit, July 2019 or later. 11,106 homes.
- Re-roofs
- Building permits for re-roofing on one- or two-family dwellings: in the older dataset by work description (“re-roof”), in the current LADBS building permit dataset (2020 – May 2026) by its roofing flag; duplicates removed by permit number. 68,012 permits.
- Matching
- By house number, the first word of the street name (without N, S, E or W) and ZIP code.
- Similar homes
- 50,879 one- and two-family addresses that appear in 2019 through a permit unrelated to roofing or solar and never took out a solar permit; their share re-roofing in each calendar year 2020–2025, weighted to the solar homes’ ZIP codes.
- Limits
- City of Los Angeles only (LADWP territory). Unpermitted re-roofs and repairs are not seen. Solar homes after May 2023 are not in the older dataset.
Sources: City of Los Angeles, LADBS Building and Safety permits (data.lacity.org): permits issued 2019 – May 2023 and building permits issued 2020 – May 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Do solar panels make you need a new roof sooner?
Not in Los Angeles permit records. In the three years after installation, solar homes re-roofed at 1.3% a year, about the same as similar homes without solar (1.4%).
How many people replace their roof when they go solar?
About one in ten: 10.7% of LA solar homes took out a re-roof permit within 90 days of the solar permit, 6.5% of them in the 90 days before.
How often do solar panels have to be removed for a new roof?
At the measured rate after installation, at least 13% of solar homes would re-roof within 10 years and 24% within 20, each time removing and reinstalling the array.
Should I replace my roof before installing solar?
If it is near the end of its life, the records suggest many owners do: re-roof permits spike in the 90 days before the solar permit. See should you replace your roof before solar.
Do solar panels damage roofs?
Permit records cannot see leaks or repairs, only re-roofs, and those did not come sooner after solar. How mounts and flashing protect a roof is explained in do solar panels damage your roof.
More research
Next steps
Roof and solar in one project?
Prepared by Cali Energy, October 15, 2026. Figures describe public permit records and are not a guarantee of what any specific roof will produce; orientation, tilt, shade, equipment and weather change results. Not engineering, financial or utility advice. See our Content Disclaimer.