Rosemary Type Tile System
Suitable for side mounted PV rail systems for both portrait or landscape orientation, Solar Limpet's patented adjustable design and installation tech…
Solar Limpets what a fantastic product and a UK-based company, designed for all slate types and Rosemary tiles. We have been using these for around a year now and can't praise them enough: quick installation, minimal penetration to the roof, and massively reduced breakages to tiles. A game changer!
C.R.C Electrical & Renewables Limited
Solar Panel Installers
We fitted the Limpets in just 2 hours, including on site training. No breakages, no stripping slates and no previous knowledge. Happy installers.
Stag Solar
Solar Panel Installers
Company
What we do
Solar Limpets designs and manufactures roof hook solutions. Launched in 2012, Solar Limpets are a unique innovation in roof hook technology. Designed by an installer for installers, providing economical, easy and fast installation onto most types of slate, 10 x 6 Rosemary type tiles and flat roofs.
How it all began
In about 2011, as an experienced roofer turned solar installer, I was excited to think that my previous experience could now be put to good use as a solar installer in what looked to be a growth industry. It quickly became clear that the limited choice of roof hooks available for both slate and Rosemary tile type roof coverings, the associated long-winded methods of installation required, and subsequent roof damage being inadvertently caused was going to be a significant problem, not only for me but the solar industry in general.
Quickly learning the requirement for packing and cutting battens and having trashed about 200 tiles on my 4kwp install (it was like walking on popcorn), I very nearly gave up. However, not wishing to quit, I made friends with my local reclaim yard and pushed on, sticking to pan tiles and trying to avoid the Rosemary tiles.
Then, just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, a slate roof raised its head. Discovering that for a similar sized 4kwp slate install, I would now have to strip off over 100 slates (if I was lucky), fit the hooks and then flash and re-fit the removed slates, the words, re-roof and early retirement sprung to mind and I sunk into total despair.
Surely, there had to be a better way. So, in a moment of desperation and not a little inspiration, I decided to put experience as an aircraft engineer, policeman (not sure how that helped) and roofer to the task of producing what was to be the birth of the Solar Limpet.
The name Limpet, by the way, comes from the little shellfish which stick to seaside rocks or, for military personnel, the mines used to sink ships.
The 'breadboard' prototype
An Ex-Breadboard, not much to look at and it got a few laughs but brushing aside the broken half tiles still laying in my gutter, I tried it on my own roof and it ACTUALLY WORKED!
Development followed along with a total drain on my finances and nerves to produce the concept model.
Development prototype
Following further developments, the basic (patented) design has changed little from that old breadboard nucleus, but patented improvements and features introduced over the years now enable the solar Limpet roof hook to cater for Rosemary Tiles. Slate and Flat roofs quickly, simply and without damage, so my reclaim yard has now taken me off their Christmas card list!
Thank you to all the individuals who have worked to help me get the Solar Limpet to where it is today, but most of all, thank you to all those installers and install companies who have supported the Solar Limpet and us over the last few years despite the well-known challenges that have been put in our way.
Hopefully, with your continued support, Solar Limpets will continue supporting the Solar industry, LITERALLY and the hands-on installers that it was designed for, for a few years to come.
Carl Reynolds. (Managing Director)
Solar Limpets final design
