Robert Furnari has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since September of 2021, when the roof and the solar array were bought on the same day. The roof was finished on 10 March 2022 and the array two months later.
3,300 square feet, and the shed as well
A single layer of old shingles came off the house down to the sheathing and left with the dumpster. Deck protection went over the exposed sheathing, then a GAF Timberline HDZ system in Pewter Grey carrying a 50-year warranty, aluminum drip edge along 268 feet of rakes, eaves and valleys, and a ridge vent along the peak. New gutters and downspouts went on the main house — and the shed got its own new roof, gutters and downspouts at the same time, which is the sort of thing that gets left for another year and then never happens.
Two skylights, treated differently
There were two, and they were not in the same condition, so they were not given the same answer. The front skylight was about twenty years old and the intention was to re-flash it and keep it. The one at the back was around five years old, and the scope allowed for new flashing or replacement depending on what the tear-off revealed. That is the honest way to write a skylight into a roofing job: you cannot see the condition of a curb until the shingles are off, and a contract that pretends otherwise is either guessing or padding.
33 panels, east and west
Thirty-three Hanwha 360 watt panels came to 11.88 kW on Snap-N-Rack mounting, finished on 11 May 2022, running into a SolarEdge SE11400H HD Wave inverter with an optimizer on every panel. There is no south-facing roof here at all. The array is split across two faces at the same 27-degree pitch — the front slope facing west and the back slope facing east — modelling at about 90 and 85 percent of the reference case. JCP&L is the utility and the first year was designed for about 13,329 kWh.
What an east-west roof actually does
A south-facing array makes a tall, narrow peak around the middle of the day. An east and west split makes a lower, wider one: the east face carries the morning, the west face carries the late afternoon, and the total across the year lands close to what a single south face would have made. For a household that uses electricity before work and after it, the shape of that curve is arguably the more useful of the two. It only works panel by panel, though — with one string inverter and no optimizers, the weaker face would drag on the stronger one all day.
158 feet of critter guard, fitted with the array
Mesh around the array perimeter, closing the gap where squirrels and birds otherwise nest under the panels. Fitting it during the installation is less expensive than fitting it afterwards, because the crew, the ladders and the roof access are already there and nothing has to come apart to reach the edge.
Project Facts
- Location
- Long Branch, NJ
- Services
- Roofing Installation, Solar Critter Guard, Solar Panel Installation
- Client since
- September 2021
Solar
- Panels
- Hanwha Model # Q.PEAK DUO BLK-G10+ 360
- Panels
- 33
- System size
- 11.88 kW
- Inverter
- SolarEdge SE11400H-US000NNC2 HD Wave
- Mounting system
- Snap-N-Rack
- Estimated first-year production
- 13,329 kWh
- Share of the home's electricity
- 98%
- Electric utility
- JCP&L
- Critter guard fitted
- 158 ft
Roof
- System
- GAF Timberline Lifetime Roofing System
- Area replaced
- 3,300 sq ft
- Warranty
- 50 years
Questions from Long Branch homeowners
SolarHow does residential solar work on a Long Branch home?
The panels convert sunlight into direct-current electricity, and an inverter or microinverters convert that into alternating current the house can use. When the array produces more than the house is drawing, the surplus flows out through the utility meter under New Jersey's net-metering rules. When the house needs more than the array is making, the difference comes from the utility.
RoofingDoes a manufacturer's roof warranty cover the contractor's workmanship?
It depends entirely on which warranty. Base product warranties commonly do not include workmanship at all, while enhanced warranties available through certified contractors can provide specified workmanship protection when qualifying products are used. Identify the warranty by its actual name rather than accepting the word warranty on its own.
SolarCan the old mounting hardware be reused after a reroof?
It depends on the manufacturer's requirements, the condition of the components and the warranty. The roof penetrations and weatherproofing components matter most, and a reroof is often the moment to replace the attachment and flashing rather than reinstall ageing roof-interface hardware.