Michael Hartman has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since March of 2019, when the roof and the solar array were bought on the same day. The roof was finished on 11 May 2019 and the array six days later.
Two layers off, 2,400 square feet on
This roof had been covered over once already, so two layers of old shingle came off down to the sheathing rather than one. Deck protection went over the exposed sheathing, then a GAF Timberline HDZ system carrying a 50-year warranty and aluminum drip edge along 345 feet of rakes, eaves and valleys. An attic fan was fitted and the chimney was flashed in aluminum as part of the same job.
The contract planned for a deck that might be unsound
There is a clause here worth explaining, because it is the honest way to handle the one thing nobody can know in advance. It provides for 54 sheets of plywood to be installed if it is determined, once the shingles are off, that the deck needs it. Two layers of old roofing hide the boards completely. They may be sound; they may have been quietly soaking up water around a chimney for a decade. Writing the contingency into the contract, with the quantity and the specification stated, means the decision on the day is a technical one rather than a negotiation on a stripped roof with rain forecast.
Why that matters more with an array coming
A deck carries shingles by spreading their weight; it carries an array through a few dozen bolts, each concentrating load and each expected to hold for twenty-five years. Soft sheathing will take a nail and still fail a lag bolt. The moment to find that out and put it right is while the roof is open — not from a leak three years after the panels went on, when putting it right means taking them off again.
21 panels and 6.62 kW
Twenty-one Hanwha Q.PEAK DUO panels at 315 watts each came to 6.62 kW on Ecolibrium Solar mounting, finished on 17 May 2019, running into a SolarEdge SE5000H inverter with an optimizer on every panel. These are the all-black modules, with a black frame and backsheet in place of the usual silver and white. JCP&L is the utility and the first year was designed for about 6,832 kWh.
Project Facts
- Location
- Berkeley Heights, NJ
- Services
- Roofing Installation, Solar Critter Guard, Solar Panel Installation
- Client since
- March 2019
Solar
- Panels
- Hanwha Model # Q.PEAK DUO BLK-G5.1 315
- Panels
- 21
- System size
- 6.62 kW
- Inverter
- SolarEdge SE5000H-US000NNC2
- Mounting system
- Ecolibrium Solar
- Estimated first-year production
- 6,832 kWh
- Electric utility
- JCP&L
- Critter guard fitted
- 144 ft
Roof
- System
- GAF Timberline Lifetime Roofing System
- Area replaced
- 2,400 sq ft
- Warranty
- 50 years
Questions from Berkeley Heights homeowners
SolarHow is the number of panels for a Berkeley Heights house decided?
It starts with the home's actual electricity use, then with how much usable roof or ground area there is. A proper design looks at twelve months of consumption, expected future use, roof orientation, shading, roof dimensions, code-required setbacks, module wattage and the limits the utility places on interconnection.
Solar and RoofingShould an older roof be replaced before solar panels go on?
Often, yes. If the roof will need replacing well before the solar system reaches the end of its service life, reroofing first avoids paying to remove and reinstall the array later. Roof condition therefore belongs in the solar planning rather than being looked at afterwards.
SolarCan panels cover the whole roof?
Not necessarily. Structural limits, plumbing vents, mechanical equipment and code-required access or setback areas all reduce the usable area. A design complies with the roof-access provisions rather than filling every available square foot.