Ellen Sheng has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since February of 2017, when the roof and the solar array were bought on the same day. The roof was finished on 1 May 2017 and the panels went on five days later.
2,500 square feet, stripped to the deck
A single layer of old shingles came off down to the sheathing and left with the dumpster. Deck protection went over the exposed sheathing, then a GAF Timberline HDZ system carrying a 50-year warranty, aluminum drip edge along 221 feet of rakes and eaves, and a ridge vent along the peak.
The one decision that cannot be changed afterwards
The record notes that the household changed the shingle from Williamsburg Slate to Slate on 16 February, eight days after signing and well before anything was ordered. It is a small entry and it is worth pointing at, because of everything on a roofing contract the appearance is the only part that is purely a matter of preference — and the only part that becomes permanent the moment the material is delivered. Everything else can be argued about on the day. A change of mind eight days after signing is free; the same change of mind on the morning of the tear-off is not a change of mind at all.
25 panels and 7 kW
Twenty-five JinkoSolar 280 watt panels came to 7 kW on rail-free mounting, finished on 6 May 2017, running into a SolarEdge SE6000A inverter with an optimizer on every panel and a production meter built to the ANSI accuracy standard. The array sits on the right-hand slope at a 22-degree pitch facing south-southwest, modelled at about 90 percent of the reference case. JCP&L is the utility.
Five days between the two crews
Roof finished on the Monday, panels on the Saturday. That gap is only available when both jobs are sold as one — a single survey, one set of drawings, one inspection schedule, and a roofing crew that already knows where the array is going. An array is bolted down for twenty-five years and more, so shingles at the end of their life underneath one become a second job later. Five days of sequencing removed it, and these panels went onto a roof that was five days old.
Project Facts
- Location
- Summit, NJ
- Services
- Roofing Installation, Solar Panel Installation
- Client since
- February 2017
Solar
- Panels
- Jinko Model # JKM280M-60
- Panels
- 25
- System size
- 7.00 kW
- Inverter
- SolarEdge SE6000A-US000NNR2 Inverter (12Y) W/ P320 HD Wave
- Mounting system
- QuickMount
- Estimated first-year production
- 8,008 kWh
- Share of the home's electricity
- 99%
- Electric utility
- JCP&L
Roof
- System
- GAF Timberline Lifetime Roofing System
- Area replaced
- 2,500 sq ft
- Warranty
- 50 years
Questions from Summit homeowners
SolarHow does residential solar work on a Summit 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.
RoofingHow much should gutters slope?
Gutters need enough pitch toward the outlets to drain effectively without creating an obvious visual slope. The exact pitch is set by the installer based on gutter length, outlet location, the fascia and drainage requirements. A gutter that looks perfectly level can still carry intentional drainage pitch.
RoofingWhy does using a complete system from one manufacturer matter to the warranty?
Because the enhanced warranties and the wind coverage generally require qualifying accessories alongside the shingles — the starter strips, the deck protection, the ridge caps and, depending on the warranty, the leak barrier or the ventilation. Buying the right shingle and substituting the accessories around it can leave the roof outside the coverage the homeowner thought was being bought.