Vincent Campbell has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since April of 2026, when a new roof and the removal and reinstallation of an existing solar array were booked together. The roof was finished on 17 June 2026.
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 in Charcoal carrying a 50-year warranty, aluminum drip edge along 207 feet of rakes, eaves and valleys, and a ridge vent along the peak.
65 panels down, and all of them back
The array is 14.95 kW across 65 panels — 230 watts apiece, which places it in an earlier generation of modules. Sixty-five panels on 2,500 square feet is a densely covered roof, and every one of them had to come off before a single shingle could be lifted. All of it went back up afterwards.
New mounting, not the old rails
This is the part worth pausing on. A reset can reuse the existing mounting system, and often does. Here it did not: the array went back on a new IronRidge system with new flashing throughout. The rails that came off had spent well over a decade on a roof, holding sixty-five panels through every freeze and thaw and every wind event in that time. Putting them back would have meant a new roof with old aluminum bolted to it and old fixings through fresh shingles. New mounting is more work and more material, and it is the difference between a roof that is new and a roof that is merely re-covered.
Why a roof under an array is worth doing properly
An array is fastened down for decades, so a roof beneath it either outlasts it or the whole thing comes off again. That is a real prospect when the array is sixty-five panels: nobody wants to schedule that job twice. Here the shingles had reached the end and the panels had not, so the order was down, roof, new mounts, back up. The array is the same one it was in the spring. Everything holding it up, and everything underneath it, is not.
Project Facts
- Location
- Hampton, NJ
- Services
- Roofing Installation, Solar Removal/Replacement
- Client since
- April 2026
- System
- GAF Timberline Lifetime Roofing System
- Area replaced
- 2,500 sq ft
- Warranty
- 50 years
Roofing questions from Hampton homeowners
What should a Hampton homeowner look for in a roofing contractor?
One that treats the roof, its flashings, its ventilation and its drainage as connected parts rather than as shingles with extras. That means the age and condition of the existing roof, the decking, how many layers are on it, the slope, the manufacturer's installation requirements, ice and water protection, underlayment, starter strips, drip edge, valleys, chimney and step flashing, pipe boots, skylights, ridge caps, attic ventilation and soffit intake, low-slope sections, sheathing replacement, the code requirements and permits, which warranties actually apply and what they cover, gutter size, pitch, downspout capacity and discharge, the fascia, gutter protection, whether solar is coming later, protecting the landscaping, the cleanup and proof of insurance. The wrong question is the price per square. The right one is exactly what is being installed, from the deck up, and what written protection stands behind it.
Why 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.
What is roof flashing?
Sheet material used at transitions and penetrations to direct water away from the joints — chimneys, walls, valleys, skylights, pipes and roof-to-roof transitions. A great many roof leaks start at flashing rather than in the field of the roof, which is why the detailing matters more than the brand of shingle above it.