Carol Kern has been a Green Sun Energy Services client since July of 2022. The panels came off first, the roof followed, and both were finished that September.
A complete removal, not a lift and reset
Thirty-six panels came off this roof, an 8.1 kW array that works out at 225 watts a panel — roughly half what a panel of the same size produces today. The contract leaves no room for interpretation about what happened to it: a complete solar removal, everything removed and taken away. Panels, mounting system, inverters, disconnects, the exterior conduit and wiring, and the meters. Nothing was put back.
The flashing was left behind on purpose
One part was deliberately not removed. The flashings and lag bolts stayed in the roof for the roofer to take out with the old shingles, and the reason is written into the package: to minimize the chance of a leak. Pulling a lag bolt out of a roof that still has to get through the next rainstorm leaves a hole that has to be sealed and then torn out again a few days later. Leaving them until the tear-off means the hole never exists as a hole at all. It is a small piece of sequencing between two crews and it is the difference between a dry ceiling and a phone call.
Two layers off, 3,100 square feet on
This roof had been covered over once before, so two layers came off down to the sheathing rather than one. Deck protection went over the exposed sheathing, then a GAF Timberline HDZ system in charcoal with a 50-year warranty, aluminum drip edge along 269 feet of rakes and eaves, and a ridge vent along the peak.
When the array is older than the roof
Most of the roof-and-solar work on this site runs in the usual order — new roof first, panels onto it. This is the other case, and it is worth stating plainly because the arithmetic reverses. Taking an aging array down, storing it, reroofing and putting it back is a job in its own right, and it ends with panels from another decade fixed to a roof rated for fifty years. Removing them instead left this house with a bare deck properly covered, a roof that owes nothing to what used to be bolted through it, and the freedom to start again with modern panels whenever it suits rather than because the roof forced the question.
Project Facts
- Location
- Toms River, NJ
- Services
- Roofing Installation, Solar Removal/Replacement
- Client since
- July 2022
- System
- GAF Timberline Lifetime Roofing System
- Area replaced
- 3,100 sq ft
- Warranty
- 50 years
Questions from Toms River homeowners
RoofingHow do summer heat and humidity affect Toms River, NJ roofs?
High attic temperatures can accelerate shingle aging and raise cooling loads, while humidity can contribute to condensation if attic ventilation and air sealing are poor. A roof replacement is a good time to evaluate the attic rather than focusing only on the exterior surface.
RoofingIs a roof replacement noisy?
Very. The old roof is being torn off and thousands of fasteners are being driven into the deck above your head. Anyone working from home may want to plan around it, pets can find it distressing, and fragile items on attic shelves or hanging on walls immediately below the roof are worth securing beforehand.
SolarCan the panels come off and go back on for a new roof?
Yes -- it is commonly called a removal and replacement. The work involves taking off the modules and mounting equipment, protecting the electrical equipment, roofing, fitting new attachments, rewiring, reinstalling, testing and recommissioning. Permitting and utility requirements are reviewed where the configuration changes.