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What risks and complications do you worry about with a roof install? Unless you are maliciously incompetent as an installer there is no risk of destroying anyth

What risks and complications do you worry about with a roof install? Unless you are maliciously incompetent as an installer there is no risk of destroying anything. And while it's easier to access and service on the ground, the roof is often perfectly tilted towards the sun AND lets you have many square meters of panel without sacrificing any area you could use for anything else.

wharvle 3y ago
Future maintenance now has to involve removing the panels, then installing them again afterward. That's a lot of extra work (so, money). Lots of roofers hate solar and won't touch it (they've worked on many roofs solar installers fucked up—talk to some). So now you need two companies involved. You'll have to take great care with the whole arrangement if you want the usual warranty you get with roof work from any decent roofing company (again, many hate solar and will be reluctant to guarantee work that has solar touching it, especially if another company has to do that part, which is often the case). The coordination effort means roofing projects are longer now. It's just not worth it once you factor in the period to recoup investment on the panels. The extra headache and risk plus long period before you're in the black anyway, just nowhere near being worth it. And all that assumes nothing goes wrong with the panels
- alkonaut 3y ago
  Yeah I mean a roof has a lifespan of 20-40 years, and a solar installation also has a lifespan. I certainly wouldn't install solar on a roof that I expect need any service/replacement within the coming 10 or 15 years at least. On the contrary, when a roof does need a replacement, that's when I'd perhaps consider installing solar too. If I thought I'd live more than 10 or 15 years in my house (Which I'm probably not) then I'd be investing right away. But I have already lived 10 years in it, will do max 10 more years, and the roof is also 10-15 more years since the house is 25. That makes it a non-starter for me. I'd do it if I were in the black in 5 years though. Or if I had more than one power outage lasting more than one hour a year. Luckily I don't.
rascul 3y ago
> Unless you are maliciously incompetent as an installer there is no risk of destroying anything. It's actually quite easy to accidentally create a leak with various common roof systems. It's often quite easy to fix the mistake when it's made. But the mistake is not always noticed, and the work is not always done by competent and experienced people. There doesn't need to be anything malicious about it. Part of my day job is fixing those mistakes.

wharvle 3y ago

Future maintenance now has to involve removing the panels, then installing them again afterward. That's a lot of extra work (so, money). Lots of roofers hate solar and won't touch it (they've worked on many roofs solar installers fucked up—talk to some). So now you need two companies involved. You'll have to take great care with the whole arrangement if you want the usual warranty you get with roof work from any decent roofing company (again, many hate solar and will be reluctant to guarantee work that has solar touching it, especially if another company has to do that part, which is often the case). The coordination effort means roofing projects are longer now. It's just not worth it once you factor in the period to recoup investment on the panels. The extra headache and risk plus long period before you're in the black anyway, just nowhere near being worth it. And all that assumes nothing goes wrong with the panels

alkonaut 3y ago
Yeah I mean a roof has a lifespan of 20-40 years, and a solar installation also has a lifespan. I certainly wouldn't install solar on a roof that I expect need any service/replacement within the coming 10 or 15 years at least. On the contrary, when a roof does need a replacement, that's when I'd perhaps consider installing solar too. If I thought I'd live more than 10 or 15 years in my house (Which I'm probably not) then I'd be investing right away. But I have already lived 10 years in it, will do max 10 more years, and the roof is also 10-15 more years since the house is 25. That makes it a non-starter for me. I'd do it if I were in the black in 5 years though. Or if I had more than one power outage lasting more than one hour a year. Luckily I don't.

rascul 3y ago

> Unless you are maliciously incompetent as an installer there is no risk of destroying anything. It's actually quite easy to accidentally create a leak with various common roof systems. It's often quite easy to fix the mistake when it's made. But the mistake is not always noticed, and the work is not always done by competent and experienced people. There doesn't need to be anything malicious about it. Part of my day job is fixing those mistakes.