Solar panels are that sparkly thing sitting on top of some people’s roofs that everyone touts as one of the best ways to produce electricity. They reduce pollution, are a green energy source and lower your electricity costs by allowing you to produce your own power.
Even better than that, solar panels typically last for 25+ years!
But what about the preparation and installation of solar panels. It is really important to install them properly if they are going to be up there on your roof collecting solar energy for 25 years.
There are three premium products/services you should highly consider during your installation.
Structural Engineering
Flashing
Critter Guard
Structural Engineering
Before the installation even takes place it is important to have a site inspection done on your house. This site inspection will include going into the attic and taking measurements on your roof. A structural engineer will combine the information they receive from the site inspection with the proposed design on the roof.
Ultimately they will assess the design and roof structure for different load factors like dead load, live load, snow load, wind load and vibrational load. By evaluating for all of the different conditions you can rest assured that the installation will be done correctly and safely.
To Learn more about structural engineering click here: https://sunly.ca/blog/keys-to-protecting-your-investment-structural-engineering
Flashing
During the installation a solar installer will have to drill many pilot holes into your roof. These holes are required to install the racking system that holds the solar panels on the roof. Having holes in your roof adds a level of risk of leakage from the weather. Typically a lot of installers will simply caulk the pilot holes with a solid weather proof caulk.
Sunly, a solar installer in Prince Edward Island, typically recommends a 4 level protection system. They install a flashing system in which they caulk the pilot hole, caulk the flashing, apply a butyl mastic sealant and then secure the L-Foot and flashing onto the roof.
To learn more about flashing click here:
https://sunly.ca/blog/keys-to-protecting-your-investment-flashing
Critter Guard
The last thing to safeguard your roof is to install something called critter guard. Typically there is a space between the solar panels and the roof of your home. There is also wires running under that space as well. Often people will find different creatures nesting in that space and potentially also chewing the wires.
Critters are a nuisance and at the very least could cause the solar panels to stop working but they could also cause much more damage. In order to prevent that a simple installation of a wire meshing around the out of all the panels stops them from getting in and destroying your investment.
To learn more about critter guard click here:
https://sunly.ca/blog/critter-guard
Sunly, a solar installer in PEI, recommends structural engineering, flashing and critter guard be completed on every project to ensure an installation that gives you peace of mind over the lifetime of the solar system.