Solar Glass Repair / Replacing Tiles

[trautmane2]

Does anyone know any details about the process and/or costs for repairing or replacing broken solar glass tiles. I'm wondering how difficult it will be to fix future problems. Is anyone purchasing/storing excess tiles in advance (not sure if that is even possible).

This is my first post - just wanted to thank others in the forum (particularly @jboy210 and @wjgjr) for your information. Your posts have been extremely helpful.

 

[wjgjr]

Does anyone know any details about the process and/or costs for repairing or replacing broken solar glass tiles. I'm wondering how difficult it will be to fix future problems. Is anyone purchasing/storing excess tiles in advance (not sure if that is even possible).

This is my first post - just wanted to thank others in the forum (particularly @jboy210 and @wjgjr) for your information. Your posts have been extremely helpful.

I do not have specifics beyond calling Tesla. What I can say is that the contract includes a 25-year warranty, including labor. They would presumably come in and remove the damaged tiles, along with some surrounding ones as needed to complete the repair. I did not ask about buying any tiles to store (was tempted to ask for them to leave an extra just to have one to show, but did not.) I suspect they would tend not to do so because they want to do all the install and repair work.

 

[jboy210]

Does anyone know any details about the process and/or costs for repairing or replacing broken solar glass tiles. I'm wondering how difficult it will be to fix future problems. Is anyone purchasing/storing excess tiles in advance (not sure if that is even possible).

This is my first post - just wanted to thank others in the forum (particularly @jboy210 and @wjgjr) for your information. Your posts have been extremely helpful.

When our roof was installed they thought they had an issue with a few tiles not producing, so they had to pull them up. They are tough to get up and they broke a number of tiles. They are really connected together, with metal clips fitting into a locking fitting which is permanently affixed to the underlying tile. So replacing these tiles is something that you want to have someone with expertise in the process and extra tiles. That is only going to be Tesla and certified installers and they should have access to the tiles.

If you do go this way see of they will leave you a tile. We have one and the entire installation team signed it. We are going to mount it by the Powerwalls.

 

[trautmane2]

Unfortunately, I should get my answer to this sometime soon. My gutter installers cracked the edge of a glass tile (non-PV) with their ladder this afternoon.

I'm waiting to hear back from my install project manager on how to address this. I'm guessing I'll need to place some kind of service request (maybe through the Tesla app?) and then ultimately pass the bill along to the gutter company. I'm bummed that this happened, but am a little glad I'll get to learn how the process works with a minor case as opposed to something big like a tree limb crashing through the roof.

The broken tile looks like a small #1 tile. The white "patch" covers adjacent tiles in addition to the broken one. When I talked with the solar install crew about durability of the tiles, they mentioned the one weak spot was tile edges.

I asked my original question (first post!) back in August. Are there any other solar roof folks out there who have needed to replace/fix a tile post install?

 

[wjgjr]

Unfortunately, I should get my answer to this sometime soon. My gutter installers cracked the edge of a glass tile (non-PV) with their ladder this afternoon.

View attachment 618089

I'm waiting to hear back from my install project manager on how to address this. I'm guessing I'll need to place some kind of service request (maybe through the Tesla app?) and then ultimately pass the bill along to the gutter company. I'm bummed that this happened, but am a little glad I'll get to learn how the process works with a minor case as opposed to something big like a tree limb crashing through the roof.

The broken tile looks like a small #1 tile. The white "patch" covers adjacent tiles in addition to the broken one. When I talked with the solar install crew about durability of the tiles, they mentioned the one weak spot was tile edges.

I asked my original question (first post!) back in August. Are there any other solar roof folks out there who have needed to replace/fix a tile post install?

Sucks that happened - did you contract for the gutters on your own, or did it go through the Tesla contract? I would agree with your approach if you signed a separate contract for the gutters, but if it went on the contract with the solar, I would expect Tesla to take care of it without you needing to get further involved.

 

[sorka]

I'm guessing I'll need to place some kind of service request (maybe through the Tesla app?) and then ultimately pass the bill along to the gutter company.

You didn't pay the gutter company for anything, right?

 

[trautmane2]

did you contract for the gutters on your own, or did it go through the Tesla contract?

For newer installs like mine, you can't manage the gutter piece through Tesla anymore. Tesla simply listed a recommended gutter installer and made it clear in the contract that it was up to me to work the rest out.

You didn't pay the gutter company for anything, right?

I paid a deposit and the remainder will be due when they finish. They are willing/eager to correct the issue. The current challenge is that I can't tell them what it will cost until I hear back from Tesla. I'm also curious whether Tesla would consider this simply a warranty repair and not charge anything.

Here's a better picture of the damage:

 

[trautmane2]

I just realized the last picture nicely shows how water is allowed to drain under the tiles and through the edge grate into the gutter.

 

[wjgjr]

For newer installs like mine, you can't manage the gutter piece through Tesla anymore. Tesla simply listed a recommended gutter installer and made it clear in the contract that it was up to me to work the rest out.

Got it. Hopefully if you went with their recommended partner, Tesla will still be willing to quickly address this without much hassle. And, it would also make sense for the gutter company to be eager to fix it, and they should have a direct contact at Tesla who could help.

 

[trautmane2]

if you went with their recommended partner,

That is actually another story ...

A couple of months before my roof install, I tried contacting the recommended gutter installer (who I think is the same one you had) via both email and phone to get a cost estimate. I heard nothing for about a month and then he finally responded. He was very helpful explaining some of the details to me and we conversed back and forth for a few days. He originally suspected that his crew was going to be used to do the tear down and underlayment work on my roof and was waiting for Tesla to send him my "packet" containing roof measurements before giving me a gutter estimate. A few days later, I learned that my tear down was sub-contracted to a different company. I emailed and called him stating that I was still interested in getting a gutter estimate but I never heard back from him. I can only assume he decided my gutters weren't worth the trouble, but it would have been nice for him to at least tell me that.

So, I got 3 estimates from other gutter companies including one from the company that did my tear down. Their estimate was 50% higher than the other two companies. I'm guessing they gave me a high estimate because they did not really want to come back to my house which is a 75 minute drive from their base location. So, I went with another company who finished a couple of minutes ago just as the snow is starting to fall. We're supposed to get 4-8 inches here. The gutters look good to me - now I've just got a blemish on the front of my house where the broken tile is.

 

[wjgjr]

That is actually another story ...

A couple of months before my roof install, I tried contacting the recommended gutter installer (who I think is the same one you had) via both email and phone to get a cost estimate. I heard nothing for about a month and then he finally responded. He was very helpful explaining some of the details to me and we conversed back and forth for a few days. He originally suspected that his crew was going to be used to do the tear down and underlayment work on my roof and was waiting for Tesla to send him my "packet" containing roof measurements before giving me a gutter estimate. A few days later, I learned that my tear down was sub-contracted to a different company. I emailed and called him stating that I was still interested in getting a gutter estimate but I never heard back from him. I can only assume he decided my gutters weren't worth the trouble, but it would have been nice for him to at least tell me that.

So, I got 3 estimates from other gutter companies including one from the company that did my tear down. Their estimate was 50% higher than the other two companies. I'm guessing they gave me a high estimate because they did not really want to come back to my house which is a 75 minute drive from their base location. So, I went with another company who finished a couple of minutes ago just as the snow is starting to fall. We're supposed to get 4-8 inches here. The gutters look good to me - now I've just got a blemish on the front of my house where the broken tile is.

I hope Tesla goes back to offering gutters as an option. Seems like it would save some of these headaches (mostly the coordination aspect, but also helpful if something gets broken.) At least they got the gutters done for the storm.

I was hoping to get an idea of how the roof handles a bunch of snow, but we are all the way down to 0-2" forecast here, with rain that I think will quickly wash away whatever might accumulate.

 

[jboy210]

Looks like it should be straightforward to replace. You are lucky it was a small one. I think those only have 2 upper sliders that lock into place and the one clip at the bottom that broke off.

Seeing this really makes me wish I would have taken a few tiles in each size as spares.

 

[trautmane2]

My install advisor got back to me and said that Tesla will fix the broken tile (no cost) when they come back next month to do the final clean-up (e.g. dry wall patching around electrical work). That's obviously good news and it simplifies things with regard to my gutter installer. I still am unclear how this would work had it occurred a year from now or later.

 

[trautmane2]

My broken tile got replaced today. Tesla's repair guy used a pry tool to pop-up the neighboring overlapping tiles. He then put in the new tile and clipped everything back into place. Fortunately, nothing else broke during replacement.

Because of my recent discussion with @jboy210 about the risk of making larger scale tile replacements, I asked the repair guy what his experience has been with breaking tiles. He said that although he has broken tiles before, broken tiles are a pretty rare occurrence for him. The key is knowing where the clip brackets are so that you can properly position the pry tool.

I mentioned @jboy210 's comment about tight clipping to meet hurricane/wind requirements because it seemed like a good point. Interestingly, the repair guy said that they handle tougher wind requirements simply by adding more clips.

It obviously makes sense to leave the tiles alone unless you really need to fix something. But it also seems like we don't need to worry about the tiles being so fragile that they can't be managed in a modular fashion by experienced technicians.

 

[jboy210]

My broken tile got replaced today. Tesla's repair guy used a pry tool to pop-up the neighboring overlapping tiles. He then put in the new tile and clipped everything back into place. Fortunately, nothing else broke during replacement.

Because of my recent discussion with @jboy210 about the risk of making larger scale tile replacements, I asked the repair guy what his experience has been with breaking tiles. He said that although he has broken tiles before, broken tiles are a pretty rare occurrence for him. The key is knowing where the clip brackets are so that you can properly position the pry tool.

I mentioned @jboy210 's comment about tight clipping to meet hurricane/wind requirements because it seemed like a good point. Interestingly, the repair guy said that they handle tougher wind requirements simply by adding more clips.

It obviously makes sense to leave the tiles alone unless you really need to fix something. But it also seems like we don't need to worry about the tiles being so fragile that they can't be managed in a modular fashion by experienced technicians.

Good to hear he was able to get them up. Maybe he has better skills than the guys that put on our roof. FWIW, all the ones the team on our roof removed were all active, so the large tiles.

 

[egaertner]

After my install was complete they had to come back and pull up quite a few tiles to redo a flat roof section due to leaks. No tiles cracked in the process. They did manage to leave scratch gouges in the underside of some tiles due to lazy handling. I had them come back and replace those with fresh ones.

 

[trautmane2]

they had to come back and pull up quite a few tiles to redo a flat roof section due to leaks

I hope the leaks are fixed now - that can be a tricky problem. Did you handle the repair (and the gouged tile replacements) through Tesla customer service or were you still working with the original install crew?

 

[egaertner]

I hope the leaks are fixed now - that can be a tricky problem. Did you handle the repair (and the gouged tile replacements) through Tesla customer service or were you still working with the original install crew?

The original install crew was long gone but I was able to reach out to my PM directly and she had a few local guy come out to do the work. Leaks seem to be fixed now

 

[hobbs2]

golf ball damage by bad golfers

 

[MP3Mike]

golf ball damage by bad golfersView attachment 653379

Wow!