That is going to be beautiful! That might be the most beautiful barn I’ve ever seen.
Solar Roof Installation Tips
- Thread starter MXDogCrate
- Start date
The nicest looking barn I have ever seen! How many kW of solar can you get on that structure?
aesculus
Still Trying to Figure This All Out
I can only put it on the lower roof sides and a bit on the backside. So it's only going to be 5.5 kw. The face you are seeing is pointed south east so the back side is not going to be as productive as we would like. We have another 5.25 kW of solar in another area.
We also decided that the clerestory and cupola will retain their asphalt shingles as the solar shingle dummies are just too large to fit those small spaces and angles.
They are having a tough time laying the flashing and metal times cut to fit around our chimney. I think it would be almost impossible around the clerestory and cupola. Good decision.
marty2112
Member
Don't know on gutters yet. Would like to go with the more modern fascia style. Hoping to have that discussion with Tesla next week.
My roof installers strongly recommended the deeper gutter. They said since water runs fast off the glass and the solar tiles sit higher up than traditional shingles it would be easy to overshoot the shallower gutter. That said I’ve heard a few people with the fascia gutters say they perform fine.
shinebox
Member
Gutters are included? Thought, it was removed. My first original quote back in 2019 did say "Gutter Replacement" under Pre-Construction and recently I requested a reprice and now "Gutter Replacement" is no longer there. Still waiting for a response from my adviser.
Gutters are no longer included. I'm guessing @marty2112 got started before Tesla changed that.
Yesterday, my installer also recommended 6 inch gutters. I'm still trying to decide whether to replace my gutters (see Solar Roof Gutter Replacement).
I am waiting for cost estimates to make that decision. If the gutters were included for my roof, I'd go with the 6 inch to be safe.
That being said, @jboy210 (on my other thread) said the 4 inch gutters have been fine for him:
Was there an amount for gutter replacement? One version of my solar roof contract had gutter replacement at ~$3k removed, but the total for pre-construction did not change - they just inadvertently removed the line.
I get the feeling somewhere along the line that there may have been some confusion on the meaning of listing "Gutter Replacement" and $0 in the contracts. I think at some point, Tesla meant that to say there is no gutter replacement, but at an earlier point, apparently it was included for free, at least for some folks - it was not for us.
As part of the first 100 SolarGlass Roofs we got ours for "free". However, we paid a 5-10% price premium over later Solar Roofs. So maybe we did not get them for free.
I am in Northern California where it does rain, but not as much or as hard as when we live in Williamsburg, VA. Had we still lived there, I would have gone with 6" gutters. Here in the SF East Bay we call 3" of rain in a day a torrential downpour and it only happens once every few winters. In Williamsburg, we had 2-3 inch rain at least once a week during the summer.
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That’s what happened to me. My roof was pretty early on, before the ‘100 roof surge’. They definitely intended the $0 gutter line to mean no gutters but when I grilled them on it they caved and tossed them in.
I think this is a good point about it depending on the expected weather. Significant rains (and, in particular, downpours, as opposed to long, steady rain events) seem to be increasingly common in the DC area, and I can say that I am very happy with the performance of the 6" gutters Tesla installed with our roof. Of course, I cannot state with certainty that smaller gutters wouldn't have handled it, but in the end I am glad we just went with what they recommended.
abasile
Conscientious investor
Has anyone gotten a sense as to how well a Solar Roof insulates compared to a standard, composite shingle roof? The following website suggests that the R-value for asphalt shingles is 0.44, which isn't much!
Composite Wall R-Values | EGEE 102: Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection
We've ordered a Solar Roof for a small A-frame cabin, and while there is R-13 insulation under the roof, it could be better. Adding a layer of foam, atop the existing roof decking, might be ideal. On the other hand, it might not be worth the additional cost. The roof square footage is somewhere in the ballpark of 800.
Also, the Tesla website claims that the Solar Roof can be installed on roof pitches as steep as 20:12 (59 degrees), which happens to be the exact pitch of our A-frame's roof. Has anyone had experience with the installation of a Solar Roof at such a steep pitch? It'll have a negative impact on the summertime solar production for sure, but at least the roof is south facing, so I think we can live with the compromised production.
Composite Wall R-Values | EGEE 102: Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection
We've ordered a Solar Roof for a small A-frame cabin, and while there is R-13 insulation under the roof, it could be better. Adding a layer of foam, atop the existing roof decking, might be ideal. On the other hand, it might not be worth the additional cost. The roof square footage is somewhere in the ballpark of 800.
Also, the Tesla website claims that the Solar Roof can be installed on roof pitches as steep as 20:12 (59 degrees), which happens to be the exact pitch of our A-frame's roof. Has anyone had experience with the installation of a Solar Roof at such a steep pitch? It'll have a negative impact on the summertime solar production for sure, but at least the roof is south facing, so I think we can live with the compromised production.
shinebox
Member
For ridge vents, installers cut plywood at the peak of roof to make gap or gap was already there ? I am asking since most Tesla solar tile installation videos showed everything seem to be sealed (including peak) with roof underlayment before installing solar tiles.
For my roof, they covered the ridge with underlayment so that there were no leaks during the 2+ weeks they were installing tiles. The ridge cap is one of the last parts they do. They just cut the underlayment as they cap the ridge. I previously had a ridge vent, so I'm not sure what they do when you don't - guessing it gets cut before underlayment is laid. Here's what my roof looks like outside and inside ...
funkadelic
Member
ditto what @trautmane2 said...the crew cut the ridge vent pretty much as one of the last steps.
I didn't have ridge vents previously but they left underlayment on the ridge up until they cut the ridge open. I have active tiles on the south and east sides of our uninsulated garage and can see the ridge vent and underside of the ridge cap through the rafters
I didn't have ridge vents previously but they left underlayment on the ridge up until they cut the ridge open. I have active tiles on the south and east sides of our uninsulated garage and can see the ridge vent and underside of the ridge cap through the rafters
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