I believe you are correct. Roof tiles, as in cement roof tiles, do not have any gaskets. The depend on overlap to keep the sides and nailed upper portions dry. When the Tesla guy was here doing the site walk through he showed us the solar tiles, and there is as much overlap with them as there are with cement tiles.
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Solarglass Roof - V3 - any customers?
- Thread starter bonaire
- Start date
I believe you are correct. Roof tiles, as in cement roof tiles, do not have any gaskets. The depend on overlap to keep the sides and nailed upper portions dry. When the Tesla guy was here doing the site walk through he showed us the solar tiles, and there is as much overlap with them as there are with cement tiles.
Isn't the roof system is designed to allow ventilation flow from the bottom of the roof edge to the top? I see small holes on the bottom flashing on my roof and in pictures of completed roofs, the ridges also appear to have venting. If air can flow in, so can water. I assume the membrane was designed as part of the overall system to keep a watertight seal. We live on a ridgetop and routinely get 40+ mph winds when major rainstorms pass so if there are problems with the design, I'll know about them. As an aside, our roof is in progress now with mostly underlayment exposed and it's raining.
woferry
Member
The underlayment is designed to be the roof (i.e. exposed to the elements) for up to 120 days, I think part of its purpose being used here is to deal with the fact that this is a multi-day install, so chances that it might have to protect the house from rain during the install are high (sure, in many parts of CA you could do a summer install without having to worry about a rain plan, but most parts that's not true any time of the year).
Ridge vents aren't a new thing or unique to the Solar Roof, so I get the impression it's pretty easy to do a ridge vent and not let water in. My parents in PA got a ridge vent when their roof was replaced ~20 years ago and after several hurricanes and the like no water has come in it. Yes, the bottom of the Solar Roof's ~1" border piece is ventilated, at least in v2 (I'm assuming this part probably didn't change between v2 and v3, but haven't see any close-ups to verify that) the holes are all at the bottom, clearly designed to serve as drainage as much as ventilation (wouldn't want the water to build-up at the bottom edge if any did get under the tiles). But rain would basically have to blow-in horizontally (and then immediately go up-hill) to actually get into those small holes. So I don't worry one bit about those holes letting rain in on my roof.
For any of the folks with direct v3 experience (i.e. you have tiles on your house/property that you could visually inspect), this is the gasket/lip I was referring to on v2. Is there something similar on v3 that just hasn't shown so well on the pictures I've seen? Or do you mind asking the installers if there is anything beyond just the row-to-row overlap?
Ridge vents aren't a new thing or unique to the Solar Roof, so I get the impression it's pretty easy to do a ridge vent and not let water in. My parents in PA got a ridge vent when their roof was replaced ~20 years ago and after several hurricanes and the like no water has come in it. Yes, the bottom of the Solar Roof's ~1" border piece is ventilated, at least in v2 (I'm assuming this part probably didn't change between v2 and v3, but haven't see any close-ups to verify that) the holes are all at the bottom, clearly designed to serve as drainage as much as ventilation (wouldn't want the water to build-up at the bottom edge if any did get under the tiles). But rain would basically have to blow-in horizontally (and then immediately go up-hill) to actually get into those small holes. So I don't worry one bit about those holes letting rain in on my roof.
For any of the folks with direct v3 experience (i.e. you have tiles on your house/property that you could visually inspect), this is the gasket/lip I was referring to on v2. Is there something similar on v3 that just hasn't shown so well on the pictures I've seen? Or do you mind asking the installers if there is anything beyond just the row-to-row overlap?
I posted a few pictures of the bottom edge and corner in my project album (linked in my sig). I don't see any gaskets on V3 tiles but the bottom section is rubberized so presumably, that helps create a seal when tiles are overlapped. The back of my roof is easier to photograph close up so once overlapping starts, I'll try to get some pictures.
charlesj
Active Member
Can you walk on the tiles? Is it slippery?
Hopefully the overlap going up slope is such that wind will not drive the rain under it and the side channel will not let water
out further towards the side.
Hopefully the overlap going up slope is such that wind will not drive the rain under it and the side channel will not let water
out further towards the side.
charlesj
Active Member
Thanks for the pictures and videos.
Curious what that machine with that blue on it is by the washer/dryer?
It's a metal brake. On v2 they custom cut the tiles to fit exactly. On v3 they have a handful of fractional sized tiles they combine to get close to the right length and then do custom metalwork to fill in the remaining gaps.
Nice to know. I guess that is how they can do the installs quickly.
Also, cool shots. What sort of set up do you have for the timelapse? Thinking of rigging something up for our install.
woferry
Member
Cool, thanks. So they grew the holes on the front trim, that's interesting. Maybe weren't getting the airflow they'd hoped for with the v2 (square) holes. Interesting to have no lip on the top edge of the tiles, seems like rubber coming down from the tile above wouldn't work as well as sticking up (wouldn't have to comply with the texturing or anything). But I guess it forced plastic over the top, rather than being all-glass. And given how the metal trim at the end works (also no lip) it seems more consistent (do they add rubber under the metal part?)
Also, does the metal part actually curve over the edge? They used the same style metal bending brake on my job, the tiles were obviously cut with a saw, but they still used the brake a lot for flashings, ridges and other trim pieces.
charlesj
Active Member
Thanks. Then I presume Tesla people brought that with them? Looked like a hobby tool or something.
Shots are from @Saizzz, not me. Although I'm also running a time-lapse. I've got a GoPro mounted high in a tree with a GorillaPod in the front yard, running off a 13Ah USB battery. I had tried a 9Ah battery but found it only lasted about 7 hours, not enough if the crew is working sun up to sun down (and then some) like mine is. In the back yard I have a GoPro on a selfie stick duct-taped to the top of an extension ladder, fully extended, leaning against a fence. It's direct wired to an AC outlet since one was conveniently located (and I didn't have another 9+Ah battery). Both are in modified enclosures with an opening for the USB cable to connect, opening is water-tight-ish via more duct tape. Controlled and monitored via my phone over Wi-Fi. Taking a shot per 30 seconds.
Yea they brought it with them.
Regarding the tile to tile overlap, I eye'd it up with a flashlight and it looks like about 1.5-2" or so. Side to side they're just butted up against each other.
woferry
Member
Yeah, here was the 10' brake in my back yard, along with their tile saw.
For my time lapses I used a Hawkeye Firefly Q6 (I also fly high power rockets, so this sometimes goes for a ride on them) in 2.5K 3s/shot time lapse mode, in a 3D-printed sun/rain cover (though I added extra saran when the wind picked up), mounted to a tripod taped to a telescoping ladder (that I bought after seeing the one the Tesla site surveyor used), first leaning against the telephone pole in my back yard, later moved to leaning against my side fence towards the front. I had a solar battery bank powering the camera and USB charger plugged into the bank (in a ziploc bag for rain protection) running back to an exterior outlet, so it could run all day off AC, or run all day off the battery if the house power was out. I cropped the 2.5k video to 1080p in the back to deal with the lack of zoom, and scaled it in the front (it was also ultimately sped-up to 720x to make the 3 videos at the end of my album).
For my time lapses I used a Hawkeye Firefly Q6 (I also fly high power rockets, so this sometimes goes for a ride on them) in 2.5K 3s/shot time lapse mode, in a 3D-printed sun/rain cover (though I added extra saran when the wind picked up), mounted to a tripod taped to a telescoping ladder (that I bought after seeing the one the Tesla site surveyor used), first leaning against the telephone pole in my back yard, later moved to leaning against my side fence towards the front. I had a solar battery bank powering the camera and USB charger plugged into the bank (in a ziploc bag for rain protection) running back to an exterior outlet, so it could run all day off AC, or run all day off the battery if the house power was out. I cropped the 2.5k video to 1080p in the back to deal with the lack of zoom, and scaled it in the front (it was also ultimately sped-up to 720x to make the 3 videos at the end of my album).
Talked to the crew, the tiles are expected to carry 90+% of the rain. No gasket/lip like on v2. There's the 1.5-2" of row-to-row overlap I previously mentioned, and a 2" piece that underlaps the gap between end-to-end tiles to carry water as well.
Got the call today, Tesla told me they are getting hi res photos of the house and will call me in a couple weeks with the design and to schedule inspection.
I am in Delaware.
I am in Delaware.
For those who are considering doing a timelapse of the roof work, I'd recommend two things:
- Be sure your crew knows about the camera and is okay with it. Keep in mind, because they are customer-focused, they are unlikely to protest.
- Make sure they understand it may catch safety infractions that can cause issues for the install team and/or Tesla
Can anyone comment on the inverters Tesla is installing with solarglass roofs? I am particularly interested in ensuring that the one Tesla installs work if Tesla turns down the off-line trigger frequency to 61 Hz or lower. We have a lot of electronics and UPSes and prefer not have to replace UPS units with ones that tolerate higher frequencies.
Great. Assuming they can get enough solar on your roof, the next step will be for you to take a lot of pictures of you utility connection box meters, and main panels in your home.
