Roof Maintenance

I got solar installed on my roof about a year ago. I have a two story home and the panels were placed on the backside of my home. am happy with it and I have seen a distinct reduction in my energy bill. Yet, there was a bit of a downside; turns out they cracked some tiles in an area that I could not see.

I didn't even think about checking the tiles after the installation. I figured the company installing them and the inspector that looked at the work afterwards would notice, make note and the company would fix it. Turns out, that was not the case.

If the installation had been in an area where I would have seen it I would have caught it and been able to have them fix it. I possibly still could as I have the photos from the home inspection when I bought the house showing the tiles as fine, but it's one of those (to me) where the headache of fighting it isn't worth the potential money saved. I have had people, including other solar reps, tell me that the solar installers job to fix it and I understand where they are coming from, I think I waited too long and that's that.

had my house painted back in August and my painter was the one that pointed out the missing tiles. then started noticing the bits of tile laying in the back yard. It's more the side yard and not the side with the gate so no one goes over there. We've been on that side more now because we got puppies and I noticed every so often there were some new pieces laying there.

E​ knowing I was missing some tiles I put off doing anything about it. You know how , you have a list of home improvement projects and you make excuses to not get to them. I had reached out to a friend's handyman that said he would do, and I was waiting for him to squeeze the job in. Then monsoon season came.

E​ it rained (and this year we got some good rain) I was searching for signs of a leak. Every shadow on the ceiling was scrutinized as my brain raced through all the I would need to do: call the insurance company, potentially have to replace part of my roof, insulation, drywall, re-paint. fixing the tiles became high priority, and I decided I couldn't wait anymore.

I heard horror stories from others about the solar panels having to be removed so the roof could be fixed. I started to get worried that more tiles were damaged underneath the panels and that this was about the turn into a big job. It took in total about 3 months for the tiles to be up, everything installed , wired, inspected and activated. I can imagine what it would be like to have them removed, everything fixed and then reinstalled (literal nightmares).

I got lucky. Even with having put it off and realizing part of my may have been exposed for a year, still in good condition. The roofer gave me a reasonable quote and already has my repair scheduled.

I have a patch of drywall missing in my downstairs ceiling from where my bath tub was leaking. That is another repair I have been putting off, but it does not make me nervous the way the roof tiles did. Perhaps this Spring I will get around to fixing it as well. I know for a fact, adding roof inspection to my maintenance list is happening.