Solar Panels and Reroofs: A Field Note for Macomb Homes

We get this call a few different ways. Sometimes it is a homeowner whose solar installer just told them the roof needs to come off before the panels can go back on. Sometimes it is a homeowner who wants panels quoted and asks us, almost as an afterthought, whether the roof can handle it. Both calls are really the same question: nobody coordinated the roof and the solar system on the same clock, and now somebody has to. This note is about that coordination problem, not about solar economics, which is a solar company's conversation to have, not ours.

01 /Two clocks, one roof, and nobody watching both

An asphalt shingle roof and a solar array are sold by two different businesses on two different timelines. A solar company's job is to size a system, mount it, and get it producing power; a roofing contractor's job is to keep water out of the house for the next couple decades. Left alone, those two timelines can collide. If a roof already has ten or fifteen years of wear on it when panels go up, the array can easily outlast the shingles underneath it, and pulling a working solar system off a roof to replace worn shingles is a far more expensive and disruptive job than replacing that roof would have been on its own, before the racking existed.

That is the coordination problem in one sentence: solar goes on top of a roof that is already running its own countdown, and the array does not pause that countdown. The fix is not complicated. It is simply asking a roofer to look at the roof before the racking hardware goes on, the same way you would not finish a basement over a foundation you had not checked for cracks.

02 /What detach and reset actually involves

In the trade this job is usually called a detach and reset, sometimes shortened to R&R. In broad strokes, it runs in three stages, split between two different contractors. First, the solar installer disconnects the array, unbolts the panels from the racking, and removes the racking and its roof attachment points, which is electrical and structural work that belongs to the solar company, not the roofer. Second, the roofing contractor replaces the roofing material underneath, including new flashing and sealant at every spot where a mounting foot used to penetrate the deck, since those old penetration points are exactly where a reroof needs the most attention. Third, the solar installer reinstalls the racking, remounts the panels, and recommissions the system so it is producing power again.

03 /Questions worth asking before you sign either contract

If you are quoting solar on a roof that has not been evaluated in the last few years, or quoting a reroof on a house that already has panels, a short list of questions up front saves a much longer argument later.

• Ask the roofer: Will you inspect and give a written age and condition assessment before racking goes on, not after?
• Ask the roofer: How do you flash and seal a deck that already has old mounting foot penetrations in it?
• Ask the roofer: Does your workmanship warranty stay intact once solar racking is remounted over your new roofing?
• Ask the solar installer: Who is responsible for scheduling and cost if the roof needs a detach and reset mid-warranty?
• Ask the solar installer: Is panel removal and reinstallation priced as a flat fee, per panel, or by the hour?
• Ask the solar installer: What happens to my production guarantee during the weeks the system is offline for a reroof?

04 /What this means for a Macomb County home

Michigan roofs already carry enough on their own clock between freeze-thaw cycling and the wind our note on roofing season timing covers in more detail. Adding a solar array without checking that clock first just moves the coordination problem later, usually to a point where it costs more to fix. A standing seam metal roof is worth asking about if solar is part of the plan, since its raised seams often allow clip-mounted racking with fewer roof penetrations than asphalt shingles need; our metal versus asphalt comparison walks through that tradeoff alongside the rest of the material decision, including how a manufacturer's shingle pricing, covered in our note on shingle price increases, factors into either choice.

If you are not sure where your own roof sits on its clock, that is exactly what a free, no obligation inspection is for. We will give you an honest read on age and condition, in writing, whether or not solar is anywhere in the picture. If a reroof is already on the table, our 60 second cost calculator uses the same published canon range quoted above, and the full menu of what we install sits on our roof replacement page.