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Look up—the latest solar scam is actually above your head and beneath your panels. It’s your roof! When considering whether to install solar panels, it’s important to first examine the place where your panels will be mounted, and to understand how some door-to-door solar sales companies are claiming you can get a roof for $0 when you go solar.
Solar Leasing with the Promise of a Free Roof?
You might see ads for FREE ROOF WITH SOLAR or NO COST ROOF, but as with many things, if it seems too good to be true it just might be! There is no such thing as a free roof. There. We said it. If a company says your new roof will be free, they’re really just rolling the cost of your roof into the price of your solar energy system, where you end up overpaying for poor quality materials.
The DIY Solar Co Way to Re-Roof and Solar Up
Let’s use an example to showcase how pricing should and does work with us.
We take the price of the solar, in this case 3.4/Watt, or 3400 kW, and the system size (7.14) and multiply it by the price ($3400/kW) to give you a price of $24,276 for the solar only.
If the roof costs $7,000, we add that to the solar price ($24,276+$7000) and get $31,276. In order to get that price per watt for the roof, we would divide the total roof and solar cost by the amount of kW (7.14kW) = 4.38 rounded up to $4.40/ kW.
This means that for the roof alone would be approximately $1,000/ kW.
How do you know if you need to change your roof before going solar?
Your roof is a key part of your solar energy system, and here are some things to look out for that could help you determine if a new roof is needed. The most common types of roof damage are:
● Loose or broken tiles or shingles
● Worn down materials, rust, aging or decay
● Water damage that can lead to things like tiles that are broken, sealants that are worn out or torn, and other deterioration
● Punctures and cracks, could be from something falling on your roof or someone walking on it improperly
● Standing water that signals the pitch is warped and not sending rain to the drains
● Structural damage on supports that could cause collapses
