Beginner advice. DIY solar. Mount to roof? Permits?

Thinking about adding solar to my home. I am good with electricity and power tools, so it would hurt my soul to pay someone to do it. But I'm nervous about a few things.

I already have a 2kW inverter and 7kw-hrs of batteries for a home backup project. I'm thinking about adding a solar system to it by just adding a MPPT charger and panels. It would technically be an offgrid system and not grid tie, which is nice because I wouldn't need to pull permits and can buy cheap unlabeled solar panels.

First, drilling into your roof. I'd have to remove the solar system if/when I sold the house, which means backing out the screws I used to screw in the rails for the panels. Has anyone done this or now a good way not to ruin the roof when you remove a DIY solar install?

Second, has anyone bought cheap used unlabeled panels on eBay? These look like a nice deal, and the seller has good reviews. I asked him age of the panels and he said about 6 years. https://www.ebay.com/itm/372486847062?ul_noapp=true

Third, even though I don't need to show permits for a grid hookup, has anyone gotten hit for having panels on there roof without a permit? Not including trying to sell the house.

TIA

The type of roof really comes into play. Corrugated iron roofing is very common in Australia, even more so in the northern parts of the country. For any of that style it really is just a case of removing the panels, rails and mounts then running the screws back in or if the rubber seal on the screw is deteriorated, running new screws back in and you are done.

Sorry good point. It's a asphalt shingle roof. A new one. And I paid extra for peel and stick underlayment just to help seal anything i decide to screw into it.

madsci1016 said:

First, drilling into your roof. I'd have to remove the solar system if/when I sold the house, which means backing out the screws I used to screw in the rails for the panels. Has anyone done this or now a good way not to ruin the roof when you remove a DIY solar install?

Third, even though I don't need to show permits for a grid hookup, has anyone gotten hit for having panels on there roof without a permit? Not including trying to sell the house.

TIA

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Not sure of your roofing material. What I would do is make sure I drilled into timber (rails) and not go all the way through it, but this does depend on local issues (for strength in strong winds etc), size of the timber etc.

The holes left when reversing out the screws would then only need filling with a silicon, silastic or strong outdoor sealant.

As far as getting into trouble etc what about insurance issues if there is a fire. I am sure that an insurance would look for any excuse to get out of paying.

The seller on EBay santan solar is a trustworthy business. They have been around for many years. The shipping costs are high because panels are shipped by palletized freight because of their size. If you are within driving distance (Phoenix Az area) you can save big and they usually will give a better price for pickup.

I'm most nervous about if/when I have to sell the house how well I'll be able to restore the roof. I did save several cases of extra shingles from the new roof I got 6 months ago, so just replacing the shingles sounds like a good option.

I've also talked to adjusters (not mine) and searched on the web. The whole "voiding home insurance" seems to be a myth, as I got back alot of responses to the effect of 'as long as it wasn't malicious/intentional to burn the house down, they don't care'.

Thanks for feedback on eBay seller. decent prices for "slightly used, unlabeled" panels, but would mean I could never grid tie.

Solar would just add to the resale value anyway. It might be worth it to just leave it there.

I got a new roof around 2017. If I install solar panels myself, without using an authorized installer, that will void my 30 year roof warranty. Also check local building codes for issues. There are some really crazy local codes, like you cannot collect rain water in some US states. But if a city does not allow solar panels you can also ask for a variance, or exception to the rule. For example, my town requires people to have grass in their front yards. But one guy a block away doesn't. His front yard on a major road is all sand with a marine/beach motif. I suspect he was grandfathered in before this rule went into effect.

@madsci1016, do you have room for a shed or pergola of some sort? Put the panels on that.

Thankfully, I'm in unincorporated land so no city rules/ordinances to deal with. Just county, and this is the good old boy south.

I really do wish ground was an option. There's a small area where I could do a carport like structure but the panels would be horizontal and take an efficiency hit. I read that it'll maybe be 15% less than tilted at my prime angle, so I am considering it. Just means much more building/diging.

New thought is a hybrid roof/ground install. Basically tie into the fascia board along one side of the house and create a "covered walkway" of sorts down that side of the house. I can hit about 5KW of panels that way. But they would be facing due east-south-east instead of south. Any good resource to calculate the efficiency hit I 'll take because of that?