Will solar panels damage my roof or void my roofing warranty in Middle Tennessee?

No. Solar panels do not damage a sound roof or void a roofing warranty in Middle Tennessee when the roof is checked first and the mounts are done the way a roofer would do them. The damage people hear about comes from crews who treat your roof like a mounting surface instead of the thing keeping your house dry.

The Solar Roofers is the solar and battery side of The Metal Roofers, a family-owned Nashville roofing contractor working in Middle Tennessee since 2003. We got into solar after watching other solar crews damage our customers’ metal roofs. We could not find a solar partner we trusted for our neighbors, so we became one. So this question is personal for us.

How solar attaches to a standing seam metal roof

Standing seam is the best roof in Middle Tennessee for solar. Panels attach with S-5! style clamps that grip the raised seams. No holes go through the metal. Nothing to seal, nothing to leak. The clamp is matched to the seam profile and torqued to spec so it holds tight without crushing the seam.

That is a big reason homeowners across Davidson, Williamson, Wilson, and Sumner counties choose standing seam when they plan roof and solar together. The roof can outlast the array, and the array never puts a hole in it.

How solar attaches to a shingle roof

Shingle roofs need flashed, lagged mounts. Each mount is lagged into a rafter, not just the decking, and a flashing slides under the shingle course above it so water sheds over the top. A typical array takes 40 to 80 of these penetrations. Done right, each one is as watertight as a plumbing vent. Done wrong, with a screw and a dab of sealant, each one is a future leak.

Ask any installer to show you the exact mount and flashing they plan to use and where each one lands on your rafters. If they cannot, keep looking.

Classic panel and metal shingle roofs

Exposed fastener classic panel roofs, common on farmhouses, barns, and shops outside town, take mounts made for that rib profile, fastened into structure and sealed the way the panel manufacturer intends. Metal shingles need hardware and flashings that match the shingle layout. Neither one is a job for generic racking and a tube of caulk.

What actually puts a roofing warranty at risk

Most roofs carry two warranties: the manufacturer’s material warranty and the contractor’s workmanship warranty. Many manufacturer warranties have conditions about penetrations, sealants, and attachments that are not approved for that roof. Read yours, or bring it to us and we will read it with you.

When solar causes warranty trouble, it is usually one of these:

• Holes drilled through metal panels where a seam clamp should have been used
• Mounts screwed into decking instead of structure
• Sealant used in place of real flashing
• Conduit and wire runs that dam water or rub through the roof finish
• A different company working on the roof than the one that warranties it

When roof and solar come from two companies, a leak turns into finger pointing. When they come from one, there is one phone number and one warranty.

Never put a 25 year array on a roof with only a few years left

The most common way solar “damages” a roof is bad timing. A homeowner in Donelson, Madison, or Antioch puts a new array on an 18 year old shingle roof. A few years later the roof gives out, and the panels have to come off. Removing and reinstalling an array for a later re-roof typically costs $3,000 to $6,000, on top of the new roof.

So we check roof age and condition first. If the roof has plenty of life left, we install solar. If it does not, we plan the roof first. Doing roof and solar as one project typically saves $2,000 to $5,000 on shared permits, wiring, crew, and scaffolding, and takes about 2 to 3 weeks start to finish.

Middle Tennessee weather and your roof

Summer heat and humidity, spring storms with hail and straight-line winds, and the occasional ice storm all test a roof here. The area sees roughly 5 to 7 outage-causing severe weather events a year. A properly attached array is engineered for local wind loads, and the panels shade the roofing beneath them. The weak points are always the attachments and the roof under them, which is why that is where we spend our time.

How The Solar Roofers protect your roof and your warranty

• We inspect the roof, decking, and attic before we design anything.
• On standing seam, we use seam clamps with no penetrations.
• On shingles, we use flashed, lagged mounts into structure and document every location.
• We keep conduit and wire runs out of the water path.
• You get one workmanship warranty that covers the roof work and the solar install.

Not sure where your roof stands? Call The Solar Roofers at (615) 933-8120 for a free roof and solar assessment, or see how we handle roofing at The Metal Roofers.