What happens when you want to remove your roof shingles
 

There is a similar thread about how to remove solar panels from your roof when it's time to move. I am wondering about how to remove and replace asphalt shingles when it's time for a new roof!

I am planning a new roof of asphalt shingles in spring 2020. I am just starting to plan a rooftop solar installation. I gather that the shingles go on first then I penetrate that brand new roof in order to attach the solar panels. I am not enthusiastic about that idea but my installer says that he has never, EVER, caused a leak.

I'm more worried about the long term. My roofing installer says that there's really no such thing as a shingle that lasts more than 20 or 25 years. ("You can buy a 40 year shingle, good luck collecting on that warranty.") The solar panels have a warranty for 30 years. I am not expecting them to pay for themselves in less than 15 years. That means I only have 5 years between when the panels are paid for and when I am scheduled to remove the panels, renew the roof, and reinstall solar panels.

Is that how this works? Or am I missing something?

Sunlight exposure, snow/ice, and things like hail are what cause your shingles to degrade. When they are sheltered by your solar panels, you've got a section of your roof where the shingles will live a very long life.

So basically you install your solar panels on a new set of shingles and 20 years later when you are replacing your roof, you shingle around your solar panels.

Regarding leaks, if you look at the mounts used, they are flashing mounts. So they are penetrations similar to your furnace flue pipe, turtle vents, etc. They don't just drill a hole and squirt sealer in place. They used to do that until the 80s or so and eventually the solar installers and rack mounting manufacturers got it right, I think they've done a great job at solving that problem with flash mounts.

This is why I have a metal roof: pay now, or pay again later... (NOTE: Labor in the future will cost more than today, it's called inflation... The typical Federal Reserve target is 2% annual inflation)

For my DIY 4.4kW array, I used Creotecc (front mount) tile hooks which conveniently duck out from under the overlapping panels of my Decra metal tile roof so I have no bolts penetrating the roof tiles. (These hooks were formerly marketed in the USA by Unirac who appears to have changed their present design) I had to come up with the tile hook concept myself. The structural engineering design on my array was required to meet wind loads of a 3-second gust wind of 170mph. My permitting package includes a signed structural engineering design showing the math behind what that means, but it's a crazy amount of potential down force or UP-lift. Drilling over 100 holes in my metal roof sounded ludicrous. What sealants can anyone name that are good for 25+ years exposed to the sun daily on a rooftop in South Florida?

I have friends in Colorado who are currently awaiting a roof replacement for hail damage suffered last summer on their asphalt shingle roof. The hail didn't damage their PV array, but the hail did apparently damage their shingles. I don't envy that position...

On our farm in Maine, I'll be doing a ground mount. I don't want any chance of a roof penetration leaking in winter, or any more reason for snow to build up on the roof. We also have a metal roof there and the snow tends to slide off before it packs up too deeply.

Why asphalt?
I'm never doing asphalt shingles again if I can help it.

Why asphalt?
It costs $1000 or so every 20 years when you replace the roof.
Installing a metal roof costs a fortune.
The metal roof cost invested in something else will easily cover the $1000 years down the road when the roof needs to be replaced again.

Nope seen too many $10,000 roofing estimates that were on asphalt shingle roofs.
Last time I did a shingle roof I could have spent the better part of $1,000 just disposing of them.
But instead of disposing of them like a normal person does I put it in a pile in my backyard and filled mine and my neighbor who was on deployment garbage cans up with about 300 pounds of shingles every week for about 4 or 5 months until it was all gone.
It would have cost at least $600 to rent a roll off dumpster with the asphalt shingle surcharge.
20 years my asphalt. If you actually wait 20 years to replace them I can pretty much guarantee there's water damage.