Solar Panel Removal & Reinstall in Hillsborough, NJ
Hillsborough Roofing replaces roofs on Hillsborough homes that already carry a solar array. The array comes off, the roof goes on, the array goes back on new flashed mounts. The electrical side stays with your solar installer or a licensed electrical contractor, and we build the roofing schedule around theirs.
Why a roof under an array gets replaced whole, not patched
A shingle roof and a solar array rarely age on the same clock. Arrays across Somerset County went up on roofs already partway through their life, so the shingles reach the end while the panels have good years left. Once the array is coming off anyway, doing the whole roof costs less labor than a second detach later. Nobody can set underlayment or valley metal properly in the shaded strip under panels either, and every rail blocks a shingle course. So the array comes down first, and the roof and the detach and reset get quoted as one sequence.
The detach and reset sequence, start to finish
The electrical steps below belong to your solar installer or a licensed electrical contractor. The roofing steps are ours. We hold the schedule so the array is off for the shortest window weather allows.
Shutdown and electrical disconnect
Your solar company or a licensed electrician powers down the inverter, opens the AC disconnect, and isolates the system before anyone touches a module. Nobody on a roofing crew should pull DC connectors. We start after that disconnect is confirmed, not the same morning.
Panel removal, labeling, and on site storage
Modules come off in order, labeled by string and position so the array goes back the way the design intended. Rails, clamps, and standoffs follow. Panels stack face to face on padding, off the ground, in the garage or a covered spot, not leaned against the siding where a gust can walk them over.
Tear off, deck repair, and the new roof
With the slope clear we tear to the deck, replace sheathing that went soft under old standoff leaks, then lay ice and water shield at the eaves and valleys, synthetic underlayment, drip edge, and shingles. Old lag holes get sealed and the new mount layout is set before the field shingles reach them.
Reset, flashing, and system restart
Standoffs go back on new flashed mounts woven into the shingle courses, rails and modules return to their labeled positions, and your solar contractor reconnects and confirms production. That check is theirs, and we want it done while our crew is on site in case a mount needs to shift.
Standoffs, flashed mounts, and keeping the penetrations dry
Every standoff is a hole through your roof. On a new roof they get new flashing, not the old base plate reused with a smear of sealant. A flashed mount slides under the shingle course above so water sheds over metal instead of relying on caulk, and the lag lands in a rafter rather than bare sheathing. Sealant is a supporting detail here, never the thing holding water out.
Downtime, monitoring, and what each warranty actually covers
Your array produces nothing while it is down, so expect a gap in the monitoring app matching the job window. Weather sets that length more than crew size does.
On warranties, be careful who is promising what. We warrant our roofing work and the flashing at the mounts we install. The panels, inverter, racking, and production guarantee run on terms your solar installer or the manufacturer set, and only they can speak to those. What we do is coordinate ahead of time, follow the mounting details their system calls for, and document what we touched, so the roofing side is never the reason a solar claim gets argued.
What to have ready before we quote a solar re roof
- Who installed the array, and whether their workmanship coverage is active.
- The panel count, and whether it sits on one slope or wraps to a second.
- Whether the inverter is a string unit or the modules run microinverters.
- Rough install years for the array and the roof under it, often different.
- A spot where panels can sit dry and out of the way during the job.
Related roofing services
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