A hailstorm that dents the gutters and rattles the siding can leave a rooftop solar array looking fine from the yard. The panels are built to take some hail. Module standards test the glass against an ice ball about one inch across, thrown at speed, so a single small hit usually does not break it. The trouble sits underneath the glass. The racking, the clamps, the standoffs that pass through the shingles and the flashing under each one all take the same storm, and they are the parts that can start a leak months later. If you only look at the panels, you may miss the part of the array that actually touches your roof.
This page is for a St. Louis homeowner who has a solar array on the roof and has just come through a hailstorm, or who expects one before next spring. Hail in the St. Louis area tends to arrive in spring and early summer, and freeze and thaw cycles through the winter can work on fasteners, so the spring check and the storm check often overlap. The page covers what to check, what to write down, and what to ask whoever works on the roof. Keys Roofing is the roofing contractor behind this site. The office number is (314) 220-2333. Keys documents roof damage, puts a written scope with photos and measurements in the homeowner's hands, and attends as the contractor. The solar installer and the insurer are separate parties with their own jobs.
Start from the yard, then move to the ladder
From the yard, with binoculars if you have them, look for panels with visible cracks, chipped edges, or a white or silver fracture pattern under the glass. Those marks show up on a clear afternoon. Note the panel row and the roof slope for each one so you can find it again. The back of a panel is not visible from the roof surface, so the backsheet and the junction box are for the installer to check with the array in view. Any ladder work on a roof with panels needs a second person holding the ladder, and nobody should step onto the array itself to get a better look.
The mounts are where the roof takes the load
Each standoff or L-foot that goes through your roof covering is a penetration. Each one has a flashing piece, usually set under the shingles up slope from the bolt and sealed with a gasket or sealant. Hail can crush or shift a flashing edge, bend a standoff, or loosen a bolt. Look at the rail for dents. Check that each clamp is still seated and tight. Look at the shingles around each mount for lifted tabs, a fresh bruise, or granules shaken loose in a ring. A shingle that lifts beside a standoff is a leak waiting for the next rain.
Wire management clips and conduit can also work loose in wind. Where a wire run crosses the shingles and flaps in a gust, it can wear a spot through the surface over a season. Note the location of each one, not just the general area.
From the attic, after the next rain, look for staining on the decking or rafters directly beneath each mount. A stain under a mount points to that penetration. A stain at the ridge or the eave points somewhere else, and the array may not be the cause.
Check the output, and write the number down
Many arrays have a monitoring app or an inverter display that logs daily production. Before the storm, the number to compare is a typical sunny day in the same month. After the storm, compare the same kind of day. A drop can mean damage to a module, a loose connection, or a failed optimizer, but it can also mean shade, a dirty array, a snowy week, or an inverter that needs a reset. The number tells you to look harder. It does not tell you what broke.
Screenshot the production history for the week of the storm and the week before it. Save the monitoring report with its date. If the inverter shows an error code, photograph the display and the code. Monitoring apps often keep only a limited history, so the screenshots are the copy you control.
What belongs in the file
The file needs dated photographs of the whole array from the ground, close-ups of each damaged panel with its frame and any readable label in the frame, and wide shots of each roof slope so the position of each panel can be placed. The installer's array layout drawing, which shows where each module and each mount sits, belongs in the same folder. Ask for a copy now, before anything is moved.
- Dated photos of the array from the yard, with the roof slope visible
- Close-ups of each cracked or dented panel, with any readable frame label
- Close-ups of each mount, its flashing, and the shingles around it
- Monitoring screenshots for the week before and the week after the storm
- The array layout drawing from the installer
- Any inverter error codes, photographed on the display
A written scope is only as useful as the photos it points to. If a scope line says the flashing at a given mount needs replacing, the photo of that mount should sit in the file under the same reference. Ask any contractor, Keys included, to tie each scope line to a photograph and a measurement. That is the document you keep if the roof and the array are looked at again.
Timing the check through a St. Louis year
Hail season and the freeze and thaw cycles are both real here, and they can overlap. A check in late winter can catch loosened mounts before the spring storms do. A check after each hail event catches dents and cracks while the storm date is still fresh in the record. Put the monitoring screenshot routine on a calendar, not only in your memory. A walk of the yard and a look from the attic take little time. Finding a stained ceiling after a leak has already run takes a great deal more.
Who lifts the array, and who puts it back
A roof repair under a solar array means the panels are lifted, the rails removed, and the whole assembly reset. That work is usually shared. The solar installer or a licensed electrician handles the disconnect and the reconnect, and the roofer works on the surface beneath. Missouri does not license roofers at the state level, so the license that matters on the electrical side belongs to the electrician who does the disconnect. Confirm who disconnects the system before the roofer climbs, who holds the switch, and who checks the system before it is powered back on.
The array carries its own warranty, separate from the roof. Panel damage goes to the module maker or the installer under that document, and a leak at a mount goes to whoever set the flashing. Ask who owns each part before the work starts, and get the answer in writing.
Questions to ask before anyone lifts a panel
- Who disconnects the array, and who switches it back on?
- Who holds the array layout, and will you give me a copy before the work starts?
- Which flashings will be replaced, and will each one be photographed before it is covered?
- Who reseals the mounts, and what product is used?
- Who does the electrical check after the panels are reset?
- What is in the written scope for the panel lift and reset, and what is excluded?
If the answer to any question is a shrug, that tells you something about the job before the first panel moves. Keys Roofing can be reached at (314) 220-2333 to talk through the roof side of an array job. The insurance claim, if there is one, stays between you and your insurer, and the contractor's part is the roof and the written scope that describes it.