I installed my solar system myself. I began the week beginning July 17 when I spent a few evenings locating the roof rafters in the roof of my barn. I had to drill small 1/4″ holes in the roof at the top of the peak and at the bottom of the lower edge to locate the centers of the rafters. I then put a nail at the center of the rafters at the top and bottom so I could snap a string line to show me where the rafters were to attache the solar rack feet. When I was all done snapping the lines I filled the little holes with black asphalt caulk sealer.

On Saturday, July 22, I began the actual installation of the solar rack feet and racking as you can see from the date of my photos. By the end of one week, July 28, I had installed all of the racking myself. I could only work each day until about 2:00 pm because the roof would get so hot I could not work on it. I learned this the first day when I tried to work longer on the hot roof and the soles of my tennis shoes melted completely off. That is what I get for waiting to install it in the hot summer instead of the cooler spring but I had to wait until my vacation time.

On Saturday, July 29, I hired a co-worker to help me and we began installing the solar panels and optimizers. We had all but two panels on the roof in two days as you can see from my photo dated July 30. I placed the last two panels in the evenings of the next week after I installed my electric conduit pipe through the roof to each of the rows of solar panels.

I spent a few hours each day for that next week installing the conduits and inverter.

I am still waiting for the electrician to come and hook up the AC Disconnect and to tie the system into the grid. It should be any day now.