The primary reason behind removing the Spanish Tile from under the solar installation is weight.
Old Spanish Tiles can weight up to 14 lbs per square foot.
The other reason to insure that we have a 100% waterproof installation.
The feet are installed by a licensed roofer on all of our retrofit solar installations.
The feet are mounted to house a solar rail which will then house the solar electric panels.
The feet allow 2' of over run on the ends and 4' to 6' for the entire row span.

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Using standard roofing penetration waterproofing materials, which includes "Henry's" and tacky tape. Waterproofing is also achieved by the laying of the composition roofing material.

Once the rafters and the layout of the feet are determined we will drill feeder holes to make bolting the feet to the rafter smoother, safer and stronger. 5/16" by 3" lag screws are used per mounting foot.

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The solar rails are laid along the solar mounts to check for distance.
The number of solar panels is calculated by width or height depending on if your installation is portrait or landscape. For example, we consider the Mitsubishi Solar 185 watt panel to be 33" by 66", which is slightly bigger than their actual size to account for mounting parts.
The rails are then drilled above each solar mount and then attached with washer and bolt.

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As we attach the solar panels to the rails the panels are wired in series to increase their voltage.
On this installation we have 22 panels separated into two strings of 11 panels each.
The two strings are then paralleled and wired to the DC/AC Grid-Tie inverter.

Mehlberg Solar Estate - Palos Verdes Estates, California

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