Looking for feedback from homeowners of solar panels on roofs

[russ]

Actually clay tiles are really a second rate product - over years they degrade. Cement tiles are far better.

[Volusiano]

Huh, interesting. Here the second layer is usually only the "steam" foil to let the steam and moisture from inside the house out,but not the other way around.
What is the point of having roof then? To have a shade?

How can you be developing a roof tile if you don't know what the underlayment does? There are many components to roofing. The board to provide backing, the underlayment to keep the water out if the primary roofing material (either shingles or tiles) fails to keep the water out.

So the point of the outer most layer (shingle or tile) is to provide primary protection against rain, but more importantly, against the sun. But if a shingle or several shingles get loose and blown off in a storm, or if a tile or several tiles get damages (cracked or dislocated for some reason), the underlayment is the next layer of protection to keep water out from entering the home. And finally, the baseboard is the backing for the underlayment.

Even if the shingles or tiles are not damaged, they only cascade water down, but they're not entirely water proof. There may be cracks and crevices at the ridge or places around the roof that can cause moisture to seep under the shingles or tiles. Without the underlayment, this moisture will find its way into your ceiling easily.

The tiles are not sealed. They have around 8cm of double coverage, and they are at an angle, so the water drips down. To be clear, the styleTILE is not to be used on roofs with less then 15° angle.

From the picture, your tile is the ONLY layer between the open sky and the inside of the house. There's no board to provide backing, no underlayment for secondary protection. What happens if one or several styleTILEs are damaged/broken? How are you going to keep the water out then without any secondary layer of protection?

[russ]

I expect that actually the picture shown is a photo shop job.

[SunEagle]

Something is wrong. I have started receiving "Reply to thread"s from things I read a week
ago. Bruce Roe

Yeah. I have been in discussion about this with russ. I was not getting any emails with respect to my reply's to threads for a few days and now I am getting all of them days later. Some type of log jam or issue with the Web Server I would think.

[sumoborac]

I expect that actually the picture shown is a photo shop job.

Uf... that one is low. Only photoshop that picture has had was "color level" correction. Everything else is original.

How can you be developing a roof tile if you don't know what the underlayment does? There are many components to roofing. The board to provide backing, the underlayment to keep the water out if the primary roofing material (either shingles or tiles) fails to keep the water out.

So the point of the outer most layer (shingle or tile) is to provide primary protection against rain, but more importantly, against the sun. But if a shingle or several shingles get loose and blown off in a storm, or if a tile or several tiles get damages (cracked or dislocated for some reason), the underlayment is the next layer of protection to keep water out from entering the home. And finally, the baseboard is the backing for the underlayment.

Even if the shingles or tiles are not damaged, they only cascade water down, but they're not entirely water proof. There may be cracks and crevices at the ridge or places around the roof that can cause moisture to seep under the shingles or tiles. Without the underlayment, this moisture will find its way into your ceiling easily.

To be honest, I have no idea what the underlayment is (at least in english). I do know how the roofs are done around here.

In our case, we didn't need any "underlayment" because there is a subroof which is a concrete plate so even in case of "water" there is no need for panic.

Gregor

[Volusiano]

In our case, we didn't need any "underlayment" because there is a subroof which is a concrete plate so even in case of "water" there is no need for panic.

Gregor

The underlayment is just a soft non-permeable layer. It's not a hard subroof.

You're assuming that your tile can never be damaged so you don't need any backup protection. That is a flawed assumption. I would never use such a roof system where there is no backup protection in case of tile failure. Even concrete tile is not invincible and can break and fail.

[SunEagle]

The underlayment is just a soft non-permeable layer. It's not a hard subroof.

You're assuming that your tile can never be damaged so you don't need any backup protection. That is a flawed assumption. I would never use such a roof system where there is no backup protection in case of tile failure. Even concrete tile is not invincible and can break and fail.

I agree. His tiles look like something that would work as the roof of an open shed or trellis. It would provide shade and some protection from rain. Not something I would install as a roof for my house.

[jam583]

I applaud you for your effort and best wishes as you continue to evolve the technology. Having started many companies, I know how discouraging feedback can be, even though it's important, keep your head up and keep doing what you are doing. This entire industry needs product development, so thank you.

[inetdog]

I agree. His tiles look like something that would work as the roof of an open shed or trellis. It would provide shade and some protection from rain. Not something I would install as a roof for my house.

You would if the roof substructure were nominally-waterproof concrete and the roof tiles are mostly decorative, in addition to providing some weather protection to keep the concrete roof from absorbing too much water or being damaged by freezing of absorbed water.