So my neighbours got some solar panels installed...

Acetamide@lemmy.world to Mildly Infuriating@lemmy.world – 91 points –

I'm a big fan of solar panels but the alignment could've been better!

36

Why is that mildly infuriating?

if I had to guess, probably the lack of proper alignment.

Ohhhhh..... I thought it was going to be the chimneys apparently held in place with duct tape.

I think it's lead cladding.

It’s lead flashing which I think is used to protect the joint between the chimney and the roof.

Haha, very well may be. I know nothing about that stuff. I guess I should have said "appears to be duct tape". Blowing the picture up it is definitely not that. It's definitely metal flashing of some sort.

Yeah I'm not exactly a roof/chimney sealing method aficionado either lol. Could be some nonsense my brain threw up.

Based on the comment with the image, the alignment of those top two panels compared to everything else being uniform.

you cant go any closer to the skylight or you're gonna punch holes in the flashing and it will leak.

But they did on the other side? And holes are holes (he said) so all of them need to be sealed.

They usually attach a steel structure to the outside of the roof, then they attach the panels to those.

That should give them all the freedom they need to put the panels wherever looks good.

i just watched this post get: 1.65k, then 1.5k, then 24, then 5, then 64, and now 5 upvotes... how?

It does like a little annoying, but since I'm not a roofer or solar panel installer I feel like there's probably a reason for this that I don't know.

There is. They have to be installed on the rafters/trusses and the skylight is in the way of being able to put them all on the same rafter/truss.

They’re usually 16 inches in center so moving over one rafter would put that row off by 16 inches. They probably have the panel installed as far to the end of the support track that they can so it’s only a little bit off instead of a full 16 inches.

I’d it really not equidistant on both sides of the skylight? < twitch >

hell, i think it's cool. maybe the upper left set of squares could move right a couple inches, but they look good!

Could be a few things, but I think the main cause is because they don't want the solar panels to be seen from the inside skywindow.

Installing most anything on a tiled roof can lead to nightmares.

I’d like to believe that we are in a transitional period with solar panels, and soon it will be more common for them to just be an integral part of the roof. However I don’t see much uptake for the companies that have tried offering such products. Has anyone seen a house with integrated panels?

Not gonna happen, house are insanely cheaply built these days.