OP
wstevew
Times approx.
07:45 arrived and explained he was off to get some tiles.
10:50
I get a call he is at a reclamation yard in Chelmsford, They don't make the same tiles any more, there is a v2 of the tile but the nibs that hold on to the batten are in a different place, if they used them they would have to grind off the nibs and drill and screw them to fit them. He found some of the same tile in a different lighter colour and can use them, he will remove tiles under the array to replace broken tiles and put the ones of the wrong colour under the array.
12:50 arrives with tiles (the lighter colour ones) he explains again he will put them under the panels and use the ones he removes where they can be seen.
13:00 I went through all the problems with him, showed him the pics Earthstore posted of the brackets ground out "Make them look as close as possible to this please". I had only taken the morning off so I had to go to work.
16:15 Im at work, feed in stopped, Inverter still on, they disconnected DC on the roof (not sure if that is bad or not).
17:30 I arrive home wondering what I am going to find. All panels off on their side on the scaffold, rails still on the roof, they are moving tiles. I go in and turn off the AC Isolator.
So I go up the ladder and...
They had replaced the broken gutter bracket.
He explained to me that lots of tiles have had the grooved side overlap bit (not sure what that is called) broken off and far enough to be past the tile overlap, so they had to remove them and replace with the lighter ones. In total they removed roughly 30 ish tiles including some the badly ground ones. worst thing is this was not that obvious they were broken, he said that some of them had been like that a while and others looked more freshly broken.
some of them badly ground tiles were so bad he showed me by tapping his drill driver on the top and it made a hole and went through. so you guys were spot on about them taking out too much.
He had to leave a few of the ground out tiles that were not cut close to the brackets but were the best of them to use tiles elsewhere to keep things watertight due to the broken overlaps.
At this point he said he is really sorry but it looks like it will be a late one, do I mind. A good sign because he was more interested about getting it done right than leaving.
They got tiles moved from under the array to replace broken ones and badly ground ones sorted out the wonky bracket (there was brick from a wall next to the joist the bracket was resting on causing it to lay sideways, he showed me and adjusted it straight).
While up there I took a look at the rails (rails and brackets are Wuerth, brackets are 2 piece a plate the bracket bolts on to) I asked him about the joins on the rails some of the joining pieces were exposed 2.5 to 3 inches. He said no should only see 10mm of joining piece and he is going to replace sections of rail which he did. I had a look before the panels went back on and all the rail joins were butted up to the rivet in the joining piece.
I went back up as they were refitting the west array and asked them to please keep the cables off the roof, he said its difficult when landscape and but done it as he went along the roof.
After refitting all the panels clamps etc. They cleaned up the scaffold, washed both arrays to get all the grindings/dirt off them, cleaned off the windowsil's below to get all the dust off. took away the broken tiles.
22:20 They Leave
I think it is better from what I have seen, although dark by the time it is all back together. The tiles that are re-ground look to be closer to the sides of the brackets. a few of them are as they were (The better ones of the bunch) and I think this is because they ran out of tiles due to replacing so many.
I cant say if everything is working OK as by the time it is all back together it is dark.
Overall they seemed to have much more care and attention to what they were doing, and worked a long day.
Looking back at last weeks shenanigans
Monday they started about 7:30 and finished around 14:15 to move the rails
Tuesday they removed the panels ground the tiles and refitted between 07:30 to 9:30
07:45 arrived and explained he was off to get some tiles.
10:50
I get a call he is at a reclamation yard in Chelmsford, They don't make the same tiles any more, there is a v2 of the tile but the nibs that hold on to the batten are in a different place, if they used them they would have to grind off the nibs and drill and screw them to fit them. He found some of the same tile in a different lighter colour and can use them, he will remove tiles under the array to replace broken tiles and put the ones of the wrong colour under the array.
12:50 arrives with tiles (the lighter colour ones) he explains again he will put them under the panels and use the ones he removes where they can be seen.
13:00 I went through all the problems with him, showed him the pics Earthstore posted of the brackets ground out "Make them look as close as possible to this please". I had only taken the morning off so I had to go to work.
16:15 Im at work, feed in stopped, Inverter still on, they disconnected DC on the roof (not sure if that is bad or not).
17:30 I arrive home wondering what I am going to find. All panels off on their side on the scaffold, rails still on the roof, they are moving tiles. I go in and turn off the AC Isolator.
So I go up the ladder and...
They had replaced the broken gutter bracket.
He explained to me that lots of tiles have had the grooved side overlap bit (not sure what that is called) broken off and far enough to be past the tile overlap, so they had to remove them and replace with the lighter ones. In total they removed roughly 30 ish tiles including some the badly ground ones. worst thing is this was not that obvious they were broken, he said that some of them had been like that a while and others looked more freshly broken.
some of them badly ground tiles were so bad he showed me by tapping his drill driver on the top and it made a hole and went through. so you guys were spot on about them taking out too much.
He had to leave a few of the ground out tiles that were not cut close to the brackets but were the best of them to use tiles elsewhere to keep things watertight due to the broken overlaps.
At this point he said he is really sorry but it looks like it will be a late one, do I mind. A good sign because he was more interested about getting it done right than leaving.
They got tiles moved from under the array to replace broken ones and badly ground ones sorted out the wonky bracket (there was brick from a wall next to the joist the bracket was resting on causing it to lay sideways, he showed me and adjusted it straight).
While up there I took a look at the rails (rails and brackets are Wuerth, brackets are 2 piece a plate the bracket bolts on to) I asked him about the joins on the rails some of the joining pieces were exposed 2.5 to 3 inches. He said no should only see 10mm of joining piece and he is going to replace sections of rail which he did. I had a look before the panels went back on and all the rail joins were butted up to the rivet in the joining piece.
I went back up as they were refitting the west array and asked them to please keep the cables off the roof, he said its difficult when landscape and but done it as he went along the roof.
After refitting all the panels clamps etc. They cleaned up the scaffold, washed both arrays to get all the grindings/dirt off them, cleaned off the windowsil's below to get all the dust off. took away the broken tiles.
22:20 They Leave
I think it is better from what I have seen, although dark by the time it is all back together. The tiles that are re-ground look to be closer to the sides of the brackets. a few of them are as they were (The better ones of the bunch) and I think this is because they ran out of tiles due to replacing so many.
I cant say if everything is working OK as by the time it is all back together it is dark.
Overall they seemed to have much more care and attention to what they were doing, and worked a long day.
Looking back at last weeks shenanigans
Monday they started about 7:30 and finished around 14:15 to move the rails
Tuesday they removed the panels ground the tiles and refitted between 07:30 to 9:30
