I work from home, so it is very handy when we need to have a workman or someone round to the house during the day. I don't need to take any time off work, I'm around if they need something, and for the most part I go back to my home office and work as usual. So, when we scheduled the installation of PV panels on our roof I didn't really think about it. They said it would take 2 and a half days, so it didn't seem like a problem, all I had to do was let the installers know we had cats so they closed the doors when they came in and out.
On Day 1 three vans arrived at the house and I think about 5 guys...I'm not really sure. They needed access to the attic to attach the panels, but also access to the basement where the inverter and hook up to our electricity box thingy. Two ladders came off the vans and were propped against the house and most of the men went on the roof. Then the hammering and drilling started. My office is upstairs just off the master bedroom, so I was pretty close to all the hammering, and I can tell you it was very loud. The sound filled the attic and it seemed as if all 5 men where hammering and drilling holes right above my head - I was convinced I was going to see a hole in my office ceiling. I checked the roof at lunch time and all I could see were little brackets all over the south facing side. That was a lot of hammering for some tiny brackets.
After lunch the noise continued and the cats spent most of the day under the bed. Butch took it pretty hard and never left the bedroom all day. Ella didn't like the noise but it didn't seem to freak her out as much as it did Butch. She ventured out of the bedroom to see if any of the nice men would rub her tummy, when they ignored her and kept working she came back and took advantage of the bed that was unusually Butch-free.
Day one ended with all brackets attached to the 3 areas of our south facing roof. It was great to see the progress and the fact that the main attachments were installed. May be the next day wouldn't be quite as noisy, I had a few conference calls lined up and I really didn't want the noise to be heard; I pride myself if being able to do anything work related from my home office rather than a company office.
On Day 2 three vans arrived at the house and I think about 5 guys...I'm not really sure. The men went on the roof and started making the same noise they'd made the day before. The cats freaked out again and I got lucky as my conference calls were at times when they weren't trying to break into the house via the roof. The men also started using the garage as a staging area for constructing the rails to hold the PV panels. They also put all 18 panels in the garage too. It was very exciting to finally see the "actual" panels. Unfortunately no panels were on the roof by the end of day two, on the bright side all the rails to hold the panels had been attached to the brackets on the roof....hang on a minute...didn't they say the whole installation would take two and a half days? May be they can get all the panels installed the next day.
On Day 3 three vans arrived at the house and I think about 5 guys...I'm not really sure. Unlike the previous two days the weather had changed from a brisk April day in Colorado to a snowy day in Colorado. We had 3 inches of snow in the back yard, on the grass and, ahem, on the roof! As before, two ladders came off the vans and were propped against the house and most of the men went on the roof. It was at that point the other homeowner started to worry about liability and what happens if one of the men slides off the roof. The men went for breakfast and we called the company and eventually got through to their attorney who was able to direct us to the appropriate paragraph in our contract. Nevertheless, the men should be using harnesses and be attached to the roof on a day when it's probably quite slippy up there, so we mentioned that. The guys came back with ropes and harnesses, the two ladders were propped against the house and most of the men went on the roof. By now it was mid morning and it was very evident that the panels wouldn't be on the roof by noon. On the bight side, it turned into a beautiful sunny Colorado day and most of the snow melted off the roof by lunch time.
The noise was the same as the two previous days with a little more drilling so the wires from the 3 areas of the roof could be connected and run down to the basement to the inverter. There were men in the attic, on the roof and in the basement. Both cats were freaked out and were once again prisoners in the bedroom. The drilling seemed to scare Butch more than the hammering, or may be it was just the change in the noise.
He jumped on my desk and tried to hide behind my laptop and monitor, looking scared and totally freaked out I put a basket on it's side so he could hide and sit close to me. We both looked at the ceiling when the noise seemed to get closer, but eventually it stopped and the men left for the day.
Day three was not as productive because of the snow, so not all the panels were installed on the roof. I believe a lot of the wiring and inside work was done, so we had hope that there was not too much more to be done.
On Day 4 three vans arrived at the house and I think about 5 guys...I'm not really sure. The panels were all secured onto the roof by lunchtime. The rest of the day was spent finalizing the wiring and making sure all the equipment was installed in the basement and working.
The cats were beginning to look like they thought all this noise and people running around the house was going to be the new normal. I have to say, by day 4 I was over it too. The men were all very nice and polite, but I was ready to get my house back to normal sound levels. Day 4 was a long day and went beyond the normal 4:30 pm finish, luckily a friend called and I spent 2 hours chatting and drinking wine. The weather was nice and I sat outside for most of the call, something I hadn't been able to do because of the noise and I felt a little self-conscious out there with 5 men looking down. By 7 pm the last man was packing up, shaking our hands and preparing us for the next part of the process.
We were provided with a plug thingy that apparently monitors our solar power generated and hooks up to the Internet so we can see power usage from the grid against what we generate. We were also told that before we could turn our panels on we needed to get the City to certify the work, and then have our energy provider connect our solar system to theirs so we can sell back any unused solar power.
I seriously think in the hot Summer months and cold Winter months we will use all our power generated and more, so we won't be selling anything back to the energy company. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
After lunch the noise continued and the cats spent most of the day under the bed. Butch took it pretty hard and never left the bedroom all day. Ella didn't like the noise but it didn't seem to freak her out as much as it did Butch. She ventured out of the bedroom to see if any of the nice men would rub her tummy, when they ignored her and kept working she came back and took advantage of the bed that was unusually Butch-free.
On Day 2 three vans arrived at the house and I think about 5 guys...I'm not really sure. The men went on the roof and started making the same noise they'd made the day before. The cats freaked out again and I got lucky as my conference calls were at times when they weren't trying to break into the house via the roof. The men also started using the garage as a staging area for constructing the rails to hold the PV panels. They also put all 18 panels in the garage too. It was very exciting to finally see the "actual" panels. Unfortunately no panels were on the roof by the end of day two, on the bright side all the rails to hold the panels had been attached to the brackets on the roof....hang on a minute...didn't they say the whole installation would take two and a half days? May be they can get all the panels installed the next day.
