I must admit, getting these guys installed securely and leak-free was the single most worrisome and scariest part of my DIY install. I had no concerns over any electrical, panel mounting, conduit bending, code compliance, etc., but getting my mounts installed where I don't create a roof leak KEPT ME AWAKE on more than one night.
There's literally 2 videos on youtube, one from manufacturer and one from a DIYer, showing these getting installed, and very little text anywhere demonstrating the installation of these. As such, I want to share my experience with these.
Below are the general instructions I followed for each mount. I ended up buying one of the D-Tect 150 scanners, though somewhat quickly realized that it's just as easy to use the "hammer and listen" method.
1) Measure X number of inches from last mount (24, 48, 72", since I have 24" OC trusses) or just start with roughly where the first mount needs to be.
2) Use a hammer to sound-out where the truss is. I've found this method to basically be the most accurate, even better than using the D-tect 150.
3) Drill a small hole (I used smallest bit I had, like 1/8" or something) to see if you're right, if there's a truss there.
4) If you hit truss, skip to step 7.
5) If you missed, which you can tell because your bit will drill through the shingle, sheathing, then nice open air, then take a bent clothes hanger wire, stick in the hole, and turn it left or right. If you were close, you'll hit the truss with the wire turned either left or right, and can get an idea of how far away you are. Take your estimate of how far away you are and add 3/4" to get to the truss center(-ish).
6) Drill again with small bit and see if you've hit. Go back to step 5 if you missed again (I've only missed twice on one mount, my small holes ended up on both sides of the truss)
7) Drill the 1/4" hole needed by the mount. At this point, it's possible that when this gets drilled, you were too close to the edge of the truss, and the bit will break-out from the left or right side. If this is the case, then you need to move more centered to the truss, and also move slightly up or down the truss.
8) Take your flat roofing bar, with built-in nail pullers, and start gently separating the shingle above your hole (or below it if the hole is near the bottom of the shingle), shove the mount's flashing under the separated shingle and see if you hit any nails. If so, either pry them up, separate shingle above, and use nail pull to rip it out, or... just pry it up, hammer down, pry up, until the nail pulls through that shingle. When that happens, you can slide the mount's flashing OVER this nail. I like doing that better since I don't have to separate the shingles on the next row up, and it's generally faster.
9) Once you can get the mount fully inserted under the shingle, fill in all holes with sealant, including your "real" one. Then, put a half-circle line of sealant above the hole so that if water does somehow reach that hole (under the mount's flashing) then it will get pushed to the side and run down the roof. Also, if your hole was near the bottom of the shingle, then you should have slid the mount under THAT shingle, instead of the one above, then use shears to cut a path into that shingle so that the mount will go under it (I'll put up a pic of this).
10) Slide the mount in place, line it up with horizontal and vertical marks you made around the hole. Then, use your clothes hanger wire to locate the drilled hole through the mount's hole. I added this step because I noticed on some mounts I had done before, I had thought the mount's hole lined up with the hole I drilled, and I started gently screwing the lag bolt down by hand. However, something didn't feel right and I removed the mount, and noticed that the lag bolt was cutting its own new hole in the shingles, missing the pilot hole I had drilled. Using a clothes hanger wire to ensure mount-to-hole alignment before even hand screwing the bolt down guarantees you don't miss your intended pilot hole.
11) Drill the lag bolt down, and screw on the mounting cap! That's it.
There's two general mounting positions for these, fully over the drilled shingle, or partway under the next shingle up. See the two picture attachments for examples. The partway up method takes a little longer since you have to cut a halfcircle out of the next shingle up, but in my opinion is safer against leaks. It would take a significant upward (up the roof I mean) wind-driven rain to get water to the drill hole. Whereas, with the other method, a nice sideways wind-driven rain would do it, which would seem more likely to me. Though, I have a nice 60/40 mix of both, about 60% using the method that doesn't require shingle cutting.
One additional note, I did not use the same trusses in vertical columns for every row, as it seems most installers probably do. I alternated evenly between rows, thus spreading the load from 1/3 of my trusses to all 3/3rd of them.
What I mean is, I didn't mount these like this:
---X--------X--------X--------X---
---X--------X--------X--------X---
I mounted like this:
---X--------X--------X--------X---
-X--------X--------X--------X---X
X--------X--------X--------X--X--
----X--------X--------X--------X--
Anyway, you get the idea. You'll see what I mean in one of the photos.
There's literally 2 videos on youtube, one from manufacturer and one from a DIYer, showing these getting installed, and very little text anywhere demonstrating the installation of these. As such, I want to share my experience with these.
Below are the general instructions I followed for each mount. I ended up buying one of the D-Tect 150 scanners, though somewhat quickly realized that it's just as easy to use the "hammer and listen" method.
1) Measure X number of inches from last mount (24, 48, 72", since I have 24" OC trusses) or just start with roughly where the first mount needs to be.
2) Use a hammer to sound-out where the truss is. I've found this method to basically be the most accurate, even better than using the D-tect 150.
3) Drill a small hole (I used smallest bit I had, like 1/8" or something) to see if you're right, if there's a truss there.
4) If you hit truss, skip to step 7.
5) If you missed, which you can tell because your bit will drill through the shingle, sheathing, then nice open air, then take a bent clothes hanger wire, stick in the hole, and turn it left or right. If you were close, you'll hit the truss with the wire turned either left or right, and can get an idea of how far away you are. Take your estimate of how far away you are and add 3/4" to get to the truss center(-ish).
6) Drill again with small bit and see if you've hit. Go back to step 5 if you missed again (I've only missed twice on one mount, my small holes ended up on both sides of the truss)
7) Drill the 1/4" hole needed by the mount. At this point, it's possible that when this gets drilled, you were too close to the edge of the truss, and the bit will break-out from the left or right side. If this is the case, then you need to move more centered to the truss, and also move slightly up or down the truss.
8) Take your flat roofing bar, with built-in nail pullers, and start gently separating the shingle above your hole (or below it if the hole is near the bottom of the shingle), shove the mount's flashing under the separated shingle and see if you hit any nails. If so, either pry them up, separate shingle above, and use nail pull to rip it out, or... just pry it up, hammer down, pry up, until the nail pulls through that shingle. When that happens, you can slide the mount's flashing OVER this nail. I like doing that better since I don't have to separate the shingles on the next row up, and it's generally faster.
9) Once you can get the mount fully inserted under the shingle, fill in all holes with sealant, including your "real" one. Then, put a half-circle line of sealant above the hole so that if water does somehow reach that hole (under the mount's flashing) then it will get pushed to the side and run down the roof. Also, if your hole was near the bottom of the shingle, then you should have slid the mount under THAT shingle, instead of the one above, then use shears to cut a path into that shingle so that the mount will go under it (I'll put up a pic of this).
10) Slide the mount in place, line it up with horizontal and vertical marks you made around the hole. Then, use your clothes hanger wire to locate the drilled hole through the mount's hole. I added this step because I noticed on some mounts I had done before, I had thought the mount's hole lined up with the hole I drilled, and I started gently screwing the lag bolt down by hand. However, something didn't feel right and I removed the mount, and noticed that the lag bolt was cutting its own new hole in the shingles, missing the pilot hole I had drilled. Using a clothes hanger wire to ensure mount-to-hole alignment before even hand screwing the bolt down guarantees you don't miss your intended pilot hole.
11) Drill the lag bolt down, and screw on the mounting cap! That's it.
There's two general mounting positions for these, fully over the drilled shingle, or partway under the next shingle up. See the two picture attachments for examples. The partway up method takes a little longer since you have to cut a halfcircle out of the next shingle up, but in my opinion is safer against leaks. It would take a significant upward (up the roof I mean) wind-driven rain to get water to the drill hole. Whereas, with the other method, a nice sideways wind-driven rain would do it, which would seem more likely to me. Though, I have a nice 60/40 mix of both, about 60% using the method that doesn't require shingle cutting.
One additional note, I did not use the same trusses in vertical columns for every row, as it seems most installers probably do. I alternated evenly between rows, thus spreading the load from 1/3 of my trusses to all 3/3rd of them.
What I mean is, I didn't mount these like this:
---X--------X--------X--------X---
---X--------X--------X--------X---
I mounted like this:
---X--------X--------X--------X---
-X--------X--------X--------X---X
X--------X--------X--------X--X--
----X--------X--------X--------X--
Anyway, you get the idea. You'll see what I mean in one of the photos.
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