Solar on Tile Roofs, Done Right

Concrete tile is one of the most common roof types in Southern California, and one of the easiest to damage with sloppy solar work. Cracked tiles, smeared mastic over drill holes, and attachments screwed into battens instead of rafters are all things we've seen on service calls for other companies' installs.

What correct looks like

Proper tile-roof attachment lifts the tile at each mounting point and fastens a stainless tile hook — with structural lag screws, embedded into the rafter itself, never sheathing alone. The penetration through the underlayment gets flashed and sealed watertight, the tile is relieved or replaced with a flashed tile-replacement plate, and no cracked tile is ever left in place. Attachment spacing follows the racking manufacturer's engineering tables, staggered across rafters to distribute load.

The racking matters too

We install engineered rail systems from IronRidge, with structural-bonded splices and integrated grounding. The rail is what turns dozens of individual attachments into a single engineered structure rated for real wind and seismic loads — and it's why a proper install carries a stamped structural letter, not just a shrug.

Questions worth asking any installer

Where do your fasteners land — rafter or sheathing? What happens to a tile that cracks during install? Is every penetration double-flashed? Is the attachment layout backed by engineering tables and a PE letter? Clear answers to those four questions separate a 25-year roof from a slow leak.