Chatsworth, CA · December 2025 – February 2026 · LADWP / LADBS

The tile came off. The tile went back on.

An 11.13 kilowatt DC system on a Chatsworth house with an S-profile clay tile roof. Under the array the tile came off for good. Around the array it went back exactly where it was.

Mounting an array on clay tile and mounting it on composition shingle are different jobs. On this roof the tile was replaced with composition shingle across the working area, the array was set inside that new field and the original tile was reinstated around it, so the attachment sits on shingle and the house still reads as a tile roof.

At a glance

DC System

11.13 kW

AC System

10.30 kW

Modules

25 × 445 W

Inverters

25 × Enphase IQ8A

Roof

S clay tile + composition shingle

Service

225 A busbar, 200 A breaker

Roof coverage

13.6%

Utility / AHJ

LADWP / LADBS

The story

The house is one story with an S-profile clay tile roof, and twenty-five modules had to go on it. That is where the first real decision on this project was made, and it was made before anything was ordered.

Clay tile can be worked with. Tiles come up, mounts go onto the rafters, tiles go back over the mounts, and the array sits above a roof that is still tile. It is slower, it is more fragile, and every tile that cracks is a tile that has to be matched.

What was done here instead: strip the tile and the underlayment from the working area of the roof, lay new synthetic underlayment and composition shingle across it, mount the array to the shingle, and reinstate the existing tile around the solar system. The roofing scope came to seventeen squares — a shingle field considerably larger than the 538 square feet the array itself covers, so the array sits well inside it rather than at its edges. The tile that came off and was not needed stayed with the owner.

The part that decides whether this looks deliberate or looks like a repair is the color. The shingle was chosen from what the supplier had in stock in a cool-roof approved line, in a shade picked to sit against the tile rather than fight it, with a brown drip edge rather than a white or charcoal one.

Before any of that could start, the permit stalled on something more basic: the address itself had to be verified before the department would issue anything. The quickest route was an over-the-counter plan check in person, so that is what was booked. With the address settled, the solar permit came through as an express permit the same day the drawings did.

The system on the finished roof is twenty-five Canadian Solar 445-watt modules on twenty-five Enphase IQ8A microinverters — 11.13 kilowatts DC, 10.30 AC — split across three groups at 23 degrees: seventeen modules facing 205 degrees, four more on the same heading, and four facing 115 degrees. The array covers 538 square feet of a 3,965-square-foot roof.

The service did not need replacing. The existing panel has a 225-amp busbar with a 200-amp main breaker, which left room for the solar circuit without derating or an upgrade.

Contract on the second of January, drawings and interconnection application on the sixth, material on site on the fifteenth, roofing, then the array. Final inspection on the twenty-seventh, building department release on the third of February, net meter on the eighteenth.

How it ran

The calendar runs from the interconnection application to the net meter and covers permitting, roofing, installation, inspection and utility processing rather than time spent on the roof alone.

What we did

• Established that the address had to be verified before a permit could issue, and booked an over-the-counter plan check to clear it.
• Stripped tile and underlayment from seventeen squares of the roof and laid synthetic underlayment and composition shingle across it (B scope).
• Matched the shingle color to the existing tile from a cool-roof approved line.
• Reinstated the original clay tile around the new shingle field and left the surplus tile with the owner.
• Installed twenty-five modules in three groups across two azimuths.
• Confirmed in writing that the roof penetrations are covered by our workmanship warranty.
• Carried the project through final inspection and building department release to the net meter.

System specifications

Is your project like this one?

• Your roof is clay or concrete tile and you have been quoted for solar on it.
• You want the array mounted on shingle but the house to still look like a tile roof.
• You are worried about what happens to tiles that break during the work.
• You want the roofing and the solar on one contract rather than two.
• Your Chatsworth property is served by LADWP, while permits are handled by LADBS.

Cali Energy in Chatsworth

Frequently asked questions

Can solar be mounted directly on a clay tile roof?

It can — tiles are lifted, mounts go to the rafters and the tiles go back over them. On this project we did something different: tile and underlayment were removed across a larger roofing field, composition shingle was installed, and the 538-square-foot array was positioned inside that new field, with the original tile reinstated around it. Which approach suits a roof depends on the tile profile, its condition and how much of the roof the array will cover.

What happens to the tile that comes off?

On this roof seventeen squares came off. What was needed to reinstate the border went back on; the surplus stayed with the owner rather than going in the dumpster. Keeping matching tile on the property is worth doing — matching an S-profile tile years later is not always possible.

Does the new shingle have to match the tile?

Nothing requires it, but it decides how the roof reads from the ground. Here the shingle was chosen in stock from a cool-roof approved line in a shade that sits against the tile, with a brown drip edge. That is a five-minute conversation at ordering time and it is visible for the life of the roof.

Does Cali Energy do roofing and solar together in Chatsworth?

Yes. Cali Energy holds B, C-10 and C-39 classifications under CSLB #1032379, which lets us coordinate the roofing, solar and electrical scope under one contractor rather than three. Chatsworth is inside City of Los Angeles boundaries, so permits run through LADBS and interconnection through LADWP.

What this would look like on your roof

Related

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• Two houses. One builder. Two years apart Sherman Oaks, CA · new builds · 400 A solar-ready service Solar

This timeline reflects this property and this permitting path. Updated September 2026.