Echo Park, CA · April 2021 – April 2022 · LADWP / LADBS

Echo Park: when a leak appears after the install.

Twenty-seven days from application to permission to operate. Then a winter, and the question of who opens the roof.

Written by the Cali Energy project team · California contractor license 1032379 · Updated September 2026

A low-slope roof section takes foot traffic badly, and a solar crew working on the pitched part of a roof usually crosses it. When a leak appears under that section the following winter, what decides the outcome is how fast somebody gets on the roof and whether they open it or patch it. On this 5.5 kW project in Echo Park, Los Angeles, Cali Energy sent a roofer within three days of the report, tore the section off so the deck underneath could be inspected, and rebuilt it at our own cost.

At a glance

System

5.5 kW AC-CEC

Filing to permission to operate

Twenty-seven days

Meter spot

Accepted by virtual inspection

Reported

Ceiling bubbling under the low-slope section

Outcome

Section torn off and rebuilt, at our cost

Utility / AHJ

LADWP / LADBS

The story

The interconnection went about as well as an interconnection goes. The request was acknowledged on the twenty-third of April. The meter spot was accepted four days later by virtual inspection rather than a site visit, which is the single thing that most often decides whether this stage takes days or weeks. Four progress notices landed together on the twenty-eighth, the installation was approved on the eighth of May, and permission to operate came on the twentieth.

Twenty-seven days from application to a system allowed to run.

Eleven months later the owner sent a photograph of his kitchen ceiling. It was bubbling, and it had been leaking during the rain. The bubbling ran in a line underneath the flat part of the roof — the part the crew had crossed to reach the pitched section where the array went.

There is a version of this conversation where a contractor starts by explaining why it cannot be the solar. Sometimes that is even true; a roof that has been dry for twenty years and wet since the panels went on is not proof of anything by itself. But a low-slope section takes foot traffic badly, a crew crossed it, and the bubbling is under the crossing. That is enough to send a roofer rather than an explanation.

A roofer went out the following Saturday to look. Not to quote — to look.

What came back was the choice that matters on a low-slope roof. The cheap answer is to patch the penetrations and see whether it stops. The owner's worry, and it is a reasonable one, was what the deck under that section looked like after a winter of getting wet — whether it was sound, damp or already going.

The only way to answer that is to take the section off and look, and once it is off, you are rebuilding it rather than patching it. That is several times the cost of two patches and it is the only version that answers the question.

We took the second option and covered the work. Not half of it, which was where the conversation started, and not on condition of anything. The section came off, what was underneath was inspected, and it was rebuilt with the shingle matched to the existing roof.

The reasoning is not complicated. The alternative — a patch that holds through one dry season and fails in the next — leaves an owner with a wet deck, an array on top of it and a company that has already declared the matter closed. That is a worse outcome for everybody, and it arrives eighteen months later when it is far more expensive to fix.

Two things worth taking from it if this is happening to you. Photograph it while it is wet, because bubbling in a dry ceiling tells a roofer much less than the same ceiling during rain. And ask for the roof to be opened rather than patched if the leak has been running through a season — a patch closes the hole, but it tells nobody what the deck underneath has been doing.

Cali Energy installed this 5.5 kW array in Echo Park, Los Angeles, and rebuilt the roof section a year later at our own cost.

How it ran

Twenty-seven days to switch-on and eleven months to the part that actually tested the relationship.

What we did

• Filed and closed the interconnection inside twenty-seven days.
• Used a virtual meter spot inspection rather than waiting on a site visit.
• Sent a roofer to examine within three days of the photograph.
• Opened the section rather than patching it, so the deck could be inspected.
• Covered the rebuild in full and matched the shingle to the existing roof.

System specifications

Is your project like this one?

• Your ceiling has started bubbling under a roof somebody worked on.
• A contractor has offered to patch a leak you think is bigger than a patch.
• Your roof is part pitched and part flat and a crew crossed the flat part.
• You want to know what happens after the installer has been paid.

Cali Energy in Echo Park

Frequently asked questions

A leak appeared after my solar was installed. Is it the solar?

Not necessarily, and the only way to find out is to have somebody on the roof. What does point at the work is the location: a low-slope section takes foot traffic badly, and a crew usually crosses it to reach the pitched roof. If the bubbling is under the crossing, the starting position should be that it may well be the installer's.

Should a leak like that be patched or opened up?

If it has been running through a season, opened up. A patch closes the hole and tells nobody what the deck underneath has been doing for the past few months. Taking the section off answers that question, and once it is off the work is a rebuild rather than a repair — which is more expensive and is the only version that settles it.

What is a virtual meter spot inspection?

The utility accepting the meter location from photographs and a video call rather than sending somebody out. It removes a site visit from the schedule and, on this Echo Park project, is the main reason the interconnection closed in twenty-seven days rather than the usual several weeks.

Does Cali Energy handle roof problems in Echo Park, Los Angeles?

On this Echo Park project, eleven months later, for a leak that may have been ours. A roofer attended within three days, the section was torn off and rebuilt rather than patched, and the owner paid nothing. Cali Energy holds a C-39 roofing license alongside the electrical and solar ones, which is why the roof answer comes from the same company rather than a referral.

What this would look like on your roof

Related

• The leak was blamed on the array. It was not the array Granada Hills, CA · concrete tile · diagnosed, sealed, reported straight Solar
• The city permit was not the permission that mattered Mid-City, Los Angeles · two jurisdictions · nine weeks on a finished array Solar
• The wood under the array was rotten Granada Hills, CA · 6.00 kW DC · 30 squares off, and what was underneath Solar
• The inverter was covered. Fitting it was not North Hollywood, CA · 6.6 kW DC · inverter replaced at six years Solar

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