Three Warranties, One Leak

• the module warranty, from the panel manufacturer, covering the panels;
• the workmanship warranty, from the installer, covering the attachment;
• the roof covering warranty, from the shingle or membrane manufacturer, covering the roof.

Nobody holds all three. And the gap between them has a specific shape: when something goes wrong under an array, somebody has to pay to take the array off before anyone can even establish whose problem it is.

That removal cost is the subject of this page, because it is the part homeowners almost never ask about and the part that most often surprises them a decade later.

Two points, and they pull in different directions:

First, installing solar does not cost you the shingle warranty. Solar panels do not impact coverage under GAF's limited warranties. Adding an array to a GAF roof does not, by itself, void anything.

Second, if there is ever an issue with the shingles — no matter the cause — it is the owner's responsibility to have the solar panels removed at the owner's sole expense, so that GAF can address the underlying shingle issue.

Read those together and the position is coherent from GAF's side: they warrant their shingles, they do not warrant anybody's solar installation, and they are not going to pay to move somebody else's equipment to get at their product.

From the homeowner's side it means something concrete. A manufacturing defect discovered in year twelve may be covered, subject to the warranty's terms, exclusions and claim validation — but reaching it requires removing and reinstalling the array, and that cost falls on you regardless of how the claim is ultimately decided. On a full-roof array, it is not a trivial sum.

GAF publishes a parallel document, C-01, covering photovoltaic installations on its EverGuard single-ply systems for low-slope roofs.

What it covers:

• TRU PROTECTION® manufacturing-defect claims;
• workmanship of the roof and the solar mount installation;
• removal and reinstallation of the solar panels when required to service the claim.

That third line is the direct answer to the GAF exposure. Where a covered claim requires the array to come off, the labor is covered.

What it requires, and excludes:

• Only contractors holding Solar PROtect™ certification can offer it. It is not available from any installer.
• The roof must be the Total Protection Roofing System® — Oakridge® or Duration® Series shingles, with a high-temperature-rated self-adhered underlayment beneath the roof slope carrying the array, full-roof underlayment coverage, and balanced intake and exhaust ventilation.
• Removal and reinstallation labor is covered "at an amount reasonably determined by Owens Corning, subject to a maximum amount" — it is capped, not open-ended.
• Owens Corning covers only the workmanship of the roof and the mounts. The solar panels themselves are not covered, and neither is the workmanship of the panel or other solar accessory installation.

GAF warrants a product. Owens Corning is selling a system plus a certification: use their shingles, their underlayment specification, their ventilation approach and their trained contractor, and in exchange the coverage extends across the seam between roofing and solar.

That is a trade, and it has costs. It constrains which shingles you use, which underlayment goes under the array, and which contractor does the work. Some households will find that a fair price for closing the removal gap; others will prefer a free choice of materials and installer and will accept the removal risk.

What matters is that the trade is visible before installation, not discovered during a claim.

• improper flashing at the mount penetrations;
• non-approved sealants or adhesives, or products incompatible with the covering;
• cutting or altering components against specification;
• skipped inspections or missing documentation, so nobody can demonstrate what was done.

Poorly sealed penetrations that lead to a leak are the classic case. Note that this is a workmanship question, and workmanship is the one warranty in the trio that comes from a company that may not exist in fifteen years — a point worth weighing when choosing an installer, and one we treat separately in What Happens If Your Solar Installer Goes Out of Business.

It is often said that a TPO or EPDM warranty forbids penetrations outright. That is generally not what the terms say. What they typically require is approved details, compatible materials and an authorized applicator — penetrations made on those terms usually retain coverage; work done outside them is what jeopardises it.

The practical rule is the same as everywhere else on a flat roof: read the actual document, and decide the attachment method while the membrane is being specified, not after it is installed and warranted. Where penetration is genuinely impractical, ballasted racking leaves the membrane untouched.

California Residential Code 2025, R329.4.3 requires that roof penetrations be flashed and sealed in accordance with Chapter 9 — which carries the dimensioned flashing requirements. R907.3 and R329.3.1 make installation in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions and the product listing a code obligation, not merely a warranty condition.

So an installation that departs from the mount manufacturer's instructions is not only risking a warranty; it is departing from the code.

1. Which roof covering warranty applies, and what does it say about solar and about removal?
2. Who warrants the penetrations specifically, and for how many years?
3. If the roof needs warranty work in year twelve, who pays to remove and reinstall the array? Ask for the answer in the document, not in conversation.
4. Is a certified program available — such as Solar PROtect™ — and is the constraint on materials and contractor acceptable to you?
5. What documentation will you hold afterwards — flashing products, fastener specification, photographs, inspection records — so that a future claim can be substantiated?

The single most useful thing a homeowner can do here is unglamorous: keep the paperwork. Most claim disputes turn on what can be shown about how the work was done, and that evidence is easy to collect on the day and impossible to reconstruct later.

• GAF Technical Bulletin C-01, Solar Installations & GAF Guaranteed Roofing Systems Guidelines — PV on EverGuard single-ply.
• California Residential Code 2025 (Title 24, Part 2.5), R329.4.3 — penetrations flashed and sealed per Chapter 9; R907.3, R329.3.1 — installation per manufacturer's instructions and product listings.

Figures on this page come from the primary sources below and, where noted, from Cali Energy calculations using the stated assumptions. Rates, incentives, and program terms change; each was verified September 1, 2026.

1. GAF Technical Bulletin R-131, Installation of Solar PV Panels Over A GAF Shingle Roof — solar panels do not impact coverage under GAF's limited…
2. Owens Corning — Solar PROtect™ program: coverage of TRU PROTECTION® defect claims, workmanship of roof and solar mounts, and…