Whidbey Sun & Wind Comes Full Circle to Discover RT MINI

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

San Diego, CA –(November 6, 2019) –When Whidbey Sun & Wind first became aware of Roof Tech RT MINI in late 2018, founder and general manager Kelly Keilwitz had a distinct sense of coming full circle with his company’s choice of mounting solutions. “Back when I started this company in 2000, there weren’t many options for mounting solutions and we had to invent things for ourselves,” he explained.

Inventing a smart solution for ensuring leak-free installations.

“For many years we used L-foot brackets to attach rails directly to the roof, pre-drilling holes and then sealing each hole with a strong polyurethane sealant that worked perfectly,” Keilwitz recalled. He stressed that his company never used flashing for PV installations in the early years, but when his crew took the training to become NABCEP certified, things changed. “We decided to follow roofing industry standards and conform to best practices at the time,” he said, “so we began to use flashing on our jobs.” As Keilwitz explained, that change meant his installers had to go under two layers of shingles, pry out the existing roofing nails, and slide the flashing under the shingles.

Over time, weather and windblown rain reveal aflaw.

After Whidbey’s crewbegan using flashing on their jobs, however, the company’sprevious point of pride of having “no leaks”was challenged. “We discovered that pulling out the roofing nails left holes in the underlayment which made the roof vulnerable to leaks,” said Keilwitz.Adding to the issue is that there aremany low-pitched roofs in the northern Puget Sound region, so windblown rain often sends rainwater back up under the flashing and causesleaks. “In the past few years, we’ve had to replace entire sections of roofing for a few clients who experienced leaking after extraordinary windblown rain events although the flashing for all of these were installed according to manufacturer’s directions,” Keilwitz conceded. “Our reputation is everything, so we decided to find an attachment solution that didn’t require disturbing the shingles or leaving unplugged holes in the underlayment.”

Finding Roof Tech and RT MINI brings the journey full circle.

In their search for alternative mounting solutions, Keilwitz and his team learnedabout Roof Tech from a trade publication.Theyliked the factthat RT MINI uses butyl rubber to seal all the lag bolts and recognized that butyl rubber is an even better sealant than the polyurethane theyusedon their early jobs. “I had learned about butyl rubber some years ago,” Keilwitz noted. “We usedto use itto installsolar water heaters, so I knew it was a great sealant.” So far, Whidbey has used RT MINI on residential projects. “Although our crew prefers to attach to rafters or trusses,it’s greatthat RT MINI also offers a deck-mounting optionwe can use when it’s difficult to locate rafters or when deck-mounting is the only option,” said Keilwitz. “It’s just a much better mounting solution because it’s truly waterproof, even in extreme windy and rainy weather. Plus, it saves us lots of time over using the flashed L-foot technique.For us, finding RT MINI was like going full circle, and ending up in an even better place.”

About Whidbey Sun & Wind Renewable Energy Systems

Whidbey Sun & Wind was founded in 2000by Kelly Keilwitz who oversees a staff of 10 from their office in Coupeville, Washington in northern Puget Sound. The company provide saw iderange of renewable energy solutions to residential and commercial customers across five counties and in the San Juan Islands. Whidbey’s crew includes five NABCEP-certified PV installation professionals and offers full design and installation services for solar PV systems.

About Roof Tech

Roof Tech, Inc., is the first U.S. subsidiary of Yanegiken, a Japanese company renowned for more than five decades of innovative roofing technologies. In 2013, RoofTech established its U.S. operations and is now headquarteredin San Diego, California. Roof Tech has a national network of distributors in place to provide its unique PV solar mounting solutions for residential and commercial projects. Roof Tech’s current productlineincludesE Mount AIR® Gen II, U set Solar®, RT MINI, and the new RT-APEX and RT-REB Roof Entry Bracket. All products are fully code-compliant and offer compact, watertight performance for rooftop solar installations. # # #

Contact

Milton Nogueira, Senior Business Development Manager, Roof Tech, Inc.

(858) 935-6064milton.n@roof-tech.us