April 16, 2025
A quality solar installation starts with respecting your customer’s roof. On the Pitch, Rick Gentry and Ben Hedrick from QuickBOLT discuss common issues on the roof and advancements in solar mounting designs over the years. Then, they explain QuickBOLT’s latest roof protection product: QuickPATCH.
What is QuickPATCH?
Hedrick: “The QuickPATCH is designed exactly what the name sounds like: it’s a quick way to patch a hole in the roof. If it’s, ‘hey I missed a rafter,’ or you go up and the homeowner says ‘I need you to remove an old satellite dish that’s on the roof,’ or you’re taking out the safety anchor that you’re using [and patching those] holes, it really has a bunch of uses.”
QuickPATCH explanation and demo
Jump right to the QuickPATCH explanation and video demonstration:
What problems do solar installers encounter on a roof?
Hedrick: “Mounts that aren’t waterproof. Holes in the roof. Even carrying stuff up to the roof [causes problems]. At QuickBOLT, we’ve tried to make mounts that are very easy to use, and to eliminate some of the problems of even getting up to the roof by making packaging easier to carry.
What’s new in solar mounts?
Gentry: “When we first came out with [the QuickBOLT 3-in Microflashing], we determined that there’s about three to five missed rafters per job. So, two things happened. One is we actually developed some wider Microflashing that allows you to miss by further. We also have another add-on called the Mini flashing, that if you miss by a lot, you can actually still cover it where it sheds the water. Another thing is people started using butyl as a mount sealing property.
“The last thing that I think is a big game changer is the direct to deck. We saw other companies doing it, and we started doing our own tests, and we found out the pull out is pretty substantial on that. We developed one that has over 800 lbs of pull-up.”
Importance of butyl
Gentry: “It’s flexible, it’s durable, it will resist water, it doesn’t degrade over time – so, you get all these sealing properties…. For most average temperature conditions you can use it, and use it effectively. It’s been a game changer, and I think that adding that to the bottom of anything you’re mounting to seal is an effective use, and it works.”
Watch or listen to full QuickPATCH Pitch
Watch the full episode above. Or listen in podcast form in the Solar Builder Radio feed. Apple Podcast | Spotify | Amazon.
- 0:21 – Overview of common problems seen on the roof
- 1:06 – How rooftop solar mounting has evolved
- 3:01 – Avoiding (and dealing with) missed pilot holes
- 4:26 – Explanation of butyl as a sealant
- 5:29 – QuickPATCH installation demo
- 7:33 – Why QuickPATCH over the flash card and sealant?
- 10:17 – Direct-to-deck mounting trend
- 11:31 – Where to order QuickPATCH
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