Step 1

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Make sure you have at minimum of 15ft of extra material! If you have 95 LF of panels that need to be wrapped it is highly advised to order a second set. There is a high chance there will be miscuts and errors while doing this yourself and if you get your panels 95% wrapped the birds will enter the hole you left (they will sit on your neighbors roofs and check your work as soon as you get off the roof!). This is terrible because the birds will make a mess in a day or two and it will be harder to get them out and clean up their new mess before you finish the 5% that didn't get finished! Just a tip!

 

Step 2

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The bird mesh will come in a roll and wants to stay in that formed shape. You can either cut the pieces into 3-4 ft segments or measure full lengths for a run of panels and straighten the mesh out before installation.

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Step 3

(Only for mission style roofs)

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Hold the material to the edge of the roof and make snips in the material at curvature points in your roof. Then trip the template connecting the snip marks and hold the template back up to your roof to see if there are corrections you need to make and adjust template according. Once the template fits snug, there is a little more trimming to do.

 

Missionary roof patterns will have high spots (Ridges) and low spots (valleys) and you have to trim the templates "high spots" or ridges up 3 or 4 squares of material to have a extra tail in the valley for over hang (like the picture at the top of the page). This tail is important. Birds are tricky and we have seen mesh put on without this tail and the birds will pry and the underside until they can fit underneath. With the tail we have had success at preventing the birds at being successful trying to do this.

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Step 4

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Time to wash the bird poop away! While this may seem like an easy job, usually by the time a home owner notices the birds are using their solar panels for a home it is much worse then they think. There is no 100% easy way to do this but we have tips that will keep you safe and techniques to use.

 

First use a respirator. This is very important. Bird nesting and pigeon poop holds dozens of different diseases (feel free to check on google for a deeper understanding) and when it gets rustled around and flakes become airborne it can lead to very serious health issues. Once you have your respirator on, use the garden hose to wet down the material underneath the solar panels to help stop it from becoming airborne. Sometimes if it is not to packed with debris, a hose is enough to wash all of the nesting and poop out and you wont have to do the labor intensive cleaning part (cross your fingers!)

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If the nesting is packed too tight, the next step is to slowly and carefully work the material out with poles, poles with small brushes heads and reaching under the solar panels with a long gloved hand and removing the debris by pulling it out. This has to be done carefully to avoid tugging on the wires and wire harnesses underneath the solar panels which you do not want to damage. This can take some time even multiple days by yourself if it is a larger array.

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Step 5

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Time to install! Bring the netting material onto the roof as well as the zip ties, solar clips and wire snips. The less times you have to go up and down the ladder the better and its nice to have everything you need on the roof with you. The process begins by trimming each piece to fit snug along the various curvatures of the roof, panels and conduit. Be sure to trim the pieces with a little excess so that you can install the solar clips and the netting will have upward pressure on the clips pushing off of the roof. This allows for the mesh to hold pressure against the roof making it harder for any birds to pry at and. This pressure also helps the solar clips have a snug fit with little "play". Depending on the roof, this can be relatively easy or it can be very tedious and time consuming.

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The solar clips have a hook that hooks on the lip underneath the edge of the solar panel and the coated speed washer is slipped onto the the back end of the hook and pushed tight against the mesh and solar panel. The nest step is to bend the excess post of the hook upward and snipping the excess away. This allows for extra protection if the washer loosens over time it will be stopped by the bent hook post keeping it in place (Just a precautionary measure). Almost all panels have this lip but be sure to check before your order this material. If it does not have the lip depending on the style of panel it will require a different installment method and going with a professional installer is going to be your best bet.

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When putting the mesh segments together, overlap the mesh segments by 3 squares of mesh and install the clip through the center overlapping hole. Use one clip in the center of each segment as well (making it roughly a clip per foot). Also add a UV resistant zip tie the the overlapping mesh sections to hold the bottom (closest to the roof) of the mesh together.

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Corners are different for every style of roof and some come out prettier then others but the important thing is that there are no gaps! Use the UV rated zip ties to mend the wire together on the corners to insure the birds wont find their way in through them. Also, prethink your cuts before you make them on the corners (This is where most errors are made and segments of material are ruined and need to be replaced and redone)

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Step 6

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Clean Up! Your gutters will be full of debris and there will probably be debris that fell over the gutter and on the surrounding areas. You can check out gutter cleaning tips on youtube if you need them! Also be sure to clean the tools and clothes you used on the job very well to prevent the spread of the diseases the bird debris holds.

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CONGRATULATIONS!

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You are now bird free! The birds may hang out for a day or two trying to figure a way back under the panels but they will give up eventually! :)

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If you would prefer to have an installer deal with this for you feel free to reach out to us! We service the entire Central West Coast from Atascadero to Santa Barbara. If you are not in our service area don't hesitate to give us a call and we can refer you to a few reputable installers in your area if we can.

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We also don't mind a few questions about your project and would love to offer advice if you have a question before or during the process. If you get half way through and realize it was a little more then you thought, we can also help you finishes the job up at a reasonable rate! Hope this helps with your bird eviction projects and if you follow these steps and come across something we forgot to mention please contact us so we can add the information in to help the next D.I.Y.er even more!

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