What is Reddit's opinion of Install Your Own Solar Panels: Designing and Installing a Photovoltaic System to Power Your Home?

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For me for 16 panels I'd just call a solar company. I'd expect you to get quotes for 310 watt panels (aka 5kw) from $12,500 to $20,000. With $15,000 being around the most likely number depending on challenges you have as you comment on your roof issue which may or may not really be an issue. My boss put on Simpson hurricane ties in his roof before the solar company would do an install. DIY you can probably do it for around $10,000 not including roof issues.

Here is how it went for me for grid tied: ask power company if I can have solar, get plans drawn up and a stamped engineering letter $500, submit plans and letter to City for building permit $140, install solar mounts, install racking, install conduit for wiring from panels to inverter, pull electrical wiring, install solar on my roof, install inverter on exterior wall near MSP, install AC disconnect, have electrician wire up inverter to MSP $275, have city come do an inspection on system, city sends inspection report to power company, power company comes and swaps out my meter, power company gives me permission to operate.

I bought this book and it was a decent read and reference although it doesn't talk much about String Inverters with Optimizers (AKA SolarEdge) which I think is the best tech out there currently.

https://www.amazon.com/Install-Your-Own-Solar-Panels/dp/1612128254

Simply here is how it went for me for grid tied: ask power company if I can have solar, get plans drawn up and a stamped engineering letter $500, submit plans and letter to City for building permit $140, install solar mounts, install racking, install conduit for wiring from panels to inverter, pull electrical wiring, install solar on my roof, install inverter on exterior wall near MSP, install AC disconnect, have electrician wire up inverter to MSP $275, have city come do an inspection on system, city sends inspection report to power company, power company comes and swaps out my meter, power company gives me permission to operate.

If you want to install 1 more panel or do anything to the system; repeat all this.

Trust me if you do all this yourself the last thing you're going to want to do is go screw with the system. You want to install it and then just inspect it twice a year and hopefully nothing goes bad.

I bought this book and it was a decent read and reference although it doesn't talk much about String Inverters with Optimizers (AKA SolarEdge) which I think is the best tech out there currently.

https://www.amazon.com/Install-Your-Own-Solar-Panels/dp/1612128254