Thinking about installing solar panels on your home? First of all, awesome. Congratulations on maybe your best idea of the year. Second, there are a few things you should know before you proceed. As Boulder's Daily Camera reports, there's a good chance that if you don't hire a contractor who knows what he or she is doing, you'll end up really hurting: your panels might not be installed for maximum sun exposure. You might spend thousands of dollars more than you need to. You can end up sleeping a lot closer to electromagnetic radiation than you really should.

A Boulder resident hired a first-time contractor to install solar panels and got the raw end of the deal. Read the full Camera story for all the hard-to-believe details, but the lesson to take home is that like with any other home improvement project, make sure to do your research first. The consequences if you don't can be ugly.

Here are some of the most important solar panel installation tips: