Solar carport?

[frorider]

Our house roof isn’t suitable for solar panels, but we have a spot in the front yard that would be good for a one vehicle solar car port as long as it could fit an 8’ 7” tall vehicle. Since we sometimes get 6 feet of snow in a couple of days, I’m looking for a structurally sound steel prefab from an outfit that actually knows what they’re doing. I think the pitch needed for solar efficiency and snow shedding could overlap.

Anyone been down this road?

[Dantheman]

No help on the solar part, but I just ordered a carport from these guys and they seem like a solid outfit: https://carportsandmore.com/

Will build to any dimension you want. Base models won't handle the snow load you stated but that can be upgraded (obviously, for more $$$).

[365wp]

These look cool: https://suncommon.com/solar-canopy/

[Flounder]

Anyone been down this road?

Not steel but we also had limited roof space for solar. It’s a bit shaded at times but it’s now in its second year and with a few panels on the garage the past 2 months we have covered our usage completely. Think I posted this on another thread somewhere but here it is.

The old carport had 2x10 rafters with a poly carbonate panel roof. Kept the posts and beams and timber framed the new structure. Built and test fit before final assembly.




OSHA violations as the installers went to work.



View from garage attic window before solar install.



Final product hard at work charging the car.



Hardest part is sealing between the panels if you want it water tight. Lots of expansion and contraction that messes with the caulking. Had to get an engineer to sign off on the snow and wind loads for the city.

[SumJongGuy]

I'd much rather do that than cover the shingles with the panels.. NICE!

[jono]

Not steel but we also had limited roof space for solar. It’s a bit shaded at times but it’s now in its second year and with a few panels on the garage the past 2 months we have covered our usage completely. Think I posted this on another thread somewhere but here it is.

The old carport had 2x10 rafters with a poly carbonate panel roof. Kept the posts and beams and timber framed the new structure. Built and test fit before final assembly.




OSHA violations as the installers went to work.



View from garage attic window before solar install.



Final product hard at work charging the car.



Hardest part is sealing between the panels if you want it water tight. Lots of expansion and contraction that messes with the caulking. Had to get an engineer to sign off on the snow and wind loads for the city.

Been thinking about this. I like it.

But let's say I wanted mostly water tight but I was still almost as lazy as, say, me. How hard do you think it would be to roll a sheet of plastic out between the panels and the rafters? Maybe just allow a slight droop between rafters in lieu of sealing every penetration, and/or maybe stick it down with VHB tape or something that mostly seals a penetration.

Would it be hard to work around that during the install? Maybe roll it out one row (of panels) at a time?

[Flounder]

Would it be hard to work around that during the install? Maybe roll it out one row (of panels) at a time?

Shouldn’t be too hard to work around. Panels themselves are attached to a metal frame mounted on top of the framing.

Instead of rolled plastic, maybe use a translucent polycarbonate panel. That’s what was on the original carport for 10 years.

[Dromond]

This is a pretty slick idea, since you get some side benefit of shade and/or weather protection from the panels. To make it more weather resistant, would it be easier to mount corrugated clear plastic or similar on top of the rafters (protecting them from moisture) and then mount the panels on some type of metal studs or similar protruding through that? A friend mounted this corrugated stuff under his deck to keep that space dry and dray water off to the side. Then you wouldn't need to seal between the panels themselves - water would just drain between the edges of the panels and off the edge of that material.