Mounting PV on Modular homes

[toddbailey]

A claim has probably gone past the statute of limitations.
Now the roof trusses failing has me a bit concerned with mounting the collectors to them.
sounds like you need to remove the plywood and at a minimum sister rafters to the sides of the top chord of the trusses. This will need to be sized so the rafter will be adequate to carry the loads without the added benefit of the truss.
Needless to say you will need to properly vent the attic this time around.

What I mean by failing is the joists are built using metal plates stamped into the wood framing. My take is with the endless heat and cooling cycles overs the years, many of the plates have separated in part from the wood framing. Easy to fix, a c-clamp will press the plates back into place. However I plan to reinforce the exposed trusses (8) with a pair of 1x4 on each side and fasten with deck screws-basically heavy duty drywall screws that are rust resistant, additionally the V sections of the trusses will recieve a vertical 1x2 posts. This is a band aid repair, what really needs to happen is perhaps hire a engineer and construction crew and replace the low sloping roof 2/12, with a real 4/12 or so truss system with out destroying the inside ceilings drywall . A tall order to be sure.

'Real' meaning using actual construction material instead of the toothpicks they used back in the day when this pos building was constructed.
If the time of year were late spring, instead beginning of fall, I might move forward on this little adventure. For now I need to get the roof ready for the coming rainy season.

The house will be the last of a PV project, for now the shop, that uses real lumber will see the addition of 27 panels before the sees any, so a least 1 to 2 years off.

I think I'm out of luck in having any legal recourse, too many years have passed, and in reality, if you want something done right you have to do it yourse

As I thought about what to do today, I plan to take advantage of the easy access to the attic area and beef up the R values in the ceiling, and run a few new power lines for the new lighting installed to a common light switch j box.

Funny how a simple repair snowballs into a bunch of side projects...

[inetdog]

What I mean by failing is the joists are built using metal plates stamped into the wood framing. My take is with the endless heat and cooling cycles overs the years, many of the plates have separated in part from the wood framing. Easy to fix, a c-clamp will press the plates back into place. However I plan to reinforce the exposed trusses (8) with a pair of 1x4 on each side and fasten with deck screws-basically heavy duty drywall screws that are rust resistant, additionally the V sections of the trusses will recieve a vertical 1x2 posts. This is a band aid repair, what really needs to happen is perhaps hire a engineer and construction crew and replace the low sloping roof 2/12, with a real 4/12 or so truss system with out destroying the inside ceilings drywall . A tall order to be sure.
...
As I thought about what to do today, I plan to take advantage of the easy access to the attic area and beef up the R values in the ceiling, and run a few new power lines for the new lighting installed to a common light switch j box.

Funny how a simple repair snowballs into a bunch of side projects...

A corollary of Murphy's law.
One thing to consider when envisioning your future roof system is that the roof construction is light for two reasons:
1. To save money on the roof structure and
2. To minimize the weight load on the supporting walls so that they can be cut to the bone too. If you beef up the roof too much, you may end up having to reinforce the walls too. But by that time you will be going for an engineered solution and all of that can be properly considered. With a steep pitch roof, you can include some form of attic access so you can inspect, rewire, revise, etc. But I also would not count on the ceiling supports holding your weight, depending on where you step.

PS: After pressing the nail plates back into place, I would strongly urge bolting, screwing, or nailing them too, since they will not be gripping the wood as well as they did initially. Or else cover them with the extension of your sistered reinforcements?

[toddbailey]

A corollary of Murphy's law.
One thing to consider when envisioning your future roof system is that the roof construction is light for two reasons:
1. To save money on the roof structure and
2. To minimize the weight load on the supporting walls so that they can be cut to the bone too. If you beef up the roof too much, you may end up having to reinforce the walls too. But by that time you will be going for an engineered solution and all of that can be properly considered. With a steep pitch roof, you can include some form of attic access so you can inspect, rewire, revise, etc. But I also would not count on the ceiling supports holding your weight, depending on where you step.

PS: After pressing the nail plates back into place, I would strongly urge bolting, screwing, or nailing them too, since they will not be gripping the wood as well as they did initially. Or else cover them with the extension of your sistered reinforcements?

Yes trhis is how the 1x4's will be attached, screws every 2 ft of the chord


Of course all this is just a distraction and preventing me from prep'ing the shop's roof for a 12 panel pv system due to be shipped in a week.
Helios 250 (2x6 array) and enphase plus monitoring panel. options to expand to a 3x9 array before the house see's any.

[toddbailey]

Yes this is going to work out nicely, after spending the entire day getting supplies, I got the 1st 1x4 x12ft screwed in place and quite a difference.
To early to tell just yet, but using 2 1x4 screwed to an existing truss might be over kill. 1 appears to hold every thing in place quite well and the entire chord is also quite solid.
A few more to modify then I'll have a better idea.

I get 1 week of good weather so time to hussle on this project.

[toddbailey]

A new challenge has cropped up, According to the supplier, I'll need to purchase something like a "Quick PV mount flashing" assembly.
The deal breaker here is the cost * quantity. This item is basically a flat plate of aluminium with a stand off that raises the mounting surface by an inch or so.
The system I'm installing uses the IronRidge mounting rack. I'm wondering what other installers use and has any one come up with a lower cost alternative.
For example I was thinking of fabricating a bracket that is basically a 90 degree L out of flat bar aluminum 1 inch wide, 1/8 thick 6 inches or so long and using a 1/4 in lag to fasten to the roof joist and the other to the rack assemby. the bracket would be sealed using roof tar and covered with roof paper and shingles. Assuming the rack provides mounting at each joist location, these brackets would be spaced at 24 inches oc across the entire span of the mounting rails, or apx 64 total brackets for the set of 4x30 ft rails.

Since I don't have the system on site nor have a clear view of mounting styles as of yet I can't say if this will work or not or if it's even necessary

Any suggestions on this?