orezok
Elite Member
I poured footings today for my 5250 watt ground mount solar project. Being a retired licensed general contractor, my intent was to do this project completely myself. I found out that San Bernardino county will not allow an owner/builder do solar even though they can build a whole house legally. I think that solar is dangerous because once the panels are exposed to the sun, they are generating electricity and that could be dangerous to a novice builder. My license is inactive since retirement so they would not allow me to use that either. I found an electrical contractor to sign off on the plans for a small fee and I will still be doing the project myself.
The original design called for drilled piers, 24 diameter by 4 feet deep. Eight of them. That is a lot of footing but I am in a 120 MPH wind zone. No trees or buildings to slow it down here in the desert.
Because of the permit issues, it took me a month to get a permit. Then Covid hit and the only driller within 50 miles that could do 24 holes shut down for an unknown period. I had to keep going so I had a friend with a backhoe dig the footings. While he is a skilled operator, there is a limit as to how small a 4 deep hole you can dig. Now I had to form all the footings. I could have used sonotube but that was $500 and the closest supplier was 50 miles away. There are some drawbacks to living in isolation. :laughing:
Concrete for the drilled piers would have been about 4 CY. My footings took about 4 1/2 CY.
Tomorrow it is strip forms and backfill and grade around the footings to flush them out. Then start panel installation.
I
The original design called for drilled piers, 24 diameter by 4 feet deep. Eight of them. That is a lot of footing but I am in a 120 MPH wind zone. No trees or buildings to slow it down here in the desert.
Because of the permit issues, it took me a month to get a permit. Then Covid hit and the only driller within 50 miles that could do 24 holes shut down for an unknown period. I had to keep going so I had a friend with a backhoe dig the footings. While he is a skilled operator, there is a limit as to how small a 4 deep hole you can dig. Now I had to form all the footings. I could have used sonotube but that was $500 and the closest supplier was 50 miles away. There are some drawbacks to living in isolation. :laughing:
Concrete for the drilled piers would have been about 4 CY. My footings took about 4 1/2 CY.
Tomorrow it is strip forms and backfill and grade around the footings to flush them out. Then start panel installation.
I