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Solar panels on old barns look great, but the wiring is a real headache
I stopped by a farm outside Des Moines last month and saw a retrofit job where they bolted panels onto a barn from 1923. The panels themselves are fine, but the conduit runs are a nightmare, and the inspector flagged 4 code issues that will cost the owner about $1,800 to fix. I get the appeal, but we need to talk about prep work before we push rural solar harder. Has anyone else dealt with old structure mounting problems like this?
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nora_wells582mo ago
That $1,800 hit stings, no doubt. We put panels on a shed from the 1940s last spring, and the old beams were so uneven we had to custom cut every single mounting bracket. Took three extra days just for the racking, and the electrician kept muttering about how nothing was square. The inspector made us redo the ground wire run twice because the original conduit was too close to a rusty nail plate. In my experience, old barns are a labor of love, but you really have to budget for surprise fixes before you start, or the whole thing turns into a money pit.
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