Solar Carports seem to be popping up all over the place these days! One of the perks of the original carport design is that you can drive a car or truck into it from any side, allowing us to install the solar panels facing south no matter what the driveway or site conditions look like.
The obvious downside to this is that wind and snow could blow in quite easily. Some folks have requested a timber framed Solar Carport with walls to keep their car (or kayaks, firewoood, etc.) a bit more protected from the elements.
The challenge here is that when we added walls to the old model, there was not enough space to fit a vehicle inside and there wasn’t enough bracing to handle the increased wind load on the structure. To accommodate for these problems, we added some length to the structure, additional knee braces on the front of the building, and designed the walls with two layers of diagonal siding running in opposite directions for added shear strength.
These structural changes ensure that the new Enclosed Solar Carport will keep your electric car fully charged and clear of snow and rain!
