I can't believe this thread is still going on! When I posted about a year ago our house was still a plan on paper. It's about 3 months from completion now, and our solar contractor just installed the PV panels on our metal roof. In the snow, no less. My partner has a little website with construction pics on the first page. At least today, a pic of the new solar panels attached to our standing seam Galvalume roof with S-5! clamps is on the upper right of the first page at the following link (the progress pics change often so it may not be there the next time you look). Here is a link that might be useful: Construction pics of my house showing solar panels

Interesting question. First and formeost is get your building envelope tight and snug. Insulation and air sealing are your number one priorities!!!!! If your attic is uninsulated start by going up with caulk, foam and solid air barrier material (drywall, any sheet good) and seal every hole you can find between the attoic and the conditioned space below. Every hole! Wire penetrations, plumbing penetrations, chases behind tubs. any hole. Warm air rises. Stop the air from leaking into your attic and you can minimize what is known as the stack effect. Sealing your attic is the FIRST place to start to stop air leakage in your home. After that insulate your attic to at least the minimum building code, most likely R-30 to 38 ( 10-12 inches). Doesn't make a difference what you use, install it to the manufacturers specifications. Insulate your walls if possible, this will require a contractor in most cases. You will need to use a blown product, fiberglass or cellulose. I can easily find 10 things much more effective and efficient in a home to invest your time and money into. Solar air collector sytems are seldom efficient, from my experience. The ones I have been involved with, while able to provide supplementary heat to a few rooms, had little impact on the bills.

Some solar installers do that with fragile roofs - clay tile, where they remove a good chunk of the original and put down composition shingle. Depending on how things are done, there could be problems for the lower portions of the roof if the water run off is channelled between the roofing felt and the chemwood roof.

We too have the same as Ralph, Heliocoil. In fact I think it was at Ralph's recommendation-thanks Ralph! The way it was explained to me, after a while the straps on the fafco system deteriorate and you get "flying panel syndrome". We've had funnel cloud warnings and still no problems. Plus in 10 years when the panels start to deteriorate the company will send you a 1/2 off coupon for more panels I'm told. As far as unsightly, our CCR's in California do not apply to Solar and we can put them anywhere we want even in our gated neighborhood. However as a good neighbor we put them across the back of our tile house. You do have a good view from the park across the street but if we ever sell and people think they are ugly, they can always take them down. As for me, I'll enjoy the 83 degrees my panels made my pool today and know I am not contributing to global warming by heating my pool. (of course I'm sure the four pool pumps aren't helping the environment, but no one is perfect right?)