Solar mounted on different roof types - opinions & anecdotes wanted

TerraSolis

Hi All,

I'm currently back and forth with an architect trying figure out external & roof finishes for a house. For context, the house will be built using the EcoCocon straw wall system.

While any given modern roof system should be leak free for decades, assuming it is well installed, I'm quite married to the idea of a metal standing seam roof.

The metal standing seam roof is the only type that I'm aware of that involves no penetrations in order to mount solar to the roof. Instead, the rails simply clamp to the standing seam externally. I'm open minded to other low maintenance options and I'm curious as to other people's experiences with watertightness or water ingress where their solar is mounted to the roof. For example, my architect is suggesting fibre-cement boards, but they involve drilling through the roof board and fixing the panels/rails with screws with EPDM washers. From an engineering perspective, this is less desirable than external clamping, especially as my walls will be made of straw!

Essentially, I'm just trying to figure out how to weigh and balance architectural aesthetics and engineering/maintenance considerations and external input would be much appreciated.

autumnalcore

Cement panels are brittle I would prefer the standing seam also just make sure they use the proper seperating membrane. Considered a straw house myself about 10 years ago and decided ireland was too wet, average humidity was too high and life was too short to spend it worrying about and measuring humidity levels inside the walls of my home. The same worries you have about penetrations now will be repeated everytime a hole gets drilled for a pipe, a wire, every normal crack that appears in the render etc.