[RE-wrenches] Ballasted ground mount

Wed Apr 1 13:12:54 PDT 2026

Jay:

Thank you very much.  I could not find this document on the web site.  This
is valuable information.

William Miller

William Miller

Miller Solar

www.millersolar.com

CA License C-10 77398

*From:* jay [mailto:jay.peltz at gmail.com]
*Sent:* Wednesday, April 1, 2026 1:09 PM
*To:* William Miller
*Cc:* RE-wrenches
*Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Ballasted ground mount

Here is the unirac installation manual

Towards the bottom you’ll see the ballast info design.

Can be totally above ground.

[image: preview.png]

view
<https://unirac.com/document/gft-construction-drawings-gen-2-top-chord-404036/view/>

PDF Document · 3.7 MB
<https://unirac.com/document/gft-construction-drawings-gen-2-top-chord-404036/view/>

On Apr 1, 2026, at 12:50 PM, William Miller <william at millersolar.com> wrote:

Jay:

I see that GFT is approved for “ballasted” installations.  I ran their
U-Builder tool, selecting ballast blocks as the option.  In the end it
showed me a picture of the ballast blocks as a poured-in-place concrete
footing.  See photo below.

<image003.png>

This is not what ballasted is supposed to mean in solar racking…

William

William Miller

Miller Solar

www.millersolar.com

CA License C-10 77398

*From:* Jay [mailto:jay.peltz at gmail.com]
*Sent:* Wednesday, April 1, 2026 11:11 AM
*To:* william at millersolar.com; RE-wrenches
*Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Ballasted ground mouont

Have you looked at the unirac GFT

They have a stamped ballasted design which can be above ground or built
into the ground. I don’t know if it’s got the updated stamp.

Jay

On Apr 1, 2026, at 12:07 PM, William Miller via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

Friends:

I have a client that is trying to meet a 4/14/26 deadline to construct a
grid-tied system under the NEM2 rate structure.  She contacted me late in
the process to see if I could design a system that could be permitted and
built by that date.

Her roof is inadequate so I proposed a ground-mount.  Any racking system
that penetrates the ground would need a soils study to avoid a forest of
posts with concrete.  Without a soils study the assumption is the ground
has the consistency of beach sand.  We did not have the time for a soils
study.  Therefore I suggested a ballasted ground mount.

The AHJ favors “pre-engineered, ready-to-use” designs (their quote).
Unirac provides this service for their RM10EVO product and also stipulates
approval for ground mounting.  We entered the information into the
U-Builder web portal, including a California address, and received an
engineering report certifying a design with the required parts and ballast
blocks.

The AHJ failed to recognize this as a pre-engineered, ready-to-use design
and called for a wet-stamped engineering report.  For a mere $350 Unirac
offered to provide this, a fair price.  In the process of requesting this
report we were informed that the California code cycle had updated on
1/1/2026 and new standards are in place.  The old standard is ASCE7-16.
 The new one is ASCE 7-22.  Unirac told me that they have yet to be
certified for 7-22 for the RM10EVO.  Oddly the U-builder report states
compliance with 7-22 but apparently this is an error.  Unirac will not
provide a wet-stamp certifying compliance with 7-22 and the 2025 California
Residential Code and/or the 2025 California Building Code.

I write this for two reasons:  1. This is a big heads up if any of you have
projects in the pipeline that depend on these codes, and 2. Do any of you
know of any ground-approved, ballasted racking systems I should be
considering?

Thanks in advance for any input.

William

William Miller

Miller Solar

www.millersolar.com

CA License C-10 77398

_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Redwood Alliance

Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org

List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org

Change listserver email address & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the
other:
https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

List rules & etiquette:
http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm

Check out or update participant bios:
http://www.members.re-wrenches.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20260401/f877cc02/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 23487 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20260401/f877cc02/attachment.png>