<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Here is the unirac installation manual<div>Towards the bottom you’ll see the ballast info design. </div><div>Can be totally above ground. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div style="display: block;"><div style="-webkit-user-select: all; -webkit-user-drag: element; display: inline-block;" class="apple-rich-link" draggable="true" role="link" data-url="https://unirac.com/document/gft-construction-drawings-gen-2-top-chord-404036/view/"><a style="border-radius:10px;font-family:-apple-system, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;display:block;-webkit-user-select:none;width:300px;user-select:none;-webkit-user-modify:read-only;user-modify:read-only;overflow:hidden;text-decoration:none;" class="lp-rich-link" rel="nofollow" href="https://unirac.com/document/gft-construction-drawings-gen-2-top-chord-404036/view/" dir="ltr" role="button" draggable="false" width="300"><table style="table-layout:fixed;border-collapse:collapse;width:300px;background-color:#E5E6E9;font-family:-apple-system, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="lp-rich-link-emailBaseTable" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="300"><tbody><tr><td vertical-align="center" align="center"><img style="width:300px;filter:brightness(0.97);height:200px;" width="300" height="200" draggable="false" class="lp-rich-link-mediaImage" alt="preview.png" src="cid:A5C9F9F0-FDA5-4B82-BA91-81E6A287458B"></td></tr><tr><td vertical-align="center"><table bgcolor="#E5E6E9" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="300" style="table-layout:fixed;font-family:-apple-system, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;background-color:rgba(229, 230, 233, 1);" class="lp-rich-link-captionBar"><tbody><tr><td style="padding:8px 0px 8px 0px;" class="lp-rich-link-captionBar-textStackItem"><div style="max-width:100%;margin:0px 16px 0px 16px;overflow:hidden;" class="lp-rich-link-captionBar-textStack"><div style="word-wrap:break-word;font-weight:500;font-size:12px;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;text-align:left;" class="lp-rich-link-captionBar-textStack-topCaption-leading"><a rel="nofollow" href="https://unirac.com/document/gft-construction-drawings-gen-2-top-chord-404036/view/" style="text-decoration: none" draggable="false"><font color="#272727" style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847059);">view</font></a></div><div style="word-wrap:break-word;font-weight:400;font-size:11px;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;text-align:left;" class="lp-rich-link-captionBar-textStack-bottomCaption-leading"><a rel="nofollow" href="https://unirac.com/document/gft-construction-drawings-gen-2-top-chord-404036/view/" style="text-decoration: none" draggable="false"><font color="#808080" style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.498039);">PDF Document · 3.7 MB</font></a></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></a></div></div></div><div><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Apr 1, 2026, at 12:50 PM, William Miller <william@millersolar.com> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div><meta charset="UTF-8"><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Jay:</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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.</span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><span id="cid:image003.png@01DCC1CD.BC917CE0"><image003.png></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">This is not what ballasted is supposed to mean in solar racking…</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">William</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p><div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">William Miller</span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Miller Solar</span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><a href="http://www.millersolar.com/" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: blue;">www.millersolar.com</span></a></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">CA License C-10 77398</span></div></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p><div><div style="border-width: 1pt medium medium; border-style: solid none none; border-color: rgb(181, 196, 223) currentcolor currentcolor; border-image: none; padding: 3pt 0in 0in;"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;">From:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Jay [mailto:<a href="mailto:jay.peltz@gmail.com" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">jay.peltz@gmail.com</a>]<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br><b>Sent:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Wednesday, April 1, 2026 11:11 AM<br><b>To:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:william@millersolar.com" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">william@millersolar.com</a>; RE-wrenches<br><b>Subject:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Re: [RE-wrenches] Ballasted ground mouont</span></div></div></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </p><div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Have you looked at the unirac GFT </div></div><div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">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. </div></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </p></div><div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Jay</div></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </p></div><div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><br><br></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">On Apr 1, 2026, at 12:07 PM, William Miller via RE-wrenches <<a href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>> wrote:</p></div><blockquote style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-bottom: 5pt;" type="cite"><div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Friends:</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">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.</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">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.</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">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.</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">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.</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">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?</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thanks in advance for any input.</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">William</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">William Miller</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Miller Solar</span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.millersolar.com/" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">www.millersolar.com</a></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">CA License C-10 77398</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">_______________________________________________<br>List sponsored by Redwood Alliance<br><br>Pay optional member dues here:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://re-wrenches.org/" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">http://re-wrenches.org</a><br><br>List Address:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a><br><br>Change listserver email address & settings:<br><a href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org</a><br><br>There are two list archives for searching. 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