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- First step was to clear the area where the array will be installed. I didn’t get a before photo but you can see I tore down our 8’x10′ shed.
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- Photo of the shed now gone. The camera settings caused the photos to be a little dark. Future photos should be less dark.
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- We had two chickens and found a great home for them in the country. I removed the big coop so the chickens had to live in the small coop over night.
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- Chickens have a new home so I was able to removed the original small chicken coop.
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- Area is now clear so that the solar array installation can begin.
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- I laid out the array footprint on the ground so I could determine where the 12 poles were going and also identify the sewage pipe that needed to be moved. Of course it was directly in line with four of the holes that needed to be dug.
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- Started digging the holes and digging up sewage pipe. The holes needed to be 53″ deep and I ran into water at 33 inches.
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- All holes have been started, none are complete.
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- In installed a shallow well with three well points in hopes of drawing some ground water out of the ground so I could dig to the required 53″ inches. It works but if the pump turns off the holes begin to fill with water and cave in within a couple of hours. We have had heavy rains for weeks and it has saturated the ground.
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- My neighbors across the street are selling their house and out of respect for them I installed a fence to cover the construction. I live on a corner lot and this is actually my back yard but it was an eye sore.
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- I finally completed the first hole and installed a pole. The pole is over 100lbs and 21′ tall. The array is going to be 15′ on the high side. I probably jumped the gun on this installation but I really wanted to see what it was going to take to complete the other poles.
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- I wanted to try and see if I could get the second pole up more efficiently. Again, I learned a lot from this install and will not wait for all the other holes to be completed before installing any more poles.
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- The Florida sun is was too much so I setup two canopies so that I could be more productive in the middle of the day. This will impact my ability to record my activity but at this point it’s just a matter of digging the ten holes that are left.
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- 24″x53″ holes with 21′ poles ready for concrete and solar array mounting from Unirac. Foundation Inspection was a success!
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- Foundation Inspection was yesterday and I was given the green light. I had cement on will call for the next morning at 8am. Pumped in 40,000lbs or 10 yards of concrete in under an hour.
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