After years of seemingly nothing but tile roofs being installed in Southwest Florida, metal roofs are getting popular again. The longevity, durability, and energy efficiency of metal roofs are great selling points, and they look great, coming in many profiles and colors.

The metal roof is known for protecting roofs against leaks, and minimizing penetrations is very important for roof warranties and customer peace of mind. There is an aluminum clamp called an S-5! that attaches solar panels to the standing seam of metal roofs without penetrating the metal.

The strength of these clamps is amazing. Test results on many roof profiles indicate that they can withstand wind uplift exceeding 1,000 pounds per clamp in many cases. Depending on the wind loads in our particular solar panel design, enough clamps  can be used to ensure a safe and effective solar panel attachment. With required design wind speeds in Southwest Florida ranging from 120 mps – 150 mph, wind uplift is an important design factor.

Of course, it is important that the metal roof is installed properly, and meets the requirements of the panels that will be mounted on them. If the roof panels are installed to meet the 2007 Florida Building Code, it is almost certain that there will be no issue with using S-5! clamps. Older installations should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

The clamp comes in a variety of shapes and sizes to meet the requirements for just about every metal seam profile. There is even a clamp that allows you to attach a solar electric module directly to the metal seams without the use of aluminum rails. However, this clamp is incompatible with new microinverter technology because microinverters must have something on which to mount.

While the S-5! clamps do not work on some metal roofs, like those with 5V or sinusoidal profiles (corrugated metal roofs), the standing seam metal roof profile is quickly becoming popular around the area on both homes and businesses. If you have a metal roof and don’t want to penetrate it to attach solar panels, take a look at S-5! clamps!