I'm having trouble deciding on a roof pitch for my house and it basically comes down to two things. Do I maximize the output of my solar array with a steeper pitch or ensure my house doesn't stick out like a sore thumb with a more gentle pitch? A pitch of 8:12 will give optimal output for a southern facing array (7:12 is only slightly less optimal) however I feel like this is overly steep compared to buildings in the vicinity which are most likely closer to half as much. Going down to 4:12 doesn't give horrible results however it has much less consistent month to month output with more extreme summer/winter output differences. Unfortunately I am unable to find information regarding average roof pitch by zip-code, city, or even state therefore I am unable to analyse just how far off an 8:12 pitched roof would be from the norm. Ultimately I'm leaning towards the optimal 8:12 pitch because I care most about maximizing the solar array. I just cant paint a clear mental picture of just how badly it's going to stand out to anyone passing by. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Is the southern facing towards or away from the street?

pvwatts.nrel.gov is considered the most accurate program for figuring out what your system will produce by your location.

You can enter your info and then change the tilt to see how it effects the output to help you find the perfect placement.

But!!!!!!!! I will tell you I am having issues on this exact subject. I put a pergola with solar on top up in my back yard. It is one sided roof that is covered in panels. I did a 4/12 pitch in an attempt to make it look better. I bought all black mono with black frames to make it look like a roof and not solar. I did as much as I could and my neighbor to the south is having a fit. He claims the sun constantly is reflecting off them and is shining at him. I drew in cad with the angles of the sun and reflection to so it is impossible to be the sun.

It is the clouds that are reflecting with the panels at that low angle. I would put it at the optimal angle. Good Luck....

If you're on a 4/12 pitch, your neighbor's house would have to be at either VERY close (less than 20 feet away) or 3-5 stories tall and he's getting it through an upper floor window.

Most likely is that they're just full of feces.

Yes the guy is an idiot.....

Posted By newbostonconst on 16 Aug 2019 05:53 PM
Yes the guy is an idiot.....

And I'm sure his village misses him TERRIBLY.

We're contemplating designing a new house without a northern pitch. The northern wall of the house would go straight up to the roof line/peak. The roof would have 100% southern pitch at this point but unfortunately at a much smaller slope. We can increase the angle by raising the height of the norther wall, but how high is too high? 20ft sounds exceptionally tall for a single story house and considering other dimensions of the house this would give us roughly a 22 degree angled surface to apply our panels.

How high could we design the northern wall of a single story house before it starts to look too odd/awkward?
Are there any detailed resources available on different house dimensions in particular regions of the country? Average roof pitch, Average tallest roof line height. Things of that nature?

I know you're trying to keep the house "single story". What going higher on the north facing will do, besides raising the pitch, is give you sufficient area in the house for your HVAC plus "cold" (as in not immediately grab-able) storage, helping to de-clutter the home.

What really influences the decision isn't necessarily the height of the wall. It
s the width/depth of the home.

If the home's 20 feet wide, the northern wall won't be THAT high.
If the home's 60 feet wide, uh yeah, the northern wall is gonna loom.

Just be aware that you need to take more care building and weatherproofing on the north face of the home, as rain has pretty much constant access to the wall. Even with the biggest overhangs.

You might want to consider a saltbox roof design to provide some rain protection for that north wall. Google [saltbox roof] for more info including images.

Posted By arkie6 on 28 Aug 2019 11:53 AM
You might want to consider a saltbox roof design to provide some rain protection for that north wall. Google [saltbox roof] for more info including images.

Agreed.

Thank you everyone for your input. We're modeling the home in Revit and will make a new file that uses the saltbox style roof and see how this influences the building.
Thank you again for your time and input, it is greatly appreciated.