Solar in Mississippi has to live with pine shade, hail on the hills, wet air, and wind on the coast. The roof deck comes first. A bruised shingle field, a soft spot under a bath vent, or a metal porch with almost no slope will fight any rails you set on it. Describe the roof you have, not a clear field in a picture.
Pines and pecans break the southern sky on older lots. Delta houses often have more open exposure and more wind, plus metal roofs that need a different attachment than asphalt. Hill towns see hail that can pit glass and bruise the shingles around it in one pass. Coastal sites take uplift and salt film on hardware. A roof split by dormers may have no clean plane large enough to matter. Say which of those is yours.
Penetrations leak when rain is blown sideways. Boots, flashings, and feet have to shed water the way the rest of the roof does. Skip sheathing on a bungalow may not hold a mount the way a later deck will. An inverter in a closed attic or a hot garage cooks in a Mississippi summer that does not cool off at night. Older panels in town houses are often already full of ordinary circuits.
If the shingles are near the end of their life, mounting on them borrows the next leak. Termite-soft fascia and a punky board at the eave are reasons to stop and look, not details to skip. Afternoon storms build fast, and a loose flashing shows up as a ceiling stain on the first hard rain. Ask about attachment and about the wood you cannot see from the yard.
Call with the town, the roof type, and the shade. Metal or asphalt, dormers or a simple hip, pecan cover or open sky. Say whether hail has already marked the surface and whether the attic shows daylight or rotten board. Mention a crowded electrical panel if you know it is full. This is a roof and weather conversation. Leave the sales math out of it and describe the house. Call the number on this page.