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Our recently purchased house was built in 1996 and has 3x3‘ sheets of shingles all around the outside. Next to our garage door we'd want to have an EV charger installed but the particular model that we're planning to get is about 20" tall and has an entirely flat back. Given its dimensions, it'll stretch over several of the individual shingles, and therefore mounting flush wouldn't be an option out of the box and I was wondering, how does one mount flat items on top of shingles?

Are there any "counter-shims" available for those sort of things or what's the best approach to have a straight, flush surface for something to be mounted straight and flush?

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If these are actual, individual real wood cedar shakes, you could buy some more and mount them upside down to provide a flat surface to attach the charger to.

You could simply put the charger on the wall and screw it down through its mounting holes - I doubt (check your instructions) that it must have contiguous contact between the back of the box and the wall it's being mounted to.

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    This is the approach I used for mounting a spa panel to my cedar siding. Works great.
    – KMJ
    Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 18:37
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    In fact, using a stack of washers to hold it OFF the wall surface a bit will tend to rot the siding less, and allow better cooling, while being completely adjustable to shingle surface. The only trick is finding something solid to screw in to (My white cedar shingles are mounted on battens spaced apart the same distance as the exposure on the shingles, and between them there's a gap before you hit the wall surface...
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 21:00
  • @Ecnerwal EV chargers ain't actual chargers; they don't hold any power electronics, so cooling is not a big issue.
    – vidarlo
    Commented Oct 26, 2023 at 7:40
  • Huh. TIL that cedar shakes are actually tapered.
    – Huesmann
    Commented Oct 26, 2023 at 23:08
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I have seen folks mount the flat-back object to the flat wall under the siding and wrap the siding around the object.

You could try a water-capable wood block poked through the shingles against the side if the house under the shingles. Caulk/flash/water-seal the wood block suitably. Then mount the EV charger to the wood block.

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    Note to OP: This would require cutting the shingles away from the wall and installing some sort of metal flashing to keep the water from getting behind the charger box. Of course, AIUI, real cedar shingles will get some moisture behind them anyway, but you don't want to encourage it.
    – FreeMan
    Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 18:07
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There are "counter shims" for siding

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but A) they are the size of one-gang electric boxes so you'd have to use a bunch of them for your charger, and B) they are designed for vinyl siding, which is hollow and soft and very much needs these.

There's this one, a 7"x10" panel intended for outdoor sconces. IDK if it would suit your charger and it would look hilarious if it did, but ... you asked?

With solid wood siding you could just mount the charger over the siding and fill the gaps with caulk or backing rod + caulk. If the charger body isn't solid metal, and needs a solid wall to back it, you could place a 1/2 inch composite board in between it and the wall.

You could buy siding of the same size and shape as yours, (doesn't have to be same material or color) and make "counter shims" to fill the gaps, or use any actual shims the same way, perhaps just along the left and right edges of the back of the charger.

If you don't mind the charger being a little more obtrusive you could screw threaded rods into the wall, place plastic spacers on them, and mount the charger on the rods with nuts. If the charger body is flimsy you could use a 1/2 inch composite backing board between it and the spacers.

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