How To Design A Green Roof

A natural air conditioner that could work wonders for your garage.

How to design a green roof.

This improves the drainage of the green roof which helps reduce soil erosion and aerate plants. While redeveloping our house we decided to install a living roof on our kitchen roof why you ask. Here green roof installer rob gaffney adds a second layer of rubber roofing membrane as a root barrier to prevent damage to the roof. It replaces the ecology the new house sits upon thereby replacing the habitat that a house takes away.

Make a normal flat or sloped roof into a beautiful living garden. This green roof can be described as a combination of an extensive and intensive roof and therefore is also called a hybrid roof. Pro advice get a structural engineer to tell you what your existing roof needs to support the weight of a green roof. In summer a green roof will also absorb sun s rays to keep the inside cool.

The term describes various systems from simple setups with a hardy turf or sedum covering to advanced roof garden schemes that are. Intensive style green roofs are the most detailed and strongest of them all. A green roof is in ecological terms a great and simple thing to do. Designing green roofs in a development may gain support which can help to secure planning consent it may be possible to retrofit green roofs on certain buildings without planning consent although the planning authority should be consulted if there is any doubt.

Step 6 if you re worried that soil may be too heavy place potted plants on the gravel. The vivid hues of a green roof can add an inviting design flourish to your home plus boost the house s green credentials by forming an insulating layer that helps to reduce heat loss. A variety of plants that grow well in a soil depth of five to seven inches are good to use including certain perennials ornamental grasses herbs shrubs and sedums. You might have to add more joists strengthen existing ones or add bracing.

There are three main types of green roofs which are characterized by the types of planting and vegetation that can be placed on them. Lay it over the gravel and attach to the frame using tacks. Step 5 cut a piece of weed matting large enough to cover the roof and the inside of the frame. Green roofs decrease flood risks by retaining water decreasing the amount of water that reaches urban drain areas.

Green roofs help retain heat in a building by insulating the roof during the winter. Flat green roof design considerations. Green roofs are also divided into different types depending on the green roof design scheme. I liked the idea of having a bit more greenery in the property we live.

When constructing a flat green roof the design aspect is much simpler. Used over a whole roof a green roof will be the single overriding design influence on the house as well as impacting on the construction right down to the foundations. You just need to build up the core layers as per manufacturer s instructions when constructing a green flat roof.