Wind Scour,Foot Traffic, the list seems to be never ending, but the benefits alway seem to outlay the problems.
Arial installers, plant and other equipment added post completion, it does happen, I was the Styrofoam Tech engineer for 14 years and saw it all. trees that have grown squirrels that want to did, bees, making home, and a change in building management that are not gardeners, new buildings next door casting shadows, is one I last saw wreck a roof, and all it needed was a small team change the plants to something a little more shadow approving,
Whats needed is an all independant embracing garden roof manual, looking at all the different types, from Dow to All the others, what works what does not, what plants work, and why, plus examples and case studies, the old blue book started to do this but not seen a copy for a while.
When it comes to designing a green roof, there's a lot of considerations to think about such as the costs associated with not just the construction but maintenance as well. Some potential failures include leaks, plant loss, inadequate drainage, soil erosion and slope instability.
There are several challenges that must be addressed for a successful green roof project.
Waterproofing - Given that you are going to providing an active water supply to vegetation, you must ensure that water run-off, root systems, live load, and other factors are considered with the waterproofing layer is designed and installed.
Maintenance - it is vital that how you can maintain the primary waterproofing layer with all the soil and grow beds on the roof. All roofs leak eventually. How is it going to be serviced? Will servicing the leak kill the vegetation? Etc.
Structural elements - Is the building's structural frame strong enough to hold all the plants and grow median (typically soil). And soil is very heavy. Is the grow medians sufficiently heavy enough to withstand wind loading.
One of the major problems and easily the most expensive is not having proper drainage. The majority of the drainage industry does not understand the proper way to drain a green roof. You can not put the perforated stainless steel in the primary drainage path, if you do it will quickly become blocked and the roof membrane will fail prematurely. If you thought the green roof was expensive when you installed it wait until you see the cost to remove, repair and reinstall. The drainage must be done with a green roof box that sits independent of the roof drain and is positioned on top of the drainage mat so to allow the drainage mat free path to the drain. The green roof box then becomes media barrier and secondary drainage path. This is the only way the green roof will drain properly throughout the life of the green roof.
Wind Scour,Foot Traffic, the list seems to be never ending, but the benefits alway seem to outlay the problems.
Arial installers, plant and other equipment added post completion, it does happen, I was the Styrofoam Tech engineer for 14 years and saw it all. trees that have grown squirrels that want to did, bees, making home, and a change in building management that are not gardeners, new buildings next door casting shadows, is one I last saw wreck a roof, and all it needed was a small team change the plants to something a little more shadow approving,
Whats needed is an all independant embracing garden roof manual, looking at all the different types, from Dow to All the others, what works what does not, what plants work, and why, plus examples and case studies, the old blue book started to do this but not seen a copy for a while.
When it comes to designing a green roof, there's a lot of considerations to think about such as the costs associated with not just the construction but maintenance as well. Some potential failures include leaks, plant loss, inadequate drainage, soil erosion and slope instability.
There are several challenges that must be addressed for a successful green roof project.
Waterproofing - Given that you are going to providing an active water supply to vegetation, you must ensure that water run-off, root systems, live load, and other factors are considered with the waterproofing layer is designed and installed.
Maintenance - it is vital that how you can maintain the primary waterproofing layer with all the soil and grow beds on the roof. All roofs leak eventually. How is it going to be serviced? Will servicing the leak kill the vegetation? Etc.
Structural elements - Is the building's structural frame strong enough to hold all the plants and grow median (typically soil). And soil is very heavy. Is the grow medians sufficiently heavy enough to withstand wind loading.
One of the major problems and easily the most expensive is not having proper drainage. The majority of the drainage industry does not understand the proper way to drain a green roof. You can not put the perforated stainless steel in the primary drainage path, if you do it will quickly become blocked and the roof membrane will fail prematurely. If you thought the green roof was expensive when you installed it wait until you see the cost to remove, repair and reinstall. The drainage must be done with a green roof box that sits independent of the roof drain and is positioned on top of the drainage mat so to allow the drainage mat free path to the drain. The green roof box then becomes media barrier and secondary drainage path. This is the only way the green roof will drain properly throughout the life of the green roof.