How Thick Is A Green Roof

The roof s main job however is to protect the interior of the house and personal belongings from the outside elements.

How thick is a green roof.

An extensive green roof or sedum roof is a roof with vegetation that is more or less self perpetuating and that can further develop and maintain itself. The nominal thickness of a green roof is the approximate total height of the soil and drainage components that constitute the green roof system excluding the roof structure insulation waterproofing and plants it is common practice to use the term extensive to describe green roofs that are very thin and will only support hardy drought resistant vegetation. Roughly speaking extensive green roofs have a substrate thickness of between 4 and 15 cm and a weight of 30 to 220 kilo per m2. About 4 inches of growing medium is the minimum requirement for both green roof and living wall.

This is most noticeable in intensive green roofs since there is a thicker and more consistent layer of soil which provides a higher insulating value. Note that it is not like a traditional roof garden in which planting is done in free standing containers as well as planters that are placed on an easy to access roof terrace. A green roof is a green space that is created by adding various layers of plants and a growing medium to the top portion of a traditional roofing system. Green roofs can help reduce energy costs for a building by acting as another layer of insulation between the inside and outside of the roof.

A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium planted over a waterproofing membrane it may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage and irrigation systems. The course will be launched at the fifth annual international greening rooftops for sustainable communities conference april 29 may 1 2007 in minneapolis. Container gardens on roofs where plants are maintained in pots are not generally considered to be true green roofs although. But remember more the.

All three types of roofs require specific layers of roofing materials not found on regular roofs. Green roofs for healthy cities grhc is developing a course on waterproofing and drainage as it relates to green roof design and implementation. The basic anatomy of a green roof consists of vegetation growing medium filter membrane drainage layer waterproof root repellant layer roofing membrane support for plantings above thermal insulation vapor control layer and structural roof support.