Green Roof Support Structure

Structural support of the green roof.

Green roof support structure.

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. It replaces the ecology the new house sits upon thereby replacing the habitat that a house takes away. Biodiverse green roof 0 15 when construction is underway the ecosystem is. No matter what kind of green roof you are considering for an existing structure a structural assessment is necessary to be sure the roof will support the new loads.

Our special lightweight structure for flat roofs transforms your grey roof with a pitch of 0 to 15 degrees into a sustainable green roof almost instantly. If you are in the pre construction stages of a building then that s the time to make structural adjustments so a green roof can be included. Extensive green roofs are shallow and can provide the environmental benefits of a green roof but cannot support regular foot traffic. The more economical option though is to use pre cultivated mats or blankets that can be cut to shape and used above the existing roof system with the support of waterproofing membranes and root barriers.

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. If you can reduce the weight of the roof this may reduce the need for additional structural support depending on the existing structure specification. All three types of roofs require specific layers of roofing materials not found on regular roofs. A study of life cycle costing reveals that the cost of green roofs is much less than that of conventional roofing systems and that a little investment in this type of structure leads to many environmental social and economic benefits.

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. A green roof is in ecological terms a great and simple thing to do. Lightweight green roof 0 15 sometimes a flat roof support structure requires a lightweight green roof. If you want to place a green roof on an existing structure you can add a new roof layer on top of the existing surface.