Green Roof Growing Medium Thickness

The soil is usually not more than 5 deep and is sometimes contained by a tray system which provides a barrier to excessive growth protects the roof membrane and also interlocks the.

Green roof growing medium thickness.

The vegetation layer consists of sedums and wildflowers. Pumice is somewhat porous and is lighter than most aggregates. Container gardens on roofs where plants are maintained in pots are not generally considered to be true green roofs although. 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.

Intensive roofs are those greater than 4 inches in thickness with some as deep as 2 feet or more making a wide variety of plants including bushes and even small trees possible. For the best green roof medium the growing media should contain the following. All three types of roofs require specific layers of roofing materials not found on regular roofs. Lightweight volcanic aggregate such as pumice or lava.

To make this process work various green roof layers are created to give it the most effective and solid chance of being successful. These materials are available throughout the west coast of north america. 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. Extensive green roofs substrate based green roofs.

The layers of a green roof are as follows from top to bottom. The substrate sits on the green roof system filter sheet drainage layer protection layer. These extensive green roofs generally have 80mm of substrate. In short a green roof is made to purposely grow grass.

Green roofs are differentiated by the depth of the growing medium as this directly relates to weight the primary structural concern.