Thursday, August 13, 2009

Green Roofs How Do They Work? By: Ronlynn Lee



What about Green Roofs?

What is a green roof and what do they do you ask? A green roof is a system that an extension of the existing roof which involves high quality water proofing and root repellent system, a drainage system, filter cloth, a lightweight growing medium and plants. Green roof systems may be modular with the use of drainage layers, filter cloth, growing media and plants already prepared in movable, interlocking grids, or, each component of the system may be installed separately. Green roof develops into an green space on top of a human made structure. Green spaces are not planted in the ground, but could be below, or above grade.

Benefits of Green Roofs

There are many good reasons to build a green roof. Green roofs provide insulation of the layers of organic materials. That help keeps the temperature warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Green roofs also help cut down the energy use and cost. This could be an natural habitat for animals such as wild bees, butterflies, beetles and be an natural cycle of plants growth and self seeding. Green Roofs are very important instruments in preventing local flooding by storing the excess rain in the filtered and drained off with temporal delay.

The Costs of Green Roofs

Green Roofs are more expensive in cost than other roofing. Green Roofs cost $8 per square foot is a minimum but values around $12 to $24 per square foot are common. These amounts may amount to 5 to 10 times the cost of other traditional building. Other potential drawbacks are higher maintenance costs, restrictions involving climate and weather conditions, complex drain system and stronger roof beams in order to support the several green roof layers. Eve more costly repairs and fixings like finding and repairing leaks is more expensive and difficult.

0 comments: