Green Roof Construction Definition

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.

Green roof construction definition. 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. Green roofs have traditionally been categorised as extensive or intensive. Container gardens on roofs where plants are maintained in pots are not generally considered to be true green roofs although. What is a green roof.

The plants in a green roof absorb water through their roots and then use surrounding heat from the air to evaporate the water while some roofs can reach temperatures of up to 90 f in the summertime these two features can allow. Green roofs can increase a building s marketability. 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. An extensive green roof can reduce sound from outside by 40 decibels while an intensive green roof can reduce sound by 46 50 decibels peck et al.

Although there are no precise definitions of. Green roofs reduce the temperature of the building and the surrounding air in multiple ways. They fall into three main categories extensive intensive and semi intensive. It replaces the ecology the new house sits upon thereby replacing the habitat that a house takes away.

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. A green roof also known as a living roof is the use of the space on top of a building to grow plants either decorative vegetation or food crops. Green roofs are also known as vegetative or eco roofs. They provide shade to the top of a building evapotranspiration.

But they also must create a growing area and potentially provide support irrigation and root protection barriers while staying as light as possible. Green roofs have excellent noise attenuation especially for low frequency sounds. Extensive green roofs are lightweight with a shallow layer of growing substrate of less than 200 mm deep requiring minimal maintenance. Two types of green roof exist.

Depending on the weight capacity of the building s roof and the aims of the design.