Green Roof Design

Posted on: June 8th, 2011 | 2 Comments


John and Matthew explain the inner-workings of green roof design.

  • Steve in Van

    Whatever the important aesthetic and environmental benefits of a green roof, out-of-pocket costs is a motivating factor for many homeowners.  What can one expect in terms of the cost of installation and maintenence, as well as associated savings?  What is the economic case for a residential green roof system?

    And here’s some additional technical info …
    http://www.conservationtechnology.com/greenroof.html

  • http://slowhomestudio.com Matthew North

    Green roofs are not cheap! There is the cost of the roofing and plants (and sometimes irrigation) and then there is the additional cost to the construction of the house to support the additional loads imposed by a green roof. One could argue that the economic incentive needs to be a part of an overall environmental performance agenda where the square footage of the house is first minimized, and then the cost of the green roof is included as a way of achieving an overall goal of managing heat loss/ heat gain, long term durability and storm water containment. It would be hard to exactly quantify this in terms of a comparable to standard construction without taking into account a whole array of design criteria.