Green Roofs

A green roof, ecological rooftop or roof garden is the roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation. This covering of living material provides privacy to the building and adds vegetation or plants to the roof itself.
Benefits

There are many benefits to introducing to creating a green roof on your home or office building. There are advantages for the environment but also for the building too. A living rooftop acts as a perfect, natural insulator, keeping a lot of the heating inside the building but also when temperatures are high the roof will keep the building cooler. There are ways to increase the potential heat offered by a green roof top , one method is to introduce skylights or glass part of the roof so it has a greenhouse effect.

Protection- a well designed green roof will actually protect your roof top more than a standard roof and therefore will last longer than a traditional counterpart. Apart from the protection value there are many reasons why people decide to install a green roof on their building.

•    You can grow a large and varied type of plants and fruits, there is no real limit to what can be grown on the roof and in many cases the fruits and plants actually grow better as there is no obstacles or shadows and because of the high location of a roof top, continual sun!
•    More and more buildings are finding a good use for Rainwater. Instead of letting all the water run down the drain, certain plants and soil on a green rooftop will act as a water “retainer”. The water is trapped into the roof and slowly released into guttering channels which can directed to any rainwater container
•     In stormy weather, a good green roof top will stop large amounts of water rolling of your roof top.

There are two main types of insulation values
1.    Green Roof top Sound Insulation
2.    Green Roof top Heat Insulation
Two of the main reasons why people install Green Roof Tops are for financial gains and environmental reasons-

Financial- A green roof top can last up twice as long as a conventional roof, also through the insulation effect heating bills are dramatically reduced and also in hot climates in summer the need for Air conditioning use is far less because of the cooling effect of the roof.
Environmental- Green Roofs are gaining popularity due to housing and offices that wish to improve the environment we live in. A green roof filters Co2 and pollutants out of the air and is also very environmentally friendly towards insects and birds. Wildlife enjoy nesting or creating their homes on a green roof top due to its protection. Green roof tops also in large numbers actually create a micro climate in cities as they also effect the air quality and humidity in the local area.

Disadvantages- The only disadvantage to a green roof top is that they are suitable for all buildings. Although they are relatively straight forward to install when done by a professional team, the most important factor is to make sure the roof structure of the building will be able to take the added weight of the plants and soil. Roof top gardens do not have to particularly thick, but they do need a minimum of soil for the plants to take root.
There is a cost to having a green roof top although one must also consider some of the savings made through heat retention and cooling. A green roof top will need some minimal maintenance and if it a large area will need more extensive maintenance and there must always be special attention paid towards waterproofing.