Here's what Lesley planted, all local:
Fescue grasses
2 types of sedums
3 types of Dudleya (succulents)
Coyote mint
Sagebrush
Beach strawberries
Lupine
Coast lotus
California rock cress
Lizard's tail
Rosy buckwheat
Soap root
It's all experimental. We'll do updates as the months go by.
On a living roof, the critical place is the bottom: how to keep things waterproof, yet allow drainage. Most roofs I've seen look a bit sketchy in this area. Stuff that'll work for a while, but will need replacing. Anyone got details of long-lasting designs?
7 comments:
Hi Lloyd
I bought a pdf book from Dusty Gedge & John Little from Dusty's website www.livingroofs.org
It is intended for self builders or small scale buildings and has some sturdy details around the eaves that are neat & do not involve overly complicated fabricated components (the sort of thing that would cost a fortune to get made up for a small roof) and would be easy for a DIY enthusiast to put together. While the guide cost something like £10 or so to buy I was happy with it. It covers new roofs and strengthening existing shed roofs plus advice and links on where to buy aspects the waterproofing and protection membranes. The pdf book seems to be intended more for the uk rather than the warmer area of the USA, however I am sure you could adapt it to suit your climate.
This is great! Jakub is planning to follow suit so we'll keep you posted on any interesting discoveries.
Having the garden on the roof sure keeps the rabbits away....
Hi Lloyd,
Coop looks great! We have a living roof on our straw bale house here in VT. For the waterproofing we used bituthene and a product called Enkadrain for the drainage. The Enkadrain is super lightweight and has worked well thus far. (two years) I followed Rob Roy's, of Earthwood Building School, design for living roofs. They are not the most sustainable materials but I think they are outweighed by all the energy saved, etc. I plan on fooling around with some clay as an underlayment for a living roof that will be on a small structure, not something I'll be sleeping under! I'm sure there are reasons it won't work but it'll be fun to experiment! Dams and ponds use clay sometimes to keep water in so why won't it keep it out?
Lloyd, talk to Greensgrow director Mary Conboy in Philly. They're pros at building green roofs. Here's a diagram + info: http://www.greensgrow.org/farm/overview/philly/green-roofs.html
Owl, Thanks, am ordering book.
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At work we use white, single-membrane EPDM for our commercial roofs. Even with full exposure, it is warrantied for 20 years. Protected from the sun, it should last forever. We can't get consistently smooth and round rocks for our ballast roofs (where the weight of the rocks holds the membrane down against the wind) around here so a black fabric layer (about 1/8" thick) is put down = over the EPDM and under the gravel. Watching the water flow down the roof drains, it's amazing how clean it looks. A layer of quality (DuPont's 15 or 20 year) landscape fabric would keep the dirt from settling down into the gravel -- keeping the gravel layer clean for enhanced drainage. A gutter can be built into the downhill edge -- carrying the water to both downhill corners -- with gutter extensions and a chain to gently bring the water down to grade (or to a water collection barrel) without splashing.
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sail4free
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