Why not transform your roof into an eco-friendly, pedestrian accessible, landscaped environment? With a Garden Roof ®, those who own multi-story housing or office buildings can do just that. The McGraw-Hill Company recently published an article that highlights the benefits and features of having a Garden Roof ®.
Energy efficiency. The Garden Roof’s vegetation and soil acts as an insulator to protect against heat and cold from penetrating through the roof, while preventing energy lost from air-conditioning and heating the building. In addition, the vegetation will increase the solar reflectivity of the roof, reducing the amount of heat stored and released back into the atmosphere.
Water conservation. The Garden Roof assembly can hold between 50 and 90% of rainwater that falls on it. This decreases the stress on storm sewers, city drainage systems and treatment plants.
Perhaps the most appealing feature of the Garden Roof is its inviting therapeutic environment. The walkways and plant-life create a peaceful atmosphere for residents / office workers to take a break and to unwind.
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Great suggestions. I love watching he green channel and have seen them recommend a garden roof as well. Have been doing things around our house to be a little greener as well.
Thanks for keeping us up to date. really enjoying your blog now.
A friend of mine in Austin has been wanting to do that on a 2 or 3 story residential home for a long time, but he hasn’t been able to go there financially yet. There is a retail building south in Austin with a prairie roof and it has been there for several years. I don’t kinow why more builders haven’t followed suit.
Hi Sam, I imagine that builders don’t follow suit due to costs. I imagine costs vary greatly, do you know how much your friend in Austin anticipates the cost to convert his multi-story residential home’s roof would be?
I read that the new corporate Ford building got a garden roof and that it in addition to the benefits you mentioned, actually helped create a few new ecosystems — it became a home for several species of birds. I love that it can cut down costs while improving sustainability and relieving storm sewers. I hope more businesses and residences can begin using these; it sounds like they are much less to implement than solar panels, which are still very costly.
There was a project that going to incorporate that into their design here in Las Vegas. Sadly, they lost part of their funding when their equity partner decided to pull out.
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Good suggestion… Well i personally think that there should be more and more greenery around us, as with this not only eyes loves the atmosphere but also the mind gets relaxed.
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The garden roofs are extremely attractive and have a secondary benefit… they are extremely calming and peaceful. Less noise > more nature = beautiful roof!
any suggestion on what’s the best type of garden roof?
Garden roof vegetation makes the house very cool
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Garden on the roof can absorb the heat of the sun and can make the house cool and relaxing.
I agree with you Juan. Its a very effective way. Does it really works and saves energy in the form of controlling temperature,
Best idea for rainy season, It is a great advantage of garden roofing.The Garden Roof assembly can hold between 50 and 90% of rainwater that falls on it. This decreases the stress on storm sewers, city drainage systems and treatment plants.We must adopt this terminology.
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
I have quiet often seen these houses around and wondered what the extra cost of construction would be. It is a good concept but I am doubtful on the viability financially.
Landscaping is both science and art, and requires good observation and design skills. A good landscaper understands the elements of nature and construction, and blends them accordingly.
I love reading about new ideas that are both doable and eco-friendly!
Well that is an interesting prospect. We should all have eco friendly green roofs full of wonderful plants!
I like your idea. I never thought about the roof in this way.
Love this idea it’s becoming more popular in inner city areas where houses have got no gardens just roof space.
I suppose it also cleans the air thanks to te plants. This feature could beautify the ugliest building. I have seen it in a program about Japanese bureau complex and it looked great
Love the idea of green roofs, especially the thought of growing your own vegetables, flowers and herbs on your roof. One hotel is an example I read saved over $30,000 in food costs in their kitchen by utilizing their roof space to grow things, reaping all the traditional economic and aesthetic benefits, plus more. The impact that it could have if the government funded a green roof plan for business could be amazing – imagine New York suddenly increasing it’s effective surface area to around 50% green space, proportionally! Imagine the competition between office cleaning firms and landscapers to take care of the spaces, also
Very interesting take on this subject. I saw a comment mention this on Digg. I will put a link to this article from my Facebook page.
It’s always been my dream to transform my roof top into a secret garden why not?:-)
Nowadays they are encouraging homes to have their lofts and walls insulated – I guess the garden roof kind of acts as another form of insulation. Plus the plants will be taking in our surplus C02. Great idea.
Great suggestion! I like the idea of green roofing. Not only that we enjoyed it’s benefits, we also helps on saving Mother Earth. Good job!