The Ideal Roofing Solution for You – A Brief Guide

Roofs can be transformed into excellent platforms for making a garden. A garden roof offers some great benefits. And many garden lovers and greenery lovers love utilizing every bit of space they get in making a nice garden or nurture some greenery in their premises. Spaces are limited these days, and dwelling places are getting transformed from houses to apartments. To utilize the diminishing space most smartly, and yet have the satisfaction of planting and nurturing greenery around you that contributes positively to the environment, the utilization of the roof is a great choice. That is why roof gardens have become so popular worldwide.

Plan for a roof garden

You can create a rooftop garden as a DIY project. Materials and items to develop a rooftop garden are available easily. Only you must be sure that your roof is equipped enough to get that garden. The roofing must be done in a way that the roof healthily accepts the garden making, while the building or house do not get affected by the garden on top of it in the future. And this can be done with prior planning. Right, when you are installing the new roof, you should plan this. In case you plan later to build the roof garden you can replace the old existing roof, and get a reroofing done with compatible materials. Here are discussed some of the ideal roofing materials among which you may choose one for building a gardening compatible roof.

Types of living roofs

There are mainly two types of green roofs. Intensive and extensive roof gardens are the two types. The Intensive green roof is to grow large trees, shrubs, large plants and ornamental things like fountains, small statues, etc. This means the roof has to accommodate a thick layer of soil and must have the depth to accommodate this. Also, the depth of concrete or building material for the roof must be such thick and have such support to withstand the excessive load. They are costly investments, needs material and labor cost, and lots of care. The roof for this has to be flat or have a slope of only 3 percent.

Extensive roof gardens are low maintenance low-costing greenery solutions that are designed easily by simply making the existing roof compatible for the plantation. The plants and shrubs etc. planted here are drought resistant, easily flowering, self-seeding types. And mostly grasses, and shrubs and small plants are grown here. Also, this kind of roofing does not get as much foot traffic on the greenery. The roof can have a slope of 33 percent and can still make into a living roof. Hence you must discuss your green roofing project with reliable Klaus Roofing Colorado contractors before proceeding.

Bitumen felt shingles

Bitumen felt singles are an ideal low-cost option for roof garden building. These tiles are super water absorbent, and also absorbs the sound of the rain. They are low cost, and maintenance free. Also, the tiles come in several shades. Hence you may choose one as per the color scheme of the building.

Clay Tiles

Clay tiles are an excellent roofing option for green roofing. The rounded shape of the tiles helps in better ventilation and air circulation. They are recyclable, sustainable, eco-friendly, and low cost. They are durable too with little maintenance. Tiles being a heavy a material insulates the interiors well.

Single Ply Thermoplastic

This is rather a membrane than a roofing material. The existing roof can get a coating of this membrane. It can be installed on any old roofing. The material can absorb ultraviolet rays and are fireproof too. That is why the thermoplastic membrane can be welded and adhered to any roof to make it compatible for green roofing. Normally the rolls of the thermoplastic membranes come in white and gray. Both the colors are very good to deflect sunlight and add to the insulation of the building.

Roofing Pavers

Pavers offer an excellent green roofing solution. Pavers are thick and heavy. If the whole roof is made from pavers, then the roof will be too heavy, and the building and foundation must be such that it can withstand a weight of 23 pounds per square foot for the paver roof. Else you can get them installed wherever you want to plant the greenery. They can deflect sunlight and UV rays up to 78%.

Metal coated roofing

Metal roofing gets more sophisticated these days with a coating of paints and pigments which can add to the properties of insulation and sunlight reflection to them. Altogether metal roofing can be good for green roofing, and an old metal roof can be transformed for green roofing by painting it light colored and coating it with light reflecting pigment.

Built up roofing

This can be built on flat roof, where you layer the roof of any material with layers of asphalt. Asphalt in multiple layers can add to insulation, and make the perfect platform for green roofing. This kind of roof is also called a tar and gravel roof. The insulation in such roofs is excellent, and typically contains 4 layers of tar and roofing material coting to build up the roof.

Finally - The considerations to make a living roof

To make a green roof or living roof there are a few things you will have to consider. Take into consideration the capacity of your building to withstand pressure. A living roof would be exerting extra weight on the building from the top. And if your building is structured and engineered to take that weight or load is to be calculated.

You must also consider if you are ready to maintain the green roof or not. A rooftop garden needs a lot of care and maintenance. This would require you to devote time to it. If you cannot, then you should not plan the green roof. Only when you know, you can devote the time you should take on the project and prepare for it.