Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: grass roof  (Read 4035 times)

kp

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • near whitby noth yorkshire
grass roof
« on: August 05, 2009, 02:44:16 pm »
Has anyone any experience in grass roof construction, I'm building a shed and intend contructing a meadow grass roof for it, a company local to us produces a product called aquadyne which is made from recycled plastic, this is glued to the roof and holds water within it's structure, turf is then laid on top of this. The meadow turf I was looking to buy is soil less so I will need soil or compost on top of the aquadyne, the problem is how to keep this in place. I would be grateful if anyone has any advice on the subject.

Karen

Troubled Waters

  • Joined Jun 2009
Re: grass roof
« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2009, 03:48:04 pm »
Hi Karen,

I am pretty sure you can get some sort of honeycomb patterned grid that you can put on. Sort of soft, flexible and stretchable that is maybe an inch or so deep that would in effect hold the soil in little cells.  Or if it's a small area you could create your own grid out of timber.  Sure I have seen this on a gardening programme.

Alterantively some green roof suppliers do a sort of all in one 'turf'. When I managed a visitor centre with a green rood they used sedum.  It came on a growing membrane with everything it needed. there were several varieties seeded onto it so the one best suited to the location would gradually colonise the whole roof.  The membrane was just rolled out like a roll of carpet.  Only attention it needed was a slow release fertiliser; the company gave instructions on frequency, quanity etc.  Within just a couple of years there were all sorts of plants seeded on the roof.

All I would say is make sure the shed structure is strong enough.  The benefit of a growing membrane over soil and turf is its lighter.  Soil and grass can retain a lot of water and therefore weight. 

Hope this helps and if I can find any info on my old roof I'll pass it on.

Actually, just re-read your post, do you need soil if the aquadine retains the moisture, can the grass grow on that?

helen.

kp

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • near whitby noth yorkshire
Re: grass roof
« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2009, 10:00:46 pm »
Thanks for that Helen, my dad is helping me with the build and it's a belt and braces job where the strength is concerned, I think you can grow the grass straight onto the aquadyne but it needs nutrients added to the water, the supplier of the meadow turf said it would be better onto some soil. I'll keep looking at different options.

Cheers Karen

 

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