Green Roof on a brownstone?
Anybody know about/have experience with green roofing a brownstone? Cost? Difficulty? Upkeep? People who do it? (I am not a DIY type) I was interested by a recent oped in the City section of the Times. Any advice/resources would be greatly appreciated
Anybody know about/have experience with green roofing a brownstone? Cost? Difficulty? Upkeep? People who do it? (I am not a DIY type) I was interested by a recent oped in the City section of the Times. Any advice/resources would be greatly appreciated
There are two kinds of green roofs: extensive and intensive. Extensive are not more than 3″ deep and grow desert plants like sedums. They are relatively low tech and may not require reinforcements. They cost nowhere near the $100/ sq ft. quoted above. And they provide most of the benefits of intensive roofs. The intensive roofs require much money and work.
I know you are not thinking DIY, but I made a very simple green roof over 1/2 of our roof this summer. I was holding off on posting about it here until it takes off next Spring and it looks more presentable, but you can get a pretty good idea of what it will look like now (if I can figure out how to post pics). There are individual modules with growing media and plants. This design is actually quite similar to what’s also available commercially. I wanted to be able to move it if the roof needed fixing. We planted several species of sedum and nonsedum natives, the majority grown in a nursery specifically for green roofs. We also have planted chives and thyme for the kitchen and portulaca already growing in our backyard. Our top floor bedroom, with an uninsulated tar flat roof over it, no longer sizzles in the summer heat. Greenroofs also more than double the roof’s life and insulate the roof in the winter. We’ve also noticed that butterflies and strange-looking grasshoppers seem to like sedum flowers!
The UK has several government websites that actually encourage homeowners to build their own green roofs, and provide simple recipes.
I’d be happy to help anyone who wants to do this, as I have done quite a bit of research on green roofs so far.
Also check out the below link for several businesses that will retrofit greenroofs:
http://www.greenroofplants.com/green_roof_links.htm#Businesses
There’s an organization in the S. Bronx that is beginning a biz to install green roofs and to create jobs! Check it out:
http://www.ssbx.org/greenroofs.html
I worked for a non-profit that advocates and consults on green roofs. While I would tell you to steer clear of them, I walked away with a solid understanding of how they work.
If you want a fully integrated green roof to plant on, it can cost over $100/sq.ft. The design is quite advanced and over the long run, you will not have to replace your roof for at least 30 years. That being said, if you want to plant anything more than seedums with light weight dirt, you will need structural reinforcements, which is additional to the price above.
The only way green roofs make economic sense is on a large new building where the roof design is integrated into the building design from the beginning. In this case, the cost/sq.foot can be as low as $12.
But if cost is not an issue for you, a green roof is always wonderful.
I don’t have any direct experience with green roofing a b’stone, however, if you look at Prospect Arhcitecture’s website, they have some beautiful examples of their work and they do a lot green roofs. Their architect is coming to look at a b’stone we are considering hiring them for so I did inquire as to the cost of the green roof and we would be interested in basically just a roof deck with some planters and we were told to expect about $60k all in. The more green you want it, the more expensive it gets due to the structural reinforcements required to support the weight of the soil. Hope this helps a little.