Green roofs are the latest building trend in the residential construction. To create more green space in urban areas, to provide energy savings and to create a more comfortable living environment for both people and pets, more and more eco-friendly homebuilders are incorporating green roofs into their innovative designs.
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If you want your roof to be the talk of the neighborhood, pay for its self over time via energy savings and enjoy the satisfaction of doing your part to protect the environment, talk to your builder to determine if a green roof is right for your home.
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What Are Green Roofs?
Green roofs are vegetation blankets composed of a root resistant layer or a root resistant roof as a base, a drainage layer and substrate on which the vegetation grows. Green roofs are typically planted with a variety of sedum, a member of the stonecrop family, winter hardy in United States Hardiness Zones 2 through 11.
Green roofs can also be installed over an existing roof, so they are ideal choice for home renovations. Green roofs create immense curb appeal, increase the value of the home and are traffic-stopping beautiful.
Because there are thousands of different varieties of sedum, only low growing varieties are selected. From the hundreds of low-growing varieties, your landscape professional, working with your builder or roofing contractor to select the perfect plants for your particular location; sedums that flourish in Indianapolis are a bit different from those that thrive in Phoenix. Do you want a white, yellow or pink roof? No problem. Sedum roofs can be designed around your color preference.
Ideal For Application In The Midwest
QuickCover™ Sedum made its debut at the August 2013 Illinois Landscape Contractors Association Summer Field Day. “This great product offers solutions to many landscape situations,” stated Jill Bondi, Marketing Manager at Midwest Groundcovers. “It’s so simple, yet it has a variety of applications. With a promise of ninety-percent coverage at the time of installation, it’s perfect for hard-to-cover areas with little soil, excellent for slopes and fairy gardens, a great alternative to sod, and ideal for extensive green roof systems. Plus, installation is a breeze—simply lay the finished mat-like product over your media and water as necessary. That’s it, no holes to dig!” Bondi excitedly added.
The shallow one-inch depth of each 12” x 24” flat and the coarse lightweight media make QuickCover™ Sedum excellent for roofs with weight constraints. This inventive product is compatible with both green roof built-in systems and existing 24” x 24” green roof modular systems. “I’m really excited about the future of the QuickCover™ concept,” said Bondi.
Green Roofs In Indianapolis
Green roofs are quickly gaining in popularity in both residential and commercial applications. Commercial and public building in Indianapolis with green roof installations include:
IU Melvin Bren Simon Cancer Center
Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects, one of the leading architectural and landscape architectural design and planning firms in the Midwest and architects of the Lilly Corporate Center states, “The Lilly Corporate Center (LCC) Green Roof is the latest and most high profile retrofitted green roof installment at the Eli Lilly corporate campus in downtown Indianapolis. At approximately 8,700 square feet, the LCC Green Roof raises the grand total of the campus’ retrofitted green foot area to approximately 20,800 square feet.
Located in a prominent, centralized location, the green roof serves as a visual tool and constant reminder to visitors and employees alike of Eli Lilly and Company’s commitment to corporate environmental stewardship. The green roof serves both the corporation and the city of Indianapolis in ways that are both economical and environmentally responsible. For the corporation, the retrofitted green roof protects and extends the life of the roof assembly atop the LCC, reduces heating and cooling loads by approximately $0.03 per square foot per year, and reduces storm water discharge.
For the city and its surrounding environment, the LCC Green Roof reduces the urban heat island effect and converts previous hardscape surface area into vegetated open space. The LCC Green Roof alone reduces storm water runoff by 188,434 gallons per year and the quality of the storm water that continues to the combined sewer overflow system is improved by the vegetated roof area.”
Why Choose A Green Roof?
Not only do green roofs provide breath-taking beauty, they are sustainable. Green roofs retain approximately 45 percent of rainfall and with their outstanding insulating effect; they affect huge savings on energy bills.
SemperGreen.com, the world’s largest supplier of vegetation blanket for green roofs, explains the diverse array of benefits offered by a green roof, noting:
Advantages Of Green Roofs
A lot of information has been published on the advantages of green roofs. It is said that they produce lower ambient temperatures, are able to capture CO2 and fine particles, can retain water and save energy.
- Financial advantages
- Insulation
- Saves energy
- Protection against sun, rain and temperature changes
- Longer life expectancy of roof covering (three times longer than without a green roof)
- Natural look
- Added value to building
- Rainwater retention
- Less load on the sewer system
- Long life expectancy
- Environmental advantages
- Insulation
- Lower ambient temperature
- Reduces so-called ‘Urban Heat Island effect’
- Captures CO2
- Cleaner air
- Captures fine particles
- Stimulates biodiversity
- Improves/does not disturb the habitat of birds and insects
- Rainwater retention
- Less load on the sewer system, reducing chance of sewer flooding
- Rainwater purification
- Cleaner environment
- Practical advantages
- Sound insulation
- Quieter indoor and outdoor ambiance
- Natural look
- Nice to look out on; greenery has a soothing and relaxing effect
- No need for ballast
- Less work to install roof
This article is syndicated and licensed from Realtor.GetWrittn.com.