Saturday, September 25, 2010

Florida Green Roof Design - Fabric Based Systems - An Innovation With Green Roof and Living Wall Design

One exciting new technology available for green roofs and living walls involves the use of synthetic fabrics as a replacement for mats.

The beauty of using geo-synthetics include:
  • Lighter weight,
  • Ability to wick water - irrigation through capillary action,
  • Cohesive, monolithic pre-planted shapes and designs
  • Allows for root inter-weaving,
  • and more.
Green roof plants can be grown directly into the green roof fabric in preparation for an upcoming job.  The fabrics are available in varying thicknesses and can be installed over flat or curved roof surfaces.

Take a look at the way roots grow into the non-woven material.  One of the bonuses of using a green roof fabric is its high surface area of fiber, affording anchoring opportunities for the green roof plants, capillary irrigation and fertilization and providing a place for biological activity to break down stormwater pollutants.

Green Roof Fabric with Green Roof Plant Roots Growing In The Weave
Green Roof Plant Nurseries are now able to grow sheets of these fabrics, embedded with green roof plant starts destined for the next small or large green roof project.

Importantly, the market now has some really innovative fabrics available for use, especially for stormwater cleaning and pollutant/nutrient removal applications.   For instance, I've been working with several fabrics whose manufactures have shown the material to be quite effective in removing phosphorous, nitrogen and/or oils and greases.  Combined with nutrient removal capabilities of green roof soils, you can design in a one-two-three punch for cleaning stormwater!

Advances in technologies are allowing new approaches to green roofs on a daily basis.

We will be posting more articles on the advantages and case histories of green roofs designed and installed with fabric systems soon.

Always, you can email me for additional information here.

Be sure to check out the new Green Roof Design Blog and the new Green Roof Plant Forum.

Happy Green Roofing!

Kevin

Happy Green Roofing!

3 comments:

Green Roofing said...

I am a fan of Green roofing technology. Great to see you guys helping to promote and inform about it. your blog is very nice and full of information

Brian Vancleve said...

Hi Kevin!

My curiosity about green roofing began last year when I saw my uncle Bernie's home. It so nice and the environment is so cozy. I want to have green roof design soon but I make a plan first before I begin working for it. I'll ask first my father's trusted roof contractor if green roofing fits to our home. I also include to my plan having fall arrest roof anchors and roof anchor points because my dad said that falling protection is really helpful in protecting us while we're working on heights.

Thanks for posting this informative blog! More power to you Kevin!

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