Roof gardens are built for both their aesthetic and their functional values. A roof garden can provide temperature control, architectural enhancement, hydrological benefits, and of course food. It can also serve as a habitat for wildlife. There are a number of advantages when you plant a roof garden. It can cool the room below it, especially during a hot day. During winter, it provides insulation against the cold. In Germany, roof gardens are required to retain water from evaporating. It will prevent flash floods from occurring. There are three basic types of roof garden. They differ according to the maintenance they require, the type of plants the roof will support and the depth of the soil. The three types of roof gardens are:

Extensive Roof Garden

This is the easiest type of roof garden to maintain because it uses shallow soil. Extensive roof gardens are lightweight, and ideal for the roofs on garages, sheds, and other small extensions of the home. Although it’s easy to maintain this type of roof garden, it has the least aesthetic value, and the number of plants that can grow on it is quite limited. Examples of plants you can grow in an extensive roof garden are lichens and mosses. Lichens are symbiotic organisms that can colonize on surfaces such as glass, metal and plastic. Mosses are small green plants that do not require large quantities of nutrients for survival. They cling on stone and walls and, can live off of rainwater alone.

Semi-extensive Roof Garden

This type of roof garden has deeper soil, and can support a larger variety of plants. It can therefore be decorated more easily than the extensive roof garden. The soil is heavier in a semi-extensive roof garden, and requires a stronger structure in order to support it. One could plant sedums in this type of garden. These are succulents that can store water in their tissues. That means you won’t need to go out and water them every day – but during times of drought, they could die and turn patchy if not properly cared for. On a semi-extensive roof garden, you can also plant wildflowers that can grow without any maintenance.

Intensive Roof Garden

This type of roof garden can support trees and elaborate arrangements. Intensive roof gardens require large, strong structures to support them. Most homes are not suitable for this type of roof garden, but they can be found on concrete buildings and on top of roof decks. There’s no limit to what you can plant in an intensive roof garden, so long as the structure of the building can support the weight.

Vegetation Blankets

Another interesting option for green roofing is the use of Vegetation Blankets. For more information, see Vegetation for Roof and Ground Covering. Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wengs/ / CC BY 2.0

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This article was first published on Build and Rebuild. To continue reading, please view the original post at Three Types of Roof Garden.

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Vegetation blankets can be used to create green roofs, but they aren’t limited to just that.

A vegetation blanket consists of a layer of fiber covered in a substrate on which plant life can live; with various plant species growing on it.

These blankets can be used to cover roofs, roundabouts, sound barrier walls, and embankments – to name a few.  They can literally be rolled up for transport and then unrolled on top of the surface you wish to cover.

Due to their flexibility, they are also versatile and can lie over a curved roof, a sloping surface, or just about any otherwise awkward area.  They are light-weight, insulating, and low-maintenance.

What’s more, they are quite eco-friendly.  A green roof can be used to absorb and evaporate water runoff that would otherwise be wasted – or even worse, that would flood sewer systems and pollute rivers (as is the case in Portland, Oregon, for example).

Furthermore, a roof which is covered in live vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide and emits oxygen, thus helping to restore balance on a carbon-heavy planet that currently needs all the vegetation and plant life we can put on it.

For more information on vegetation blankets, where to get them, related services, and other details, please see this product description of Sedum Vegetation Blankets.

This article was first published on Build and Rebuild. To continue reading, please view the original post at Vegetation Blankets for Green Roofing and More.

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For Roof and Ground Covering

Sedum Vegetation Blankets

The Sempergreen® vegetation blankets consist of a coconut fiber blanket, a layer of substrate, and various sedum species.

The growth and development of the plants creates an integrated blanket.

Sedum has water-storing leaves and therefore can withstand harsh environments. By combining creepers and ground covering plants you can alternate between growing and blooming. An additional advantage is that these plants can withstand extreme weather conditions. To add diversity, you can also have grass and herbs growing in the vegetation blankets.

Extensive Roof Gardens & More

Sempergreen® vegetation blankets can be applied to nearly every roof. Is your roof sloped or is it a flat roof? Our lightweight and insulating green roofs provide instant and spectacular results. With its rapid application and instant effect, the vegetation blanket feels at home immediately on any roof. In addition, the purchase and maintenance costs are most competitive even compared to bulk and modular roofs, while offering 85% coverage instantly. The blankets have a protective function such that green roofs last two to three times longer and you save a great deal on energy costs in summer and winter.

Green roofs, blossoming roundabouts, erosion-resistant embankments, green-covered sound barrier walls and magnificent ground covers. Sempergreen® vegetation blankets can be used everywhere. They can be applied quickly and are as good as maintenance-free. Take advantage of our 14 years of international know-how and experience to further increase the success of your vegetation blanket!

Roof Garden Products

To ensure the full success of your vegetation blankets, you can order a complete package from us. Follow-up, consulting and free project advice, and the delivery of your Sempergreen® vegetation blankets, we supply everything else that you might need for your green roof. For example: substrates, drainage material, protective sheets, foils, membranes, inspection pits and eave profiles.

Growing Together

Extensive support, straightforward advice, good products, competitive prices, excellent references and making the impossible possible… That’s how our customers know us. In addition, we are happy to be a partner to an installation contractor and not a competitor. That is the reason that we support projects free of charge and do not install down the vegetation blankets ourselves.

Why is it that our customers truly want to do business with us?

We join forces for the best possible projects results!

With Sempergreen® vegetation blankets you immediately see mature growth with little or no maintenance. A green roof with vegetation blankets has water retention of around 45-70% and provides substantial energy saving.

Other benefits are:

• Visually attractive appearance
• Simple, quick and easy to apply
• Very high growth percentage (at least 85%)
• A lightweight solution (a green roof is possible starting from 19 lbs/square foot (100 kg/m2)
• Only a thin substrate layer is needed compared to other extensive systems (2-5 inches depending on the region and the structure)
• Uniform drainage and purification of rainwater
• Resistant to nearly all weather conditions where people can live as well biodegradable
• Suitable for nearly all types of roofs and slopes
• Insulates in summer and winter
• Sound damping
• Unlike freshly planted bulk roofs its hardly sensitive to damage by birds

For more information on vegetation blankets for roof and ground covering, and for specific product information, contact:

Sempergreen USA
19315 Carrico Mills Rd
Stevensburg VA 22741
Tel.:540-399-5055
Fax :540-399-9085
office@sempergreen.com

www.sempergreen.com

Here you can also request custom-made quotes to your specifications. Do not hesitate to call us. We will gladly respond to your requests.

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Establishing and utilizing a home greenhouse is an excellent way to save money on groceries, follow a healthier and more nutritious diet, conserve on energy, and help the environment at the same time. But greenhouses don’t grow on trees – they have to be built. Not all of us have a professional builder in the family, or the budget to hire a specialist.

This is where greenhouse kits come in handy. If you aren’t looking for elaborate design but you need a basic and simple greenhouse for home use, this is a great way to get started without a large investment of time or money.

Greenhouse kits vary widely in cost and design. A very simple and economical variety can be found for under $40.00 or $50.00. This small greenhouse might consist of nothing more than a 2 foot square fabric tent where you can house a few plants and extend their growing season.

In this price-range, you can also find a basic enclosure system for a greenhouse, which will provide the framework and support that can then be covered in the material of your choice.

Moving up the line, you can find a more serious set-up for anywhere between $400 and $900, which includes either fabric or glass walls, and provides enough space to grow a full set of vegetables or other plants. Larger greenhouses, from 10 to 20 square feet in size, cost a few thousand dollars. But this might still be far simpler than building the entire structure on your own.

Once you’ve found and purchased the greenhouse kit that’s right for you, you will need to assemble it yourself, just as you would with any other kit. But you will have step-by-step instructions and all the parts you need, cut and sized to fit, and tested by the manufacturers.

While setting up a greenhouse requires an investment of time and money, you should be able to recoup your investment over time, providing that you actually use your greenhouse. The amount of money that can be saved by growing one’s own food is easy to underestimate – particularly where large families are concerned.

Growing food inside a greenhouse is extroverting, fun, and educational. It can make it possible for you to grow foods at all times of year, instead of being limited to certain seasons.  It can be very frustrating to go out and buy gardening equipment and seeds, only to get so busy with work that by the time you are ready to work on your garden, it is too late in the year.

A greenhouse can give you the extra leeway you need, and make it possible to have fresh home-grown vegetables year-round. It might also make it possible for you to grow the plants which normally wouldn’t grow in your region at all. Such as – who knows, habaneros in Montana?

This article was first published on Build and Rebuild. To continue reading, please view the original post at Greenhouse Kits.

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Hemp is the all-purpose material long-championed by Thomas Jefferson and 1960s American counterculture alike.  Food, textiles, paper, and fuel—there is a growing trend to cultivate this miracle crop and turn it into more eco-friendly versions of common products.  Why is it so sustainable?  Hemp can be grown rapidly and easily, like bamboo, without any herbicides or intensive labor. It regenerates, it regrows.

So how on earth can we utilize the plant for home construction?  A handful of companies are now specializing in building walls, floors, and other structural components of houses out of chopped up hemp (it looks like mulch) combined with lime.  Like the soybean insulation, the mixture of hemp and lime is sprayed on to a plywood base.  It is easy and incredibly durable.  A thick earthen wall made of hemp is also great for heat insulation.

Europe is ahead of the hemp game, with a growing industry in this type of eco-building, especially in Ireland and the UK.  There is reason to believe that the U.S. will be catching on very soon.   Perhaps some U.S. representatives will be attending the 1st International Hemp Building Symposium in September, taking place in Kenmare, Ireland.

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So you’re building a new home, or adding an addition, and you want to pursue the most sustainable options available.   Surprisingly, soy and bio-based materials have recently been spotlighted by the green building industry as an eco-friendly alternative to traditional insulation like fiberglass.   Home and Garden TV recently featured a home being sprayed with white goop in between the 2-by-4s of the new walls that expands as it dries.  Soy insulation is apparently safer for human health and for the environment.  It might even cut back on the amount of wood needed for construction, as the substance’s insulating properties are so great.  And, as a biopolymer, soy won’t support the growth of mold or attract hungry critters living in your basement.

With bio-based building products, there is no risk of coming into contact with formaldehydes or VOCs (volatile organic compounds).  It has proven very effective for people with severe allergies. As far as energy efficiency, it has a high thermal insulation capacity to keep heating bills down and fewer resources used for energy generation.

The United Soybean Board is working hard to promote the application of soy in industrial and building projects.  Currently, BioBased Insulation is one of the leading manufacturers of the soy foam insulation that is used in new construction projects.  The product is sprayed on in liquid form, dries and expands up to 100 times its original size, completely filling in all holes and giving your home air-tight protection.

If you’re looking to build up LEED credits, the soy-foam insulation can count significantly towards your certification.  Apply it towards a number of different LEED categories: Energy Efficiency, Low-Emitting Materials, Rapidly Renewable Materials, or Innovation in Design.

Another word about safety—bio-based insulation is virtually fireproof.  It has a class I rating according to the National Fire Protection Association, meaning that it won’t go up in flames.

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Over the past few years we’ve been hit by a wave of new eco-friendly product labels, designed to help consumers pick out the most sustainable brands.  But in the long list of certifications, one of them stands out as the most comprehensive: Cradle to Cradle.

Pioneers in the realm of sustainable design and green building, architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart have started one of the most all-inclusive product certifications.  Made famous by their book by the same name, published in 2002, their entire approach to sustainability trumps all others because they envision products that can be entirely recycled or biodegraded at the end of their life cycle.

What’s more, a product can only be certified by Cradle to Cradle if the company adheres to principles of social justice in its relationship with employees and the community at large.   One of the founding principles of the C2C philosophy is that industry and the environment can be compatible; capitalism and ecological goals can and should work simultaneously in the new industrial age.   Waste does not need to exist.   Smart design is good for the planet, the people, and the economy.   They call it the New Industrial Revolution.

Cradle to Cradle has concentrated its efforts on certifying green building products, although one of its most recognized customers is the U.S. Postal Service, which uses paper and a manufacturing process that are incredibly sustainable.  Its green building companies include Steelcase, ACCO brands, TimberSIL Wood Products, Centria, Herman Miller Inc., and Eagle Corporation concrete products.  From small to large, companies the world over have to meet extremely rigorous qualifications to get this prestigious certification.

Take IceStone LLC, a Brooklyn-based company that manufactures countertops from reclaimed glass and operates by a triple-bottom line approach to business (people, profit, and planet).  What exactly did they have to do to get their Silver Cradle to Cradle product certification?  The five main categories in the criteria program are material health (i.e. no harmful chemicals), material reutilization (i.e. can it be recycled at the end of its lifecycle?), water usage in the manufacturing process, energy use, and social responsibility.  The company must generate or buy a significant portion of its energy from clean sources.  The water used in the industrial process must be limited to grey water systems and have strict chemical quality standards.

From a design standpoint, the material reutilization component is one of the most interesting and challenging; most companies haven’t received the Gold rating yet because designing for complete reintegration into the environment is something very new in industry.  Still, all Cradle to Cradle products like IceStone countertops have been given a thorough life-cycle analysis and take the environment into account at every step of the industrial process, from manufacturing to shipping to how well the company treats its employees.  Most eco-labels are not yet this comprehensive.

McDonough and Braungart have a special interest in materials and surfaces, from carpets to house siding.  Centria is a C2C-certified brand that specializes in roofing and siding materials.  Its innovative roof panels, for example, are not only made with recycled materials and meet the rigorous manufacturing qualifications, but their insulating capacities will increase the energy efficiency of the building they’re installed on.  The company’s EcoScreen products are perforated screen walls that provide air circulation and ventilation for indoor or outdoor applications.

Cradle to Cradle’s innovation in design, sustainability and industrial philosophy have helped it become recognized as one of the most comprehensive and prestigious certification systems available.

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Although there are some quality natural alternatives for finishing walls on the market today it seems that the most natural and longest lasting alternative is clay plaster.  American Clay, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has developed a beautiful suite of clay finishes and colors that seem to bring out a look, feel and texture that paint could never achieve.

One of the amazing characteristics of clay plaster is the fact that the material is incredibly dense and that it aids in maintaining a higher level of negative ions within a structure.  It seems that all things electronic emit positive ions creating a less natural environment.  Just the simple addition of a clay wall finish could help to counteract the negative effects of all of the electronic gear we find so essential today.

American clay has a nationwide network of trained applicators.  For those of us who want to do it ourselves there are numerous opportunities to learn the basic technique of clay application.

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We’ve talked about straw bale constructions here before, so we know this is a realistic form of construction.  They don’t blow down as easy as the storybooks say, and the houses are quite beautiful.  But is it really safe?  Isn’t straw highly flammable?  What about earthquakes?
There is actually evidence to suggest straw-bale accommodations are SAFER than current methods of home design.

First off, when it comes to fires, straw bale housing is extremely fire resistant.  Sure, you don’t want a lot of loose hay coming out of the walls near an open flame, but if properly constructed, trying to burn down a straw bale house is like trying to burn through a phonebook.

This is due to the fact that a well-constructed straw bale house is packed airtight using special tools and techniques.  This ensures that there is no settling after the roof is finished, that pests stay out of the airtight wall cavities, and, most importantly, that walls are fire resistant. Once the bales are fastened together, wrapped, and covered in plaster, there is no room for oxygen to feed a burn.  In fact, tests performed throughout North America show a traditional wall can be devastated by a fire in half an hour to an hour while a straw built wall holds strong for two hours before the flames burn through.

Straw-built walls are also better for earthquakes.  I know you are imagining tumbling hay stacks right now, but not so fast.  In the load-bearing structures, which still do not pass regulations in many locales, the walls are particularly strong.  Scientists have begun to point out these are actually the ideal building practices in earthquake-prone regions like the California coast where frame houses often shake apart.

Third, a straw-built structure is better for your health.  While most people might see this as a stretch, straw bale houses are healthier because they are more soundproof.  Studies show repetitive noises like traffic, which we tend to tune out after long exposure, take significant years off life span, even if not consciously heard.

Additionally, materials usually used for insulating and building a home can be hazardous to human health by aggravating allergies and causing Sick House Syndrome.  Most sufferers never even realize their home is making them sick. Straw bale houses do not have these hidden enemies, as you know exactly what is in the walls.

As you can see, building your house out of these bulky Lego-like blocks provides a safe, healthy living environment.  In America, 200 million tons of straw go to waste or get burned every year, producing ghastly amounts of CO2, while we create more pollution manufacturing traditional housing materials that are hard on the environment in incalculable ways .  Not too mention all the energy consumed to transport materials when straw is often a local, untapped resource.

So set your concerns aside. Straw bale housing really is a safe and eco-friendly alternative.

This article was first published on Build and Rebuild. To continue reading, please view the original post at Are Straw-Bale Constructions Safer?.

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Cob is an ancient building technology being rediscovered for today’s green home.  A gob is a clump of dirt and fiber that can be tossed from builder to builder on a cob work site.  If throwing mud isn’t enough, try squishing it between your toes.  Cob is traditionally made by mixing sand, clay, straw, and water with bare feet in a labor-intensive yet rewarding process for the do-it-yourselfer.

Building with cob (also called earthen building or natural building) is easy to learn, requires few manufactured resources, and no power tools.  Cob walls are very forgiving, and the material is nontoxic, so kids can help with the project.

Because cob homes are hand-sculpted, they lend themselves to unusual shapes and curves.  They are a good fit for passive solar design because their one to two foot walls provide impressive thermal mass that keeps the interior temperature stable.

Pipes and wires are laid directly in the wall, and there is no need for vapor barriers, sheetrock, or painting.  Different mixtures of the same basic cob materials can produce plasters, floors, and interior structures like sleeping platforms.

Cob builders are typically aware of the benefits of building with local and natural materials.  They often incorporate recycled and locally salvaged materials into dwellings that are both beautiful and affordable.  Check out these cob homes handbuilt by  MudGirls Natural Building Collective.

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