How to Install a Simple and Affordable Green Roof System

Set your own green roof!

This little guide will help you to understand the various considerations, materials, and step-by-step
process you have to take into account to install your very own green roof. Commercially, plenty of
different "green roof" systems exist nowadays, but... how about setting your own vegetated area
within your balcony or create a lovely spot to plant and take care of your vegetables.
At this point, this sounds great, right? You will be able to save a lot of money by disregarding the
services of several contractors and doing, basically, most of the tasks by your own hand.

Credit: www.greenroofs.com
Layers and Materials
First of all, to be able to create a beautiful landscape for us to enjoy when we get up in the morning
and look out the window or simply develop our own vegetable patch for self consumption, we will
have to get our material checklist done.
We will need the following materials for our green roof system and these will be assorted into six
layers:

1. Bottom layer or First layer, also called the "waterproofing layer":

If you are considering a permanent "green area" within a terrace, application of one or two layers of
rubber membranesis necessary to avoid system water leakage vulnerability (modified bitumen ones
area great option). Installation of waterproofing layers is the only step I believe necessary to be done
by an expert, because of the complexity of the task and the special equipment that is used.
A simpler approach is to use plant pots or a raised bed to cover up the planned area and just verify
that water drains correctly and rapidly.

2. Second layer, defined as the "root barrier layer":

Sometimes it is incorporated to the waterproofing system as a anti root solution, so be sure to check
if the selected rubber membrane has this added value.
If not, you can check for commercial garden root barrier sheets that are easily found in gardening
departments of large retail stores.
3. Third layer, the "drainage layer":
Vital to the functionality of our project, the drainage may be composed of small gravel between 1/4''
and 3/4'' diameter. This will allow the quick drainage of excess water outside our system. The layer
thickness is variable to the total thickness and total area of installed green roof or plant pot. Use of
light weight elements like volcanic rocks and expanded clay aggregates are strongly recommended
to diminish the overall weight of the arrangement.
As an alternative for this option, there are several drainage systems designed specially for gardens
and green roofs, usually these products are costly. For the purposes of this article, we will decide to
go with the cost saving choice. You can see from the image that these systems come in form of trays,
giving ability to drain excessive water and store some for humidity retention inside their integrated
cups.
4. Fourth layer, the landscape fabric:
Used to separate the drainage stratum from the soil bed, commercial landscape polyester fabric can
be purchased from large retail stores in the form of rolls. Most of them have weed control and UV
resistance.
5. Fifth layer, the decisive soil layer:

Basic to the growth of plants, optimal retention of

water, and availability of nutrients, the soil tier needs
to be picked out carefully. The characteristics must
address good water retention, proper nutrient
composition, and it is advised to add in special
components to enrich the drainage capabilities. This
latter can be perlite or vermiculite aggregates
blended in within the soil.
Good news come when knowing that prepared garden
soil mixes are easily acquired at gardening stores.
6. Finally, the Sixth layer, the creative layer:
Choose from a wide variety of plants, be creative and choose whatever goes along with your
personality or intentions! You can create a small grass garden for your children to play on top of or,
perhaps, you just want to have your own gardening leisure spot.
Remember! The type of plants you can set are directly connected to the available soil thickness of
the system. So be careful to take this into account. For a more detailed description of this and other
convenient installation tips, I invite you to check the next section!
Step-by-step practical example
Now that we have reviewed the concepts, we will check how the installation process works
bysuggesting the installation of a small grass area 10' x 10' planned for a terrace roof.
Step 1.Drainage:Check for drainpipes within the projected surface, there must be at least 1 drain
pipe per 270 square feet.
Our example yields 100 square feet, so exit to 1 drain pipe says we are good to go!
Step 2. Waterproofing:We are intending to waterproof the selected area.
with a modified bituminous membrane with integrated weed control solution aiming to notworry
about the succeeding root barrier layer. Be sure to ask for these characteristics when selecting the
product.
CAUTION! This is the only task advised to be done by a professional because torch-down application
is needed. The advantages of this waterproofing system is its durability and its reliability.
The good news is that the area is pretty small so it will not take long to place the modified bitumen
layers (less than an hour) and labour and materials are not going to cost much (a standard roll 8' x
32' costs from $70 to $90, maybe you can resolve with the waterproofing contractor to pay only for
the amount of roll used for this project, this should lower the costs a bit).
To prove that the waterproofing installation works, seal the drain pipe temporarily and fill the area
with water until a small pond is made. Let this pond stay like thar for a week and check for
dampness on the ceiling bellow. If no dampness shows up, then the waterproofing has been done

correctly. If not, corrections to the system must be done (this tasks are included within the
contractor's warranty).
Step 3. Aggregate and soil calculations: Okay, now that the tricky part has been done, let's begin
with the fun part! The material volume calculations, to plan for this we will need to answer the
following questions:
a. How deep should my drainage bed should be? An overall 3 in. lightweight aggregate bed will work
fine for this project.
Volume of aggregate = Overall thickness of aggregate needed x Surface = 0.25 feet x 100 square
feet = 25 cubic feet of aggregate!
b. How deep should the soil bed must be for proper grass growth? Grass only needs a 4 in. soil bed
to develop well.
Volume of garden soil = Overall thickness of soil needed x Surface = 0.33 feet x 100 square feet =
33 cubic feet of soil!
Step 4. Placing aggregate layer:Now that we have calculated what we need, we will be placing the
aggregate layer carefully over the waterproofing system, keeping an eye on maintaining an
homogeneous 3 in. thick bed.
A nice tip to avoid wearing out of waterproofing membranes is to place a sheet of polyester
landscape fabric as a base for the above aggregate bed.
Step 5. Landscape fabric sheet:To avoid mixing aggregates with soil, we place another sheet of
polyester landscape fabric after the aggregate layer and beneath the soil preparation stratum.
Step 6. Soil layer:Doing the same as in Step 4, just be careful at placing soil evenly, trying to
maintain the 4 in. bed thickness and, in the end, level the terrain with a piece of timber.
Step 7. Final Step! Turfgrass rolls!:Rolls of turfgrassare sold in dimensions of 10 square feet (3.3' x
3.3') so we only need 10 rolls to cover up our green area! And that is it! To place the turfgrass just
dampen the soil layer and place the rolls gently and closely tight between the adjacent pieces so
grass roots can intertwine.
Grass should adapt quickly, but it is necessary to water on a daily basis for the first week and thrice
a week for the following two weeks.