Lawn on the roof with your own hands

In the western countries it's hard to surprise someone with an oasis on the roof. But for many residents of the post-Soviet space this miracle of natural design is still a wonder. Although, if climatic conditions permit, you can make a lawn on the roof of the house with your own hands.

Choosing in favor of green roof

Roof with lawn is not only fashionable and stylish. It has a number of significant advantages:

1. Saves space. For those who do not have a large plot of land near the house, a lawn on the roof will be an excellent solution to the problem. On it you can sit, walk and even conduct classes with your favorite yoga.
2. Environmentally friendly. Virtually any artificial material begins to emit harmful substances when heated, and roofs, especially in summer, are heated to high temperatures. The roof with grass will also serve to produce oxygen, which is very important for the inhabitants of the metropolis. You can install solar panels on such a roof, then the owners will receive cheap electric power at the same time.
3. Absorbs moisture. For such a roof, rain is not terrible, 40 percent of the moisture is absorbed by the plant, and 60 evaporates into the atmosphere.
4. Heat and sound insulation - the greens on the roof will bring additional heat in the cold season, and in the summer will not allow to penetrate the harmful ultraviolet. She is not afraid of fires, through it is not so penetrates the noise from the street.

Types of green roofs

Depending on the technology of construction, there are several types of plant roofs:

1. Extensive - in this form, use a light primer, which has a thickness of not more than 15 cm. Plant plants that do not require careful care of themselves. Usually, evergreen plants are used that grow with a carpet. It can be sedisma. On 1 sq. M. Of the area 20 kg of soil are necessary. Therefore, the foundation should not be strengthened additionally. This is the simplest technique, it is suitable for landscaping bathhouses, arbors, summer houses.
2. Intense - in this version on the roof of the house they break a real garden, make a lawn, lay out tracks, have recreation areas, there can be gazebos. On such lawns often arrange pools, usually it happens on high-rise buildings and shopping and entertainment centers and expensive hotels. The soil in this version has a thickness of about 1.5 m per 1 sq. Km.m, it turns out up to 700 kg of weight, therefore a reliable base is required.
3. Roofs are flat and with a slope. Previously, vegetable roofs were made exclusively on flat surfaces, usually in large cities, but today you can more and more often see an oasis on rooftops with ramp, in private farmsteads. To make them, use special screens. And plant only unpretentious green plants, usually grass grass.

Vegetative roof with own hands

Lawn on the roof is created by centuries of proven technology, only materials change, they become modern:

1. The base consists of a bearing roof structure. At level - it is plates or floors from concrete, for inclined - lathing. If there are roof tiles or other roofing material on the roof of the house, it should be disassembled. If the plate is completely flat, then you need to make a slight slope, it should go to the drain and be at an angle of 5 degrees. To do this, you need to make a cement screed.
2. Be sure to put waterproofing on the base. Whichever plants you plant, they will need to be watered, which means that the moisture will seep into the materials under the lawn and the house will start to deteriorate. Waterproofing fences the plants from the roof itself, it should be reliable, because if it starts leaking, it will be very difficult to replace it with another one, it will be necessary to tear the whole lawn, and this is long and expensive. Therefore, you should immediately take a reliable material, best of all, if it is a polyethylene film, a polymer membrane or a liquid rubber. The selected material should be placed directly on the roof. It is possible to make the coating made of marine plywood even more reliable. If you have boards, make sure that there are no gaps in them. Waterproofing should be laid in two layers, one layer should be fixed with screws to the roof, and the second one should be laid on top and soldered at the seams.
3. Now you need to conduct insulation, for it use a cork plate. They need to be stacked, joining carefully with each other. The plates of the top layer are joined with glue. If the roof is inclined, then it does not need to be insulated further, because this layer is already located between the rafters. And if you plant a green moss on your roof, then consider that it, in itself is a natural insulation.
4. The next layer of the plant roof should protect the structure from the roots of the plants. Make such a barrier of a polymer film, ideally it should have a metal coating. And put it on the layer of waterproofing. If you look good, you can find waterproofing in the store with protection from the roots. If you grow soil cover plants, then this layer is not needed.
5. For water retention you need to make a drainage layer. On an inclined roof this layer is not needed, since the water will drain by itself along the drainage holes. If the roof is flat, then you need to take care of the water flow itself, it should not stagnate. For bottom drainage, you can use expanded clay or pumice. Also sold and special mats that resemble loofah. You can use a cheaper material - gravel. During the installation of the drainage layer, it is necessary to mount perforated tubes intended for drainage of water.
6. Filtering is necessary in order not to clog the drainage. A geotextile having a high density can be used as a filter. This layer will not allow soil and drainage to mix. Layer to overlap.
7. For a sloping roof, you need to put the crate, otherwise uncommitted soil will simply slip. You can use a geogrid that looks like plastic cells. It has a small weight. If the slope of the roof is small, then it is enough to make wooden partitions that will not allow the soil to slip. Lattices can be put an interesting drawing. On the perimeter of the battens it is necessary to make skirts.
8. Choose the soil you need, based on those plants that will grow on the roof. For a lawn, a layer of 10 cm is enough. It should be noted that the soil must be light, warm, porous. It must be resistant to compaction. For this purpose, ordinary land from the garden is not taken. Here a mixture of peat and fine claydite, sand, clay and slate, you can add a bit of bark and wood chips. The soil needs to be mixed with fertilizers, as well as with seeds of lawn grass.

Greenery on the roof

Once the soil is ready, you can plant the plants. It is best to choose the most unpretentious species, so that they do not need to be taken care of often and for a long time. On the roof conditions are close to the desert - heat, wind and dust.
In the store you can buy seeds of special lawn frost-resistant grass, then the roof will be green even in winter, for the same purposes plant groundcover plants, such as phlox, juvenile, peeling and sedum. Naturally, the roofs of moss look good, and also the lawn with meadow grasses, such as bells, oregano, lavender. The height of the grass cover should not exceed more than 30 cm in height, otherwise it will not be a lawn, but a whole park.

Roof lawn care

1. Before you make a lawn on the roof, you need to understand if you are ready to take care of them, water, fertilize. An abandoned lawn will spoil even the most beautiful house.
2. To build a lawn is best in April, at this time grass and other plants will be well used, and already enough warmth of repair work.
3. The soil before planting must be fertilized and loose.
4. Periodically, the lawn grass needs to be mowed so that the roof has a neat appearance.
5. You need to water the plants as the soil dries. In droughty weather, you need to do this every day. The soil must be well moistened.
6. Once a month, plants need to be fed with mineral fertilizers. Approximately in half a year it is necessary to feed less often, because plants which die, will turn in due course in a humus.
7. In the autumn, the lawn needs to be treated from the fungus, for this dilute fundosol-1 weave, a bucket of water and a matchbox of the drug, and carefully sprayed.
8. Autumn on the roof looking for bald spots, repair them, straighten the edges, sow the grass. The lawn is regularly cleaned of leaves and debris, and it is not necessary to mow closer to winter. In November, no longer need to walk on the grass, so as not to damage the lawn.
9. To move around the roof-lawn without fearing for greenery, you can make paths, as in the garden. You can also put a gazebo and benches, a rocking chair, in short, everything to get a full rest in nature, without departing from your own home.