Roof lawn do it yourself

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

Green Roof Choice

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

1. Saves space. For those who near the house there is no large plot of land, the roof lawn will become an excellent solution to the problem. You can sit on it, walk and even conduct classes with your beloved yoga.
2. Ecology. Almost any artificial material during heating begins to select harmful substances, and the roofs, especially in summer, are heated to high temperatures. The roof with the grass will also serve also on the production of oxygen, which for residents of the metropolis is very relevant. You can install solar batteries on such a roof, then the owners will receive and cheap electricity at the same time.
3. Absorbs moisture. For such a roof, rain is not afraid, 40 percent of moisture is absorbed by the plant, and 60 evaporate 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 it will not give to penetrate the harmful ultraviolet. She is not afraid of fires, the noise from the street does not penetrate it.

Types of green roofs

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

1. Extensive - in this form use a light soil, in which the thickness is not more than 15 cm. Plants are planting, which do not require careful care. Usually use evergreen plants that grow carpet. It can be surcharges. Per 1 sq m. Square accounts for 20 kg of soil. Therefore, the basis should not be strengthened additionally. This is the simplest technique, it is suitable for landscaping baths, arbors, summer houses.
2. Intense - in this version, the real garden break on the roof of the house, they make the lawn, spread the tracks, there are leisure zones, arbor can stand. In such laws, the pools often arrange, usually it happens on high-rise buildings and shopping and entertainment centers and on expensive hotels. The soil in this embodiment has a thickness of about 1.5 m per 1 kV. M, it turns out to 700 kg of weight, so reliable base is required.
3. Roofs flat and with a skate. Previously, plant roofs were made exclusively on smooth surfaces, usually in large cities, but today we can still see the oasis and on the roofs with a skate, in private socios. To make them use special screens. And only unpretentious green plants are planted, more often the lawn grass.

Herb roof with your own hands

The lawn on the roof is created by centuries proven technology, only materials change, become modern:

1. The base consists of a roof supporting. Equally is the plates or overlap of concrete, for the inclined - the doom. If there is roofing houses on the roof or other roofing material, it should be disassembled. If the plate is completely flat, then you need to make a small 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 basis. Whatever plants you planted, they will need to water, which means that the moisture will leak on the materials under the lawn, and the house will begin to deteriorate. Waterproofing bunds plants from the roof itself, it must be reliable, because if it starts to leak, it will be very problematic to replace to another, it will have to tear the entire lawn, and this is long and expensive. Therefore, you need to immediately take a reliable material, it is best if it is a polyethylene film, a polymer membrane or liquid rubber. The selected material must be searched directly on the roof. It is possible for even greater reliability to make a coating of sea plywood. If you are on the boards, make sure that there are no clearance. Waterproofing needs to be placed in two layers, one layer to attach screws to the roof, and the second put on top and solder on the seams.
3. Now you need to carry out thermal insulation, cork slabs use for it. They need to be laid, joking carefully with each other. The plates of the upper layer are joined with glue. If the roof is inclined, it does not need to be further insulated, because such a layer is already located between the rafters. And if you plant green moss on your roof, then you note that he, in itself, is a natural insulation.
4. The next layer of the plant roof should protect the structure from plant roots. Make such a barrier from the polymer film, ideally it should have a metal coating. And it is necessary to put it on the waterproofing layer. If you look good, you can find waterproofing with protection from the roots. If you have soil plants, this layer is not needed.
5. For water delay, you need to make a drain layer. On the inclined roof, this layer is not needed, as the water will fire itself along the holes for the drain. If the roof is flat, then you need to take care of the drain of water, it should not be stamped. For lower drainage, it is possible to use clamzit or a crushing pumice. Also selling special mats that resemble washcloths. You can use cheaper material - gravel. During the installation of the drainage layer, it is necessary to mount and perforated tubes designed for water drainage.
6. Filtering is needed in order not to clog drainage. A geotextile with a large density can be used as a filter. This layer will not give to mix the soil and drainage. Locked the canvas need mustlest.
7. For an inclined roof, you need to put the crate, otherwise the unfixed soil just crashes. You can use a geovel that looks like plastic cells. It has a little weight. If the tilt at the roof is small, then it is enough to make wooden partitions that will not allow the sloping of the soil. Lattices can post an interesting picture. On the perimeter of the crates you need to make sides.
8. You need to choose the soil on the basis of those plants that will grow on the roof. For the lawn, there is enough layer at 10 cm. It should be noted that the soil should be lightweight, warm, porous. It should be resistant to seal. Ordinary land from the garden for this purpose is not taken. There is a mixture of peat and small clay, sand, clay and slate, you can add some kind of bark and chips from the tree. The soil must be mixed with fertilizers, as well as with lawn grass seeds.

Roof green

After the soil is ready, you can plant plants. It is best to choose the most unpretentious kinds so that they have no need to care for themselves 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 with special lawn frost-resistant grass, then the roof will be green even in winter, for the same purposes, soil plants are planted, such as phlox, molded, cleaning and sedum. Naturally, the roofs are well looking out of the moss, as well as a lawn with meadow herbs, such as bells, oregano, lavender. The height of herbal cover should not exceed more than 30 cm height, otherwise it will not be a lawn, but a whole park.

Roof lawn care

1. Before making a lawn on the roof, you need to understand whether you are ready to care for them, water, fertilize. Abandoned lawn will spoil even the most beautiful house.
2. The lawn is best in April, at this time the grass and other plants will be well accepted, and there is already enough heat of repair work.
3. Soil before planting plants should be with fertilizers and explosion.
4. Periodically, lawn grass needs to be rigged so that the roof has a neat look.
5. Watering plants needed as the soil drying. In dry weather you need to do every day. The soil must be well moistened.
6. Once a month, plants need to feed mineral fertilizers. About six months later, it is necessary to feed less often, because the plants that die themselves will turn into the time in the humus.
7. In the fall, the lawn needs to be treated from the fungus, for this they are divorced by the Fundosol - for 1 weaving, bucket of water and matching boxes of the drug, and thoroughly spray.
8. In the fall on the roof, they are looking for propellants, repair them, correlated the edges, wept grass. The lawn is regularly cleaned from leaves and garbage, and no need 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 fear of greens, you can make a walkway like in the garden. You can also put a gazebo and shops, a rocking chair, in one word, everything to get a full-fledged vacation in nature without leaving your own home.