Green Roof Soil Depth

Careful species selection is needed to ensure outcomes can be met.

Green roof soil depth.

When sedum vegetation is applied to a green roof the weight is approximately 30 kg m2. An intensive green roof is intended to be more of a natural landscape installed on a rooftop. It is also important to factor in the type and lifetime of the roof membranethat will be used. Roughly speaking extensive green roofs have a substrate thickness of between 4 and 15 cm and a weight of 30 to 220 kilo per m2.

Its soil depth is a full 2 inches enough to support many low growing succulents and a limited number of accent plants. The structural engineer must factor in the weight of completely saturated soil since the plantings and the soil will hold a significant amount of water. Rooftop trees rooftop trees are a special category of deep intensive systems. The surface and play requirements are much more demanding than for amenity turf.

Intensive roofs which are thicker with a minimum depth of 12 8 cm 5 1 16 in and can support a wider variety of plants but are heavier and require more maintenance and extensive roofs which are shallow ranging in depth from 2 cm 13 16 in to 12 7 cm 5 in lighter than intensive green roofs and require minimal maintenance. Intensive green roofs may use plants with foliage from 1 to 15 feet and may require several feet of soil depth. Careful plant selection and maintenance is needed to ensure annuals do not become weeds on a green roof. Sports turf requires a designed soil or growing medium to ensure effective drainage and a substrate.

The lite system is typically used on retrofit projects when the roof is engineered with only 15 to 17 pounds per sf for the green roof component. It is generally not recommended for hot climates. There are two types of green roof. Plants for green roofs with a soil depth of 100mm plants for green roofs with a soil depth of 150mm so seize the opportunity to elevate your planting to a whole new level with our pick of plants for a soil depth of 50mm.

This is especially true of intensive green roofs which can have soil that is two feet deep or more. With a total depth of 20 inches up to several feet they require two different types of media to provide the right mix of aeration and organic matter for the deeper root zone which this rooflite soil system provides. These require irrigation and a substrate depth of at least 200 mm.