Wednesday, September 3, 2008

To Irrigate a planted roof or to Not Irrigate a Planted Roof...


OK. So there are many, many opinions in this world - including mine. I say absolutely not - no added irrigation on a planted roof. Reasoning being the challenge lies in designing and constructing a planted roof who can survive without irrigation.

Anyone can irrigate and it is no big deal to design a planted roof requiring irrigation. However - the lush, evergreen planted roof surviving only on natural rainfall and dew - well that is an accomplishment!

Now though you also need to make sure the plants will survive copious amounts of rain too! Good drainage helps here....

Another note - as a lawyer I would be looking to a vegetated roof designer who specified irrigation for my planted roof, if I ever had mold problems - regardless of if the roof's irrigation caused the mold or not - something to think about - the roof is supposed to keep water off the structure - not add water to the structure...

Check out the lushness of the MV Garden Roof panel pictured here (planted in May - photographed in August and with no added irrigation!!!).

Chow for now....

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