DIY living green roof installation 

Like auto insurance, if you own free and clear and aren’t in an HOA area… you just take your own risk… I would experiment on a small shade structure, shed or a dog house, etc… before building a green roof on a larger house with any significant value… but I live in California so who knows what might happen when I get around to doing this on my little desert dwelling with five acres between me and one other house.

Hi Mohamed - the excess water goes to an eaves trough that fills a rainwater storage tank.

Nicolas Abouchaar It looks like the asphalt only goes around the edges where the rocks will go. Presumably you needed there because the rocks may allow you feel light pass-through if they shift a bunch.

Well, I would THINK (meaning I don't KNOW) that the plastic would be there for 50 years. Asphalt shingles need to be replaced every 20 years. It does seem to be the more sustainable solution at first blush; but this is my entree into the topic.

Mari Hii cxx

Bummer he never responded to this. I'd also really love to know

50 year ,pay for it

@@ipeeinmysinkimafraidtocome7127 That's not an answer.

In the beginning of the video he explained it's for expansion for when the soil freezes. @1:00

He said it serves as an expansion joint for freezing.

@@CriticalThinker27 Great- how did you determine how wide to make this expansion area?

Heather Carter yes this is possible in Ohio! research or go visit Westcreek Watershed Stewardship Center in Parma. Their roof is pitched and they take on many other ways to deal with water. They’d be happy to help you out. Hope this helps!

I'm also curious about this, especially since one of the layers is itself made of a roll of asphalt

I think maybe a sedum roof would be better than a grass roof in Arizona, since sedum is a succulent. You can buy kits for sedum roofs online.

@@crankysister thanks!

Had to sell his soul

350 kg/sqm

@@morganhorori3105 351 kg/sqm

Have you made any progress on this?

@@mpd9535 I'd like to know too.

Or you could put a garden on it. Maybe some edible perennials. Yes, there's more materials initially, but the thermal mass that the earth provides and the greening of a space that wouldn't be green otherwise is the best choice.

It insulates, reducing energy costs & gives you usable space. Been roofing for 20 years & think it's a great alternative to conventional roofing.

Thanks Steve. In this case there is really no insulation value that it adds, there is a ventilated air space of about 6-8 inches underneath. There may be a minor amount of energy savings compared to other roofing materials, but not enough to write home about. Cheers.

We just sort of let it do its thing, admittedly it can get a little ragged looking but if you live in a home with limited outdoor space this would be a great addition to outdoor space and offer room for gardening. Something like this is a great addition to a downtown core, but in the woods it was more about the visual appeal since its lower than the road level and the first thing you see as you pull up. The house is on Air BNB, so all we really do is spend an hour or ever year pulling out tree saplings before they get too big.

Mike the fact that it doesn't heat up to a billion degrees in the sun should be considered.

Had the exact same thought while watching this - I’d love to see a carbon footprint analysis done on this ...I hope the green roof wins that battle, but it’s hard to see if there’s that big of an environmental benefit vs asphalt (which can be recycled)

Because it's covered in green ssshhhh🤫 😅😂

In my opinion it's the overkill

Because they'll never pull the crap off to throw in a dump let alone every 5-10 years.

The problem, according to him, is the disposal of each batch of shingles and not the shingles per si….

lol

That's a tough one to nail down Benj because we did it ourselves. To hire a company to do it for you would be pretty costly, but if you're handy at all there is really nothing too complicated about. As you can see in the steps of this video, you lay down three membranes then dirt. The dirt is the part I would do it differently - We got a conveyor belt and had wheel barrows on the roof, so it was ridiculously labour intensive. There are dirt pump trucks usually available, but not so much where we built unfortunately. In all I would say it cost in the range of a metal roof, so given that it will outlast many re-shingling jobs, I'm comfortable saying that in the long run it's 'cheaper' than the 'cheapest' option, certainly if you do it yourself. We planted a mix of wild flowers, clover and grass, that's a far cry cheaper than purchasing rolls of Sedum, but its not a look for everyone and it takes a bit more maintenance in pulling out tree saplings. This really isn't for everyone, but we had fun doing it and we wanted to showcase an alternative. Cheers, Mike