XPS Products CATALOGUE
A green oasis in urban surroundings, the green flat roof is both a sanctuary of wellbeing for residents and a welcome improvement of microclimate and roof temperature stability.
A green roof – or, more accurately, a greened roof – can host plants of various species and heigths. Today, green roofs are a contemporary nature‐based solution and a step forward for urban residents to keep in touch with nature even in urban centres.
Besides looking good, green roofs shield and protect the building from unwanted effects of temperature swings. Their surfaces can be utilized for flower beds or even vegetable gardens.
The universally accepted guidelines on planning, construction and maintenance of green flat roofs are comprehensively described by the German FLL (Forschungsgesellschaft Landschaftsentwicklung Landschaftsbau e.V.). Accordingly, we differentiate between different types of green roofs.
»Green Roofing is divided into three different types, depending on use, construction factors and method used to carry out the work. They play a critical part in determining both the plant types which are selected and how the vegetation will look:
Each of these types covers a variety of forms of cultivation, with seamless transition and site-specific differentiation. With due regard to all the information which has been derived from the use of plants and vegetation science, there are some criteria that may be used to differentiate between those three types of greening.« (Source: FLL)
See in Tips just two of them: Extensive greening and Intensive greening.
Requires a less thick soil layer of at least 8 cm and hosts undemanding and mostly self-sustaining vegetation, usually mosses and picturesque sedums. Extensively greened roofs exert less load on the underlying load-bearing structure.
A thicker layer of special soil types of at least 50 cm is required to accomodate more demanding vegetation with deeper roots. Bigger shrubs and even small trees anchored to appropriate supports can be planted.
In addition to vegetation, other technical aspects require particular attention, such as the load-bearing capacity of the roof structure, drainage, as well as the possibility of regular maintenance and an appropriate irrigation regime. The thickness of the growing medium (i.e., the planting substrate) may vary between 50 cm and 100 cm or more, depending on the size of the plant’s root system at the time of planting and its growth potential over time.
