Having a green roof container home comes with lots of benefits both to the owner and the environment in general. In this post, we will explore why you need a green roof for your container home. Before we go further with that exploration, let us understand what a green roof is. 

 

Key Takeaway

Green roof container homes are eco-roof that allow you to have vegetation on your roofing system. Also, it could be an extension to the existing roof associated with high-quality waterproofing and drainage system. A notable benefit of green roofing is improving health and well-being.

 

TABLE OF CONTENT

• What is Green Roofing?
• The Types Of Green Roofing
• Reasons Why You Need Green Roof Container Home
• Green Roof DIY
• Essential Factors Needed for Green Roof
• Green Roof Examples for Container Homes to inspire you
• Average Cost of a Green Roof

 

What is Green Roofing?

This is the process of plating a layer of vegetation over a waterproofing system installed on top of a roof. You can also refer to green roofs as vegetative or eco-roofs. Alternatively, you can define a green roof as an extension of the existing roof. It involves high-quality waterproofing, roof repellant system, drainage system, filter cloth, a lightweight growing medium, and most importantly, plants. 

Our previous article talked about shipping container homes and how they offer a great alternative to conventional homes. You can read the article to know more about these container homes. Here, we are discussing the benefits of having a green roof container home. Before we go over to the discussion at hand, let us look into the different green roofing types.

The Types Of Green Roofing

We have two primary forms of green roofing, and they are differentiated by the amount of vegetation used. There are two primary forms of green roofing: extensive green roofing or intensive green roofing. The extensive green roofs support up to 25 pounds of vegetation per square foot. On the other hand, intensive green roofs can hold 150 pounds of vegetation per square foot. 

Another differentiating factor is the amount of labor that is required to maintain them. An intensive green roof container home requires a lot of work to manage. It involves keeping the various types of plants separate and maintaining an actual garden. For the extensive container home green roofing, they are left to grow naturally and without restriction. They take care of themselves as they would in the wild, only requiring yearly weeding and fertilization. 

As a private homeowner, the intensive green roof container home allows you to select which flowers you would like represented. Thus, it enables you to sculpt the aesthetic you desire. 

 

8 Reasons Why You Need Green Roof Container Home

Having green roofing for your container home offers you many public, private, and design-based benefits. Although there are similarities among green roofs, you need to understand that each installation is unique. Therefore, every technical performance detail will vary with region, climate, design, green wall type, and container home type. 

There are varieties of reasons why you need green roofing for your container home, and they include the following:

1. Green roofing aid improved health and well-being

This is one of the best benefits of green roofs. They reduce pollution and increase water quality, thus decrease the likelihood of you falling sick. Green roofing for your container home helps create a natural barrier, which reduces the amount of noise coming into your container home. 

The green roofs can also serve as community hubs, increasing a sense of community and public safety. 

2. Green Roofs are Fire Retardant

Green roofing materials have a much lower burning heat load (i.e., the amount of heat generated when a substance burns). This fire retardation feature helps protect your green roof container home. 

3. It Improves the Durability of your Roofing Membrane 

Having a green roof helps decrease the exposure of waterproofing membranes to high-temperature fluctuations. These fluctuations can cause micro-tearing and ultraviolet radiation. Covering the roof of your container home with plants limits its exposure to natural elements. Therefore, it enables your container home’s roof membrane to last longer than when left unprotected with plants. 

4. Increased Energy Efficiency

Green roof container home helps reduce the amount of energy needed to moderate your home’s temperature. The reason is that roofs are the site of the greatest heat loss during the winter and the hottest temperatures in the summer. For instance, research published by the National Research Council of Canada showed that green roofing reduced the daily energy demand for air conditioning by more than 75%. 

5. Waste Product Utilization

Green roof container home utilizes waste products that would otherwise end up in landfills. In turn, it extends the lifespan of some of your household products like the HVAC system. The adoption of container home green roofing reduces the amount of waste generated by your home. 

6. Increase in your Property Valuation 

By adding a green roof to your container home, you will increase the value of your property. This is due to your appliances’ enhanced efficiency and your home container home becoming more aesthetically beautiful. 

7. It Improves Air Quality 

The green plants on your container roof can trap airborne pollutants, atmospheric deposition, and also filter noxious gases. Also, the temperature moderating effect of green roofing can reduce the demand for power plants. The implication is that it decreases the amount of CO2 and other polluting by-products being released into the environment. 

8. Aiding in the Moderation of Urban Heat Island Effect

Through the daily dew and evaporation cycle, the plants on the roofs of container homes are able to cool cities during the hot summer months. In effect, green roof container homes help reduce the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. The light absorbed by the plants would otherwise be converted to heat energy. 

Green roofs also help to reduce the distribution of dust and other particulate matter through the city. It also helps to prevent the formation or production of smog. This plays a major role in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. It helps adapt urban areas to future climate with warmer summers. 

Besides the benefits, you enjoy having green roofing for your container home; there are some other benefits. However, this benefit seems to be for the environment in general. Green roofs can sustain a variety of plants and certain invertebrates. It also provides a soothing habitat for different bird species. By helping to increase biodiversity, green roofing can positively impact the ecosystem. 

 

Green Roof DIY

If you are familiar with roofing, you would understand that green roof is a common technology than people use to cover their shelter. In fact, it has been in existence for many centuries. It serves many purposes apart from its main function of protecting your home and properties.

Utilizing a green roof is a great option for any container home. However, there are certain things you must understand before making this decision. A green roof implies having planted soil and grass on the roof of your building. It abounds in benefits including heat reduction acting as a natural insulator to eliminate the need for HVAC.

So, what do you need to know about a green roof? What component do you need to be conversant with? And how can you incorporate it with your basic container design? These are what you will discover under this thread.

 

Essential Factors Needed for Green Roof

• Suitable Load Bearing Structure – The first thing a green roof requires is a suitable loading bearing structure that allows for the placement of your growing medium. This may include steel beams, timber framing, reinforced concrete, or other framing methods suitable for the roof.

 

• Waterproof Membrane – Dealing with moisture is very important to prevent it from weakening your structural supports. As a result, setting up a membrane to control moisture keeps your structural supports in their natural form. Rubbers proved to be an effective waterproof membrane with its resilience properties.

 

• Air and Water Drainage Layer – Air movement is compulsory to prevent the soil from breaking down. If this happens, the soil may not be suitable for growth. Also, water is a prerequisite to keep the soil in good shape for growth. Therefore, there must be a drainage layer to support your planting.

 

• Soil for Planting – Your planning is not complete without the soil to put on the air and water drainage layer. The soil type you will require depends on your planting needs, which may be grasses or small shrubs plants. To reduce the stress of watering, you might need to consider plants that grow well in your location.

After you put in place all the necessary things, the next line of action is planting. You can do this by planting from seeds, alternatively, you can decide to use plugs or lay a lawn. All these depend on your schedule, budget, and preferences.

We want to help you develop the perfect idea to roof your container home. So we have put together green roof examples to ease your planning.

 

Green Roof Examples for Container Homes to Inspire You

While you check through the selected green roof, ensure you identify the difference in design to inform your roofing decision. These green roof designs are perfect ways to promote sustainability. Check out the images below for inspiration:

1. Blanco Architect Design

 

2. Permaculture and Resilient Design

3. Social Housing Design

4. Extensive Green Roof

5. Living Flowering Roof

Average Cost of a Green Roof

The cost of a green roof varies in cost, depending on associated processes and components. Considering your preference, you may be spending less or more on growing plants on your home roof.

As much as you are incurring costs, you are also saving money and keeping the world safe for living. Obviously, you are providing insulation and cooling when weather condition changes.

The differences in green roofs begin with the roof’s square feet, which extends to other factors to complete the planting. If you want to create a green roof to cover 1500 square feet roof, your budget should be around $22,000.

Below is a comprehensive list of different roof types and their associated average cost;

• Extensive roof cost between $10 – $20 per sq. ft
• Semi-Intensive roof: $15 – $30 per sq. ft
• Intensive roof: $25 – $35 per sq. ft
• Blue-Green roof: $25 – $35 per sq. ft
• Bio solar Roof: $25 – $35 per sq. ft

Depending on your roof type, you can simply multiply the average cost per sq. ft by the total number of sq. ft to get the estimated cost for your roof.

In Conclusion 

You have seen why a green roof container home is beneficial not only to you but to the environment in general. The importance of green roofing for your container home cannot be overemphasized. We have also provided you with a follow-up article on how to install a green roof on your container home.

 

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