. Solar, Wind and Sloped Roofs

Are you looking to design a green roof on a wind affected tall building or a steeper slope? Are you looking to add solar panels over your green roof? As building owners push for more and more ‘green’ on buildings, the importance of having an experienced green roof partner to navigate the design and technical challenges is more important than ever, especially in more complicated designs. Contact us and let us customize a design solution for your project.


COMBINING SOLAR AND GREEN ROOFS

In cities with strong green energy requirements there is sometimes a need to combine solar and green roof areas on rooftops. Columbia Green is proud to offer our Green Roof Ballasted Solar Racking system. In this system the green roof is designed to hold the solar racking in place, reducing roof penetrations and allowing you to maximize the ‘green’ impact of your rooftop. Contact us to find out all the benefits of combining these two systems.

DOWNLOAD Columbia Green Solarized Green Roof System.pdf

GREEN ROOFS AND WIND UPLIFT

Over the last decade Columbia Green has learned the complexities of designing green roofs on roof levels with high wind uplift pressures.  Currently there is no nationally recognized standard for wind uplift testing for rooftop green roof systems.  To help design a system to resist wind, we look at wind pressures from ASCE 07 and wind design guidance from ANSI SPRI RP-14.  Experience has led us to a few different creative approaches to improve the wind resistance of the green roof system.

In general, once mature root systems interlock the plants and media, green roofs are very resistant to wind pressures.  Green roofs weigh more than traditional rock ballast. We have a variety of solutions to meet higher wind uplift pressures, for green roofs on high roof levels or with low parapet walls.  Contact us and we can help you design accordingly.

GREEN ROOFS AND SLOPED ROOFS

Standard green roof systems can be designed for roof slopes up to 2:12. Steeper slopes between 2:12 and 6:12 require anchoring and soil stabilization to help ensure the green roof does not slide off the building. We developed a special layered system that uses expanded geo cells anchored to the roof perimeter.

These types of green roof designs take a lot more coordination from landscape, architectural, civil, and structural engineers.  It helps to design for them early, to ensure the system is fully coordinated.   Contact us to help with your sloped roof design. 

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