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Living Sod Roof

May 20
Love0

Green Roof on Straw Bale House: Alive and Kickin’

By Straw Bale Building, Strawtron, Living Sod Roof
green roof straw bale home

The Strawtron roof is lookin’ good and green these days

When we built our two story timber frame & straw bale house in 2012-13, we incorporated a green roof into the design. It was a hell of a task to pull it off, especially since we loaded all the soil onto the surface of the roof one bucket at a time. Sadly, we never stuck around long enough before moving to Kentucky to see the roof flourish with plant life. Thankfully, it’s doing pretty well these days.

Recently, I got a few photos from friends and I’m happy to report that the green roof is indeed just that — full of plant life and kickin’.

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Sep 17
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Our Living Roof, One Year Later

By Living Sod Roof, Strawtron
Straw Bale House Living Roof

Our living roof starts to grow up

It’s been fun to come back to Dancing Rabbit and be able to see firsthand how our living roof  on Strawtron has changed since last year, when we completed building it. Unlike Gobcobatron, when I cut out sod squares and loaded them onto the roof surface, we used loose topsoil on this second living roof design. It was, in many ways, much more challenging but it was also what was available at the time. Thankfully, plants have started to take root in the soil and it’s no longer bare. I love the idea of an “evolving” living roof and seeing how the diversity of plants changes over time.

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Oct 23
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It’s Alive (Or At Least, Will Be): Living Roof Installed and Seeded

By Strawtron, Living Sod Roof
New Green Living Roof: Straw Bale House

Newly built living roof, seeded and mulched… and one day, green!

Finally finally finally… after many months of waiting, we are on our way to a completely finished living roof on our straw bale house. Yowee. Just last week, we completed the lower roof over the east half of the house. After we designed and built our living roof edge detail, we heaved soil up there once and for all. Very exciting. I guess it won’t be truly “done” until it’s green, but I’m happy enough for now!

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Oct 18
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How To Keep Soil on Your Roof: Living Roof Edge Detail

By Living Sod Roof, Strawtron
Living Roof Edge Board

Our living roof edge detail getting installed

The hardest part of building a living roof, other than figuring out how to get all that monstrously heavy soil or sod up there, is designing a good edge detail that will contain the soil at the eaves and gable ends. A good living roof edge detail should contain the soil on the roof, while simultaneously allowing the excess rainwater to drain off, all without puncturing your liner, and allowing for some kind of gutter system. And it should look decent. That’s a lot of design details to weigh, but I think we developed a good set of plans. Check it out.

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Jun 28
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Something For Your Weekend

By Living Sod Roof, Photos

Cob House - Living Green Roof

Could it nearly be July already? Good gracious. Half the year is gone. Well, so it goes. Here’s a photo of Gobcobatron as of a couple weeks ago, during one of my favorite times of year for the little cob house — right at that time when mud is not so prevalent, and the sky begins to get a little bluer, and the grass on the living roof really comes into its own. The garden, though not mature at this point, shows signs of abundance to come. Ah yes… these are the little moments during the year that I enjoy the most.

Well, have a good weekend, doing whatever you may do.

Oct 28
Love0

Wood Stove Installation: Our Unique Stove Install Job

By Living Sod Roof, Winter, Heating, Strawtron
Wood Stove Installation

Through the wall and up… avoiding our living roof!

Well, I ended up with another weird wood stove installation in the new straw bale house. Back in 2010, I described how I penetrated the living roof of my cob house to install our new small wood stove at the time. (It was equally weird, and awkward.)We did a somewhat successful job (although every now and then we get water dripping into the mudroom).

This time, I wanted to completely avoid penetrating the EPDM pond liner, so I opted for a through-the-wall stove installation. There were a few tricks along the way.

Here’s how it went.

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Oct 03
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Topsoil Quantity Calculator: How Much Soil For Your Green Roof?

By Resources, Living Sod Roof

Here’s a handy tool if you happen to be building a living roof, or doing berm or other earth construction work. This topsoil quantity calculator will give you an idea of how many cubic feet / yards / tons of soil you will need for your project.

A 30×35 roof at 4″ thickness will require 3.5 tons of soil, for example. Wow.

In building our own green roof, it has been fun to try to guess how many buckets full of dirt we will need to use… although it’s pretty hard to keep track.

Well, there ya go!

Sep 28
Love0

The Great Living Roof Prospect: Building Our Green Roof Begins!

By Living Sod Roof, Strawtron
Living Green Roof Party

Our group of volunteers help load soil to make our living roof

Yesterday was our very first day loading soil onto our rooftop, the official start of building our living roof! We used a pulley system to raise 5 gal. buckets up to the roof, where a line of people passed buckets to be dumped. It was a whole lot of fun, and it’s great to see our green roof coming to fruition, after weeks of scheming. Here’s a little bit more about our process.

Just like building our cob house, the living roof of our new straw bale house has had me thinking for hours, and quite honestly, it’s been the source of a lot of anxiety throughout the entire construction process. Gobcobatron was a breeze in comparison — single story, low to the ground, not a huge roof area.

But how would we get soil 25 feet up into the air, at the highest point on our new building? What type of soil, and how would it stay in place? Would people feel safe scampering all over the roof if we did the work by hand? Just how many hours of work is this going to take, anyway?

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Aug 10
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Living Roof and Pond Liner Excitement, and Safety Tips

By Strawtron, Uncategorized, Living Sod Roof
EPDM pond liner

Pond liners... please, lift only once, if you can

Living roofs are a lot of labor. Especially dealing with several hundred pound EPDM pond liners, which are big and awkward to move around. So when you get the liner on your rooftop, make sure it’s going to stay there. We encountered some fun with the recent installation of our pond liner… let’s say we repeated the lifting of the 300 pound liner. Twice, actually. The circumstances were… a bit scary.

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Jan 17
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Beautiful Rustic Swedish Cabins: Urnatur

By Living Sod Roof, Photos

urnatur rustic cottages 03

Sometimes I wonder if I wasn’t meant for Scandinavia. What with the region’s stunning living roofs, the old and beautiful traditions of timber construction, the forests… wow. This is my kind of aesthetic. These particular images are from Urnatur of Sweden. Urnatur is a so-called “eco lodge” and retreat, home to these lovely little rustic cottages. Inspirational stuff!

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