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Living Sod Roof

Starting to build the living roof

By Living Sod Roof

sod03.jpg

Lately I have been focusing a lot of my attention on building the living roof (a.k.a. green roof, sod roof, or turf roof). Last week, I finished building an edge board – a sort of retaining wall around the perimeter of the roof to help hold the soil from sliding off the roof. I debated quite a bit about how to construct the edge board, and eventually I decided that I would use round black locust logs spiked into the rafter ends with giant 8″ nails. Unfortunately, the logs only extend a couple of inches above the height of the roof, so it’s less of a retaining “wall” and more of a little edge “bump.” (See above photo for a better idea.) I’m not too afraid of soil sliding off the roof, so I’m not that worried.

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Getting in the last building work before winter

By Living Sod Roof, Earthen Floor

I will be headed out of Dancing Rabbit in three short weeks to go back to New Jersey for the holidays. Within the past couple of weeks, I have accepted the fact that I will not absolutely “finish” the house before that time. By “finish”, I mean complete the roof, finish the floor, make my rocket stove and cob bed and bench, and plaster the interior.

So. I’ve done some prioritizing. Now that the cob walls are complete, and the windows and door are in, the house is sealed. My biggest remaining priority is the roof – I need to construct an edge board around the roof, create a soil-retaining system, and have soil moved to my site and load it onto the roof. Oh, and seed the soil, too. That’s not a small load of work by any means!

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Cob walls complete, windows and door installed, and more!

By Cob Building, Living Sod Roof, Clay Plaster, Earthen Floor

The past week or so has been quite eventful. There’s been mostly positive progress, but some negative, too.

Cobbing complete!

With Karen’s and my dad’s help, I completed cobbing. The walls are finally done! In just a few days, the gap between the walls and the roof was closed. It was very satisfying to see the final line of the wall meet the decking of the roof. It was awkward work having to stuff the small spaces, but it wasn’t too bad…

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Dressing up the reciprocal roof

By Living Sod Roof, Reciprocal Roof

muslin-under

Before the EPDM went on the roof, I wanted to add a cushion of cardboard on top of the rafters and decking to protect the membrane. And before the cardboard went on, I wanted to add some kind of fabric so that the cardboard would not be visible from inside of the space. I bought a 50 yard bolt of muslin for $50 at Zimmerman’s, and Karen (my current work exchanger) and I draped the fabric and stapled it to the decking.

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EPDM pond liner for living roof construction

By Living Sod Roof

Last week, I ordered the most expensive material for my entire cob house: the EPDM pond liner for my (soon-coming) living roof. EPDM is a synthetic, petroleum-based rubber product commonly used for living roofs, due to its strength and durability. Apparently, it can last 50 years exposed to the sun, and presumably longer buried under dirt.

I have not been thrilled by the prospect of purchasing this petro product for my house (it’s one of the few new, synthetic materials in the whole building); however, it has been challenging to find information on building a living roof using natural materials. Apparently, Norwegians have historically used birch bark as their impermeable membrane. Getting more information than just that has proved difficult, and still, I probably wouldn’t have been willing to experiment with my first house, considering just how important a good roof is. I want to do this right. Perhaps I’ll experiment with an all-natural living roof on a different building in the future. (If anyone out there has details on any books, etc. with information on traditional living roofs, let me know!)

Anyway, the 35’x35′ sheet of EPDM cost a whopping $622, at least $100 of which was the shipping cost. The thing weighs 380 pounds. I’m pretty daunted by the idea of somehow getting this whole thing unrolled over the roof… but I’m sure with enough hands, it won’t be so bad!