There are various different types of roofing that have evolved over the years. Two of the most common methods of sealing and protecting a structure include hot tar roofing, and single-ply roofing. However, one of the most innovative, unique, and functional designs for protecting the roof of a property is referred to as the green roofing method. The green roofing method is exactly how it sounds: green. This reduces cooling costs, and helps raise environmental consciousness in regards to building and maintaining structures.

There are two different types of green roofing systems and they are extensive and intensive. Both include planting vegetation on the roof of a building in an effort to attain the goals outlined earlier; however, both are very different from each other in a number of ways. The first type of green roofing is the extensive green roofing method. The extensive green roofing method is a shallow garden that is only one inch to a maximum of five inches deep that covers the span of the building’s roof area. The plants that should be located on an extensive green roofing system are ones that do not require attention. These plants should not even need to be watered. The idea is to help residents to lower their yearly expenses, not increase them. The more attention that the plants require over the course of the year the more money you will likely spend on having people water, prune, and maintain the plants. This will result in a wash of your investment because the money you save on heating and cooling your property, you will spend on maintenance.

The second type of green roofing system is the intensive method. The intensive green roofing method is really named appropriately. This method is very green, and very intense. This roofing method has soil that runs a minimum of twelve inches deep at least. This roof garden can traditionally run about eighty to one hundred and twenty pounds per square foot of the roofing area. The intensive green roofing method is intended to meet all of the heating and cooling cost goals outlined earlier, and also provides an aesthetic presentation at the same time. People are generally expected to be able to walk through these structures and observe the functionality and beauty of the roofing system.

While both the extensive and intensive green roofing methods involve gardening and installing plants along the surface of a roofing area, and both aim to reduce costs and risks of water runoff, they both have very different functions. One is strictly for looking at from afar, and the other is intended to be observed directly. Even with all of their similarities and differences to each other, they are both widely different than the traditional methods of roofing. The green roofing methods are not for every home, but they sure are beautiful on the structures in which they work.