Toronto's new green roof law a first for North America
 

The quote pretty much sums it up. I wonder how this is going over with the locals and builders?

Toronto's new green roof law a first for North America | MNN - Mother Nature Network

http://www.mnn.com/sites/default/files/greenroof.jpg

Affects structures 2,000 square meters and larger. Let's hope not many residences are affected!

Why would we hope that?

It's not much more difficult to build a green roof than it is to lay a normal one, except it's much more beneficial.

Green Roof vegetation can include any type of moss covering, which generally are fairly lightweight and don't require a large amount of dirt, meaning that even existing roofs can be converted without much cost.

Why would we hope that? :confused:

Because 1 square meter is more than 9 square feet. So a residence over 2,000 square meters is over 18,000 square feet. That's about 12 times the size of my 1,500 sf home. :eek:

Ah, see, I missed the intent of your post.

I presumed you were alluding to the law being changed to include smaller buildings, which would then affect housing.

In that light, it seems like you're opposed to the law, but now I see what you meant.

Sounds great I plan on having a green roof and have talked about trying to get NKU my university to add one.

does anyone have any links to sites discussing the requirements on retrofits of green roofs? I have a flat tar and gravel garage roof that needs replaced but I'm not sure if a light weight green roof would be an option without major restructuring to support the load.

This may be a good place to start: DIY Green Roof System

The units that they are talking about there are 2' x 2' x 4" and weigh 15 lbs when watered.

cool but one correction.

They are 15 pounds per sqft so 60 pounds per unit.

At 15 pounds per unit removing the tar and gravel and replacing it with a torch down and this would be about the same weight or maybe even less. At 15 per sqft I think I still need to restructure. I showed the idea to my wife and said what about wild flowers? and she loved the idea enough to have me look into prices.

Obviously I've got some more research to do.

Whatever it is, I'd make sure its low maintenance unless you have easy access to the area.

Definitely let us know how it goes though!