Green Roofing
Green roofs, or living roofs as they are also well-known, deliver many aesthetic and environmental benefits and are increasing in popularity across the country in both domestic and commercial situations.
Looking for commercial green roofing? Click here.
On this page:
Use the links below to jump straight to the information you need.
- Specifications
- Installations
- Kits
- Training
- What is green roofing?
- Types of green roof
- Planning your project
- Finding a contractor
- Products
- Buy online today
- Full range coming soon
- FAQs
- About PermaRoof
- Green roofing news
Making the UK greener – one roof at a time
Our team can help you with all your green roofing projects, regardless of size. Whether you’re planning a rooftop terrace or a green roof for a garden office, we can help right from the start of the planning stages through to supply, planting medium and finishing.
Benefits of green roofing
Green roofing offers a wide range of benefits for both the environment and for your buildings. Enjoy increased insulation properties and roof life expectancy, reduce surface water and increase the aesthetic value of your surroundings.
- Environmentally friendly
- Can be an aid to planning (BREEAM)
- Increased life expectancy to waterproofing
- Reduces water run-off volume
- Keeps roofing cooler in summer and warmer in winter
- Aesthetically pleasing
- Increased amenity space
- Recreating habitat
- And more.
Getting your project right
A green roof project involves complex layering and getting this part right is the key to its sustainability. Waterproofing the roof deck and constructing drainage layers is critical and must be tackled in the correct order to ensure the water stays where it is supposed to stay, and drains away efficiently in other areas.
Planning permission should be sought for your green roof project from the appropriate authorities, and you must make sure that your current roof deck is able to support the additional weight of the roof when completed.
PermaRoof Green Roof Division Services
How PermaRoof can help with your green roofing project
Specification Service
Built to your requirements. We will offer as much advice as you need in order to achieve the perfect green room system for your project. A full specification can be built to your individual requirements to include site visit and consultation. We can assist you through every stage of the process from design through to installation. Relax, you’re in safe hands. You are welcome to visit us by appointment at our head office.
Green Roof Installations
We supply a national network of local independent installation companies that can tender for your work. Call us for your nearest one.
Installation Kits
For the smaller self build jobs, we have put together a very simple package, that comes with full back up and advice. These kits can usually be delivered next day, directly to site anywhere in the UK. Ask us for details.
National Training Centre
We offer training days to installers as well as green roof awareness days to clients. We strive to keep up to date with the industry as part of our commitment to keep all our installers and clients up to date. Our mission is to educate as many people about green roofing as possible, so we can do our little bit.
Getting Started with Green Roofing
What is Green Roofing?
Green roofing has been around for thousands of years. Early green roofs consisted of moss, leaves and woven twigs to keep out the rain and later came reed or thatched roofing. Modern green roofing is a bit different. Consisting of layers of material, today’s green roofs can help with urban rainwater management and reduce surface flooding in some areas. They can also provide a haven for wildlife and this has in recent times contributed to its rise in popularity.
The construction of a green roof relies on a reliable, watertight base membrane to provide the waterproofing layer on the roof deck. EPDM membrane has a typical life expectancy of more than 50 years, making it the ideal, reliable base membrane for a long-lasting installation. Our flat roof kits can help seal the roof deck completely and give you a good grounding to work from. We can also help with trim to effectively seal around the gutter area and ensure no water ingress at this part of the roof.
What sort of green roof is right for me?
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Extensive green roofs
Extensive green roof projects are perhaps the most common in a domestic setting. They can improve the aesthetic value of any garden building and create a haven for bees, birds and other wildlife.
With shallow planting and widespread coverage, extensive green roofs are, once established, extremely low maintenance as they look after themselves naturally.
Plants such as sedum, grasses and moss varieties are typically used.
Intensive green roofs
Intensive green roofs have typically deeper planting layers, which means a wider variety of garden plants, shrubs and sometimes trees are used.
These types of projects can be landscaped and used in the same way as a domestic garden, with the inclusion of pathways and areas for entertaining (subject to load-bearing capacity).
Intensive roofing is often seen on roof terraces and is popular in commercial projects.
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Click to enlarge
Brown roofs (Biodiverse green roofing)
A brown roof, often referred to as biodiverse roofing or a rubble roof, is intended to mitigate the loss of habitat due to the increasing use of brownfield land for development near towns and cities.
Although they can be planted according to the intended use of the project, brown roofing is commonly similar to extensive, low maintenance green roofs in the main.
Artificial Grass Roofs
PermaRoof UK also stocks a range of artificial grass products if you’re after something a little different for your garden roofing projects. PermaLawn products are hard to tell from natural grass and can add a splash of colour and a touch of fun to sheds, garages, garden offices and other outside buildings or roof terraces. Fixed over existing waterproofing, artificial grass can be attached using adhesives or mechanically fixing as a design feature.
Planning your green roof
It’s all in the planning with a green roof! Right from the start, a green roof needs to be carefully planned, starting with an assessment of the project. A green roof is much heavier than a typical flat roof installation, so the first step is to calculate the current state of your roof before you begin. Get a surveyor or building inspector in to ensure the current roof deck will carry the additional weight. Remember that the soil and planting layers will absorb rainwater, which will add to the dry weight.
Skipping this step could prove a costly mistake once the green roof is completed. Some local authorities may require planning permission for a green roof, and this is worth checking out as part of the initial planning.
PermaRoof UK can help you to plan your green roofing project. We can help you with every step from the base membrane to the top planting layer. Liquid roofing can also provide a reliable base waterproofing layer for intensive green roofing. This can also be useful in the creation of walkways through extensive green roofs. Talk to the PermaRoof UK green roof team to find out which is the best option for your project.
Ready to get roofing?
What products will I need?
The components of your green roof
Green roofs consist of layers of materials with a base, waterproofing membrane at the bottom, protected from the drainage layers by insulation medium, and a planting layer on the top. Planting layers typically consist of ground cover, water-loving plants like sedum and other succulents, moss and grasses.
The base membrane is arguably the most important layer to get right. Once you’ve determined that your structure will take the additional weight of a green roof (you may need a surveyor to confirm this), then the membrane must be considered.
Using a good quality, reliable waterproofing membrane is critical for the base layer. The creation of a green roof can be a costly, time-consuming process that will be wasted if the base membrane fails and needs to be replaced.
Why EPDM is the ideal choice for green roofs
EPDM membranes carry a life expectancy of more than 50 years, backed up and proven in the field all over the world in a wide range of climates. With unmatched longevity, EPDM carries a big plus in this respect alone. It is also fitted typically in a single sheet, with no joins. This means that instances of vulnerabilities are negated where other, joined membranes still carry the risk of join failure.
Once laid, EPDM is reliable enough to protect the flat roof deck beneath the green roof from water ingress. Because the planting medium absorbs rainfall so effectively, there is often a consistent water presence that seeps through the drainage layers and protective insulation layers before reaching the membrane. This is where the membrane comes into its own. After investing the time into building and creating a living, or green roofing system, failure of the vital drainage layer could be disastrous.
EPDM membranes are not only reliable but offer the best protection over time than any other membrane to flat roofing.
Green Roofing Products to Buy Online Today
Coming soon… full green roofing product range!
Watch this space because we’ll soon be publishing our entire green roof product range to buy online. Whilst we’re beavering away getting it all ready for you – don’t hesitate to contact the team, and they’ll be able to help you put together everything you need to realise your green roof.
Green Roofing FAQs
Yes. A garden environment can be produced using intensive green roofing. These have deeper planting layers to facilitate specimen planting and a wider use of garden plants or shrubs.
Intensive green roof projects can often be landscaped to include seating (subject to load bearing capacity).
Green roof layers typically consist of:
- Waterproofing membrane over the roof deck – this is the base layer and it must be reliable
- Protective, insulating layers
- Root barrier
- Drainage layers consisting of gravel, stones or other suitable medium
- Planting layers – including soil and planting
The top layers can also include specimen plants or trees, walkways, terracing and seating areas in an intensive green roof design (subject to load bearing capacity).
A flat garage roof is perfect for a green roof project, providing it has a suitable roof deck. Corrugated roofing would need to be replaced, for example, with a flat, suitable surface, such as timber.
Green roof projects are suitable for competent and confident homeowners with skills. The installation of the waterproofing layer is fast and straightforward, ideal for DIY with an EPDM roof kit. This provides a reliable base from which the rest of the green roofing layers are installed.
We offer support and a range of green roofing kits to help make planning and installation of the system straightforward. We can also connect you with a trained green roof installer if you decide DIY isn’t for you.
The installation of a green roof may not be as much as you think. We can help from the roof deck up with kits for waterproofing, drainage and planting layers.
Why not contact us for a no obligation quote?
Green roofing has been around for thousands of years. Early green roofs consisted of moss, leaves and woven twigs to keep out the rain and later came reed or thatched roofing.
Modern green roofing is a bit different. Consisting of layers of material, today’s green roofs can help with urban rainwater management and reduce surface flooding in some areas. They can also provide a haven for wildlife, and this has in recent times contributed to its rise in popularity.
A living roof is another term given to green roofing. It refers to the planting mediums used and can be appropriately used for both extensive and intensive green roof systems.
A sedum roof is essentially a green roof, but with sedum plants used exclusively as the planting medium.
The waterproofing membrane at the base level of a green roof must be highly reliable, providing 100% waterproofing throughout the expected service life. Because drainage layers in green roofs typically consist of gravel or other stones, a protective layer must be installed over the membrane to protect it.
In addition, membranes should be protected from root penetration in certain types of green roof design, such as those using plants with deeper root growth.
There are a number of eco-friendly options available for roofing, including green, blue roofing, brown and biodiverse roofing projects. These types of roof systems are often combined to deliver a comprehensive approach to the project.
Making a roof eco-friendly isn’t as difficult as it might first seem, but it does involve more than simply adding plants or a growing medium to a flat roof.
The teams at PermaRoof are on hand to offer expert advice and guide you through from planning to completing an eco-roof. Give us a call today.
About PermaRoof
With an award-winning reputation for sales and customer service, you can be confident we’re a company that puts our customers first, whether you’re a trade counter searching for a reliable supplier, a professional flat roofer with a business to expand or a DIY enthusiast.
Our facility located in Derbyshire allows us to stock a significant amount of EPDM and we have the capacity for cutting hundreds of sheets per day. Centrally located in the Midlands, PermaRoof UK offers our reliable, fast delivery service via the company fleet across the country for most of our extensive range of flat roofing products.
Over the last few years, we have extended our range of products to not only flat roofing products, but products that solve further problems such as artificial grass, maintenance free metal fence system and other long term solutions.
Why choose PermaRoof?
We offer genuine EPDM membranes at the same price as the people that are selling ‘similar’ membranes, that’s right. With PermaRoof price promise, we are guaranteed to be the best priced, for the same product, with a CE certificate, membrane warranty, and the peace of mind that the products are genuine. Why would you need any other supplier?
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Get in Touch
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Permaroof UK® Ltd
Unit 1
Westway
Cotes Park Industrial Estate
Alfreton
Derbyshire DE55 4QJ
Tel: 01773 608 839
Fax: 01773 608 408
Email: Click here
Registration No. 4109502
VAT No. 764 2785 00
Permaroof (UK) LTD
Opening Hours
Mon – Fri (8am / 5pm)
We are closed on bank holidays and we re-open the following working day at 8am. Feel free to send us your enquiry during these periods and we can get back to you.
CONTACT PERMAROOF UK
PermaRoof UK are on hand to answer any questions regarding our products, services or your order. We welcome enquiries from the trade, stockists and homeowners alike. Contact PermaRoof UK today using the below form and one of our experienced team members will be on hand to help you right away.
Permaroof UK® Ltd
Unit 1
Westway
Cotes Park Industrial Estate
Alfreton
Derbyshire DE55 4QJ
Tel: 01773 608 839
Fax: 01773 608 408
Email: Click here
Registration No. 4109502
VAT No. 764 2785 00
Permaroof (UK) LTD
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