Can I raise goats on a roof?

Never thought about that until I saw a picture tonight.

We really like green roofs.   They provide a range of benefits.

1. Reduce Stormwater Runoff:

Simple, when rain hits a regular roof, it flows where gravity takes it, taking with it, all the debris, nutrients, etc. with it and go into the storm drains and into the waterways it goes.  When it hits a vegetative roof, it gets absorbed into the growing medium, the vegetation grows.  A typical green roof system retains from 70-90% of every inch of rainfall and you don’t need to water the plants.  It saves water.

2. Extends Roof Life:  The green roof sits on top of the actual roof membrane, shielding the roof membrane from UV radiation and temperature swings, extending the life of the roof membrane by 2-4 times.  It saves money.

3. Mitigates “Heat Island Effect”: When the sun hits buildings heat is retained making the surrounding space warm, then the heat re-radiates back when the surrounding space cools, basically, a negative thermal mass effect.  When you have a green roof, it insulates the roof from the sun and through the evapotranspiration (cool word for plants sweating), it also cools the space surrounding the roof.  It cools.

4. Green Space:  Instead of a boring old deck, you get a garden!  It Beautifies.

5. Reduce Heating and Cooling Loads: Essentially, you the green roof is insulation or as I like to call it, “outsulation”.

Here are a couple of cool ones:

Chicago City Hall

Photo courtesy of courtesy of DOE/NREL I Photographer: Katrin Scholz-Barth

Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant & Butik, photo Luanne Lozier
http://inhabitat.com/green-roofs-are-changing-the-way-architects-design-buildings/

We don’t plan to start a goat farm but we plan to have a nice outdoor space above the garage (as much as I love it.  Maybe on my own house:)

What we decided to do was to strategically place about sixty 2’x2′ green roof trays above the roof terrace.  We believe the effect will be pretty awesome.  Stay tuned.

 

 

The finishes that won’t finish

It’s been about 3 weeks since our last post.  We’ve been working on interior finishes that seem to not want to be done.  I guess this is sort of like when you cook a big dinner, 30 minutes before dinner, nothing looks done but you hope when it’s time to eat, everything comes out beautifully.  WE HOPE…

Here are some of the tile work that LEON Home Improvement has done this week that we are very happy with.

Powder Room Pebble Tile

We think it has a very earthy character to it.  Plus, you get a foot massage walking on it.

Master Bath Versailles Tile Pattern

This are Travertine tiles of various sizes arranged in a Versailles pattern.  I think it turned out great.

Master Bath Tub

The tile is a large format ceramic tile that’s sparkly.  The Rim is a Travertine mosaic, which Savador and his team had to painstakingly arrange by hand.