The roof garden changes through the seasons and from year to year. There you have it – my shed roof garden from creation through its first two years. If you look closely you can just make out this water matting on the surface of the shed roof in the photo above where I am applying the soil. If the roots grew into the matting, and the matting held onto water, then I was giving the plants the best chance at surviving and thriving. I didn’t use this matting on the 2013 shed roof garden, and it was something I thought was lacking from this earlier prototype. In addition to these water retention qualities, I also wanted my plants to have something to get their roots into. It will hold more than 5 litres of water in 1 square metre. The water matting I selected was a matting that is specifically designed to hold onto water. It’s not to be confused with capillary water matting, that is also used widely in the commercial plant growing sector. Water matting is a horticultural product often used by commercial plant nurseries. There was one more item to apply before adding the peat free composted soil – and that was water matting. Plus, any more depth and I would need more soil to fill it, and more soil meant more weight. This was all I had on the 2013 shed roof garden, so I decided that was all I needed. From the surface of the roof to the top edge of the deck board there was a depth of 10cm. With the liner in place I then attached the deck board edging. I have since rectified this error and all is well. That way the water will roll over the edge and drip down to the ground. Cut the liner so that the cut edge faces directly to the ground. Without a drip edge water runs around the liner and right up to the wall and roof joint. One mistake I did make was folding the liner under the overhang and fastening it too near the edge of where the roof met the wall. If there is even a tiny hole, water will find its way through eventually. It may seem obvious, but it’s worth noting, DO NOT staple through the top surface of the pond liner. I used a staple gun to fasten my protective linings and pond liner to the underside overhang of the shed roof. Once the pond fleece liner was in place I applied a pond liner to protect the roof from water ingress. The materials, including a secure double glazing sliding door, wood, insulation, liners, guttering, soil and plants cost in the region of £3,000. My 2015 roof garden shed is 4 metres long x 2 metres wide x 2.5 metres high. This type of solid structure is not a cheap build. Only take on this type of build if you have experience of wooden framing under load, and only if you have the self-awareness to seek advice when unsure. If you add on the weight of plants, plus the weight of water after heavy rain, there could potentially be 2 tonnes of weight on the roof. One cubic metre of soil is likely to weigh between 1.2 – 1.7 metric tonnes (1,200 – 1,700 kg). Off-the-shelf sheds are not built to withhold the weight of a garden on their roof. DO NOT just add a roof garden to a shed without being mindful about the safety issues involved. If a shed roof collapses you risk serious injury to yourself, your family, friends and visitors to your garden. There are no second chances when it comes to safety. If you take on any project that involves adding weight to the roof of any structure, be absolutely certain about what you are doing, and seek professional advice if you are in any doubt. The focus is on the roof garden itself, not the materials or the structural integrity of the shed. The type and size of wood I used is deliberately not included in this blog, and neither is the build design nor the method of construction. My shed was a bespoke design and build from the ground up. This blog simply sets out the method I used to create a garden on the roof of a shed I designed and built by hand from scratch, in full knowledge it would need to hold the weight of my planned roof garden with ease. Health & Safety Warning – This blog DOES NOT provide personal safety advice about the load bearing capacities of garden structures.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |