LIVING ROOF IS GROWING

The living roof is done. We got the drainage fabric, the drainage plates (looks like a giant plastic sheet of egg carton with small holes, then the root barrier layer. The crane showed up and got the soil on top of the roof. Mr. Dennis Manuel did a great job in getting the super sacks on top of the roof. Then Scott & I struggled with getting the sedum mats on top of the roof. Yes, I was not thinking when I didn’t speak up and say why not use the crane to get the mats up on top of the roof. Instead we had to move them by hand into the skid steer then unload them by hand onto the roof. Each one weighed over 90 pounds each and about 4 feet long.

So, we get the plates down and we are getting to the edge, turns out the green roof company we got all the supplies from didn’t send enough supplies (the drainage plates).  What are we going to do? Turns out they figured the square footage at 320 instead of around 432 (18′ x 24′) less 1 foot on the 18′ length and 1/2 foot on the 24′. So, we found lava rock because it drains well, lightweight. Not as lightweight as the plastic but it will have to do. Hopefully it works and the building doesn’t fail.  Scary thought.

Things to change in the future.  Use the crane to move all heavy materials.  Install on a pitched roof unless you have roof access.  Figure out the material ourselves and ask for a set of plans or instructions for the roof.  I was not exactly pleased with the company we got the materials from, they designed it but acted like I was at fault for the miscommunications.  Okay, I have spent this much money with you and you don’t give any instructions with your product.  Go figure.  Oh well, it is over and we have learned a lot.

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Sedum mats

Today, I drove near Culpeper, Virginia to pick up the Sedum mats from our supplier.  Instead of putting in plugs and waiting a long time for them to grow in, we chose instead to get “sod” but in sedum form instead of grass.  So, I got a tour of their facility and picked up the living roof plants.  They look great.

This afternoon, did lots of paper work, ran some errands, got a lot done.

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Smells like a nail salon

It was 56 degrees at 11 am today.  Yippee.  Shed the layers and lets get to cutting acrylic. But first, you must find a fine toothed saw blade.  First place, the blade seemed to aggressive. (not enough teeth).  Finally found one, 150 teeth and it was for plastic.  There are two walls that look like glass but they are acrylic, like what they use at the nail salons to give the ladies the big nice, unbreakable nails.  It has glass in it too but it doesn’t break like glass and is also cheaper.

Scott got some of the little things done today that needed to be done like tighten bolts, screw down the hangers for the knee bracing.

First thing we did was get the heaters hung. That was a little scary for me because I had to run the skid steer and the heaters were on a pallet but not strapped down. So, I am trying to steady them and Scott is like, we could have lifted them up here faster. I told him, I am moving them and they are not falling on my watch, too expensive a mistake. So he just had to wait.

Got them up there in the man lift which is Scott’s new favorite toy, it is like having moving scaffolding. You can go anywhere. Then we had to block them up so the heater would be high enough to mount. There is threaded rod that gets screwed into the heaters and they are just floating in the air held up by what looks like 4 long bolts.  I hope they stay up there.  I know they will but it seems odd that they are not mounted on top of the tubing instead they hang from the bottom of the tubing.

Tomorrow the goal is to get at least one wall framed up. I know we will get that done. It is suppose to be cold again tomorrow, 36 for the high. ugh.

The office living roof will be here next week. The components got done early so, we will have plants on it by the end of February.

Only 66 more days until opening.

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