Green Roof Plans Available

As you may know, the MN Green Roofs Council has been working with others on a project called RoofBloom.  RoofBloom is developing a set of resources for homeowners interested in installing a green roof on a garage, shed, or other small structure.  More information at www.mngreenroofs.org including our "Green Your Garage" guide.

We are terribly excited to announce the long-anticipated completion of three key resources which are now available: 

GARAGE AND SHED PLANS
Structural drawings for a one-car garage, two-car garage and garden shed, all specifically designed to accommodate a green roof.  Available from Dave Macdonald at Mattson Macdonald Young Structural Engineers in Minneapolis, davem@mattsonmacdonald.com.  Cost: $50

ASSEMBLY DRAWINGS
Detail drawings of the components and installation sequence of the RoofBloom System, a homebrew green roof system for shallow-sloped roofs (2:12 maximum).  This is the system we used on our green roof demonstration (see it at www.mngreenroofs.org)  Available from Chris Wegscheid at Cermak Rhoades Architects in St. Paul, cwegscheid@cermakrhoades.com.  Cost: $30

PLANT LISTS
Lists of native and non-native species appropriate for green roofs in our local climate.  Available from Camilla Correll at Emmons and Olivier Resources in Oakdale, ccorrell@eorinc.com.  Cost: $10

A few notes about these documents:

First, neither the Garage Plans nor the Assembly Drawings are “permit-ready.”  Because there’s no real control over how or where these plans and drawings are used, they are by necessity somewhat general.  Therefore, they should be reviewed by a professional architect or structural engineer in your area for compliance to local codes and
other local requirements.  There is a disclaimer included with these packages that explains this in more detail; please read it.

Second, all of the documents are provided as PDFs, unless other arrangements are made, and some are 11x17 format.  The drawings are drawn to scale, and since printing them to fit on smaller sheets might
encourage mistakes during construction, we don’t suggest it.  If you don’t have access to an 11x17 printer, you can take the file to a copy shop.  Or contact one of us, and we’ll see what we can do.

And third, once you’ve paid for and received the drawings, we respectfully ask that you don’t share them.  While it is our mission to share green roof information with as many people as possible, there are real costs associated with generating and distributing these documents.  All three offices have kindly agreed to donate a very substantial portion of the cost of the documents back to the Minnesota Green Roofs Council to help support programs like RoofBloom, and to keep only enough to cover their costs.  We think the amounts we’re asking are very reasonable, particularly given the amount of work and research that went into the documents, and we hope you agree.  Thank you for understanding.