The study took samples from various EPDM roofs and concluded that, when fitted correctly, an EPDM roof should last over 50 years.
The main Hertalan production facility in Kampen, Netherlands, holds ISO 14001 certification, the environmental management standard. Greenpeace also named EPDM as their preferred alternative for roofing membranes in its publication called “Building the Future.”
Hertalan EPDM systems have been used on roofs throughout Europe for over 40 years and Hertalan were in fact the first manufacturers of EPDM in Europe.
2. How Red is your roof? A good living roof manufacturer will at least adhere to the minimum guidelines of the GRO or the FLL. These guidelines have been established after extensive research over many years of successful roofing applications. Then there’s the cowboy element that enters the market, unavoidably, because they see an opportunity to make a fast buck. If they tell you they can save you a fortune by reducing the tried and tested guidelines, we suggest you ask them if they’re members of any green roof trade organisations and check them out online or through independent authorities like
LivingRoofs.org or the Green Roof Centre, Sheffield.
Unfortunately these unscrupulous roofers will suggest shortcuts like reducing the depth of substrate but guaranteeing the roof will perform as well as the major manufacturers.
A tell tale of this is when the sedums turn red as they try to hold on to as much moisture as possible by thickening their leaves. We have seen extremes of this sort result in the cowboys using the wrong fertiliser too, which results in the development of the flowers instead of encouraging the roots; this added flower growth draws on the unestablished root system which results in certain failure. Unfortunately this gets living roofs a bad name as people think green roofs are red. Sometimes the cowboys have been known to lay the pre-grown blanket direct onto the drainage board and this often results in the blanket drying out and being lifted out of place by the wind even before the certain failure it was doomed to.
An added benefit of deeper substrate is by providing a safe environment for invertebrates to live. If a passing beetle lands on the roof and burrows down to get away from the midday sun but hits a plastic board it becomes a tourist; if it burrows down and escapes the heat it could easily become a resident. This could then bring in more species whether predators or prey but it all adds to the biodiversity of the roof.
3. How professional is your roofer? A professional roofing contractor should have a good track record and should be able to answer questions
ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |71|
Image: Make sure you choose an approved contracter to avoid results like this.
about the manufacturer’s products, the various elements of the system and what they do. A pretty website doesn’t always mean the contractor is reliable. They should be able to offer longterm maintenance for your roof or roof garden and provide a maintenance plan for either. Products that can be purchased from online dealers rarely hold any agreement certificates that are relevant to the UK market.
A good starting point is to contact the manufacturer and see if they have a BBA certified system and to prove this. A trustworthy manufacturer will send you a copy of their current BBA and this certificate number can be checked on the BBA website.
See if they hold ISO 14001 and ISO 9001. See what guarantees they offer and if they can do insurance backed ones too. Check out the details of training courses and see how thorough this training is; is the training course free? A committed contractor will also travel from pretty much anywhere to become an approved contractor.
We have approved contractors in the Shetland Isles, Inverness, Northern Ireland, Southern Ireland, Cornwall, Kent and Norfolk to name a few distant counties from our HQ. Our approved contractors have all paid and travelled to the Hertalan techno point in Nottinghamshire to attend the full training course and join a company with over 115 years of experience.
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