Green roofing may cause more claims

Traditional roofing systems are designed to shed water off the roof. Building engineers designed buildings and roof loads with this in mind. Now comes green roofing systems. These vegetative roofs are designed to hold water on the roof. Now engineers have cautioned that buildings may not be able to hold the weight especially if the roofs are retrofitted on older buildings. The other issue is that with a vegetative roof, the amount of water that eventually is used by the plants and joins the water cycle of the atmosphere is hard to predict. So water loading may lasts for weeks after heavy rains. As these systems come into place engineers will learn more on how they will work. Unfortunately more claims may be the teacher. Until next time be careful out there and know your risks. K

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