5 Reasons to Add a GrufeKit Green Roof to Your Garden Office

With working from home going nowhere and the increased popularity for ‘shoffices’ (an office in a shed), a green roof might seem even more appealing!

If you built a ‘shoffice’, or an outbuilding since the pandemic started then you may be looking at it and thinking it looks a bit ugly in your beautiful garden.

A green roof might be just what you are looking for and here are the reasons it is a good idea:

1. Aesthetics

Our GrufeKit range can create a much more aesthetically appealing look for the roof of your office/shed. Our GrufeTiles arrive to site pre-grown and fully acclimatised. This means there is no waiting around for your sedum or wildflower to grow, you will get the beauty and impact of a green roof instantly!  Installing a living green roof will bring the garden a lot closer…even better it involves minimal maintenance.

2. Sound Insulation

You may have started to find that working from your shed/office is becoming quite noisy with the sound of the rain drumming, the birds tweeting or nearby building works. A GrufeKit green roof can help absorb these sounds and provide a quieter environment inside the building.

The soil and trapped air tend to block lower sound frequencies, while the plants tend to block higher frequencies.  Some of the sound is reflected by the physical mass of the roof, while some is absorbed as it travels through the layers of materials.  This combination makes green roofs an especially effective sound insulation option.

Overall, your green roof can reflect and absorb up to 30% of noise pollution – a win-win!

3. Temperature Regulation

Another benefit to a green roof for your home office is the temperature regulation! As our green roof modules retain rainwater they have a cooling effect and the plants absorb the sun’s rays keeping the building cooler in the summer months.

Alternatively, in the winter months where you may be feeling a bit chilly the plants keep the building warmer by preventing snow and ice from building up on the waterproof membrane!

4. Easy Self-install

Liking the idea so far but worried about installation?

Gone are the days of green roof installation being a specialist trade! Using our simple GrufeKit system and a few basic tools you will be on your way to having a beautiful green roof.

A green roof can be installed on any flat roof that has a slope of less than ten degrees. Another thing to consider before purchasing your GrufeTiles is to make sure your roof can hold the weight of the green roof. When calculating this make sure you find the weight of the green roof when it’s saturated by rain or snow.

You will also want to make sure that you can access your green roof if you pick a style that requires maintenance – although most of our range require little more than a check-up once a year or after extreme weather. So don’t worry about this too much!

Every GrufeKit comes with four important things:

- A mix of between 8-12 varieties of sedum, a type of succulent that grows at a low level and requires little maintenance.

- A soil mix that has been specifically designed for the plants your GrufeKit contains so they can flourish with as little maintenance as possible.

- A carrier made from recycled HDPE plastic that holds the natural material and provides structure and drainage so your green roof lasts for years.

- A protection fleece layer that goes between your roof and GrufeTiles in order to create a waterproof layer.

You can follow our Easy-to-install guide/video to see exactly what you need to do to add a green roof to your home office!

5. Low maintenance

We mentioned this earlier but it deserves its own point: the GrufeKit green roof is very low maintenance.

Our GrufeKits are made up of sedum plants and wildflower seeds, chosen to create a low maintenance system for your green roof. Our sedum and sedum and wildflower GrufeTiles all arrive pre-established, so you do not need to spend time nurturing it or waiting for it to bloom. Our brown wildflower GrufeTiles are pre-germinated and will burst into colour in spring and summer.  There is little work for you to do and instant impact with our GrufeKit green roof tiles!

We recommend that you check on your green roof once or twice a year, to make sure everything is as it should be. This would be a good opportunity to remove any debris and make sure nothing is loose. If you find any bare patches, then planting additional seeds will do the trick, or applying a natural feed, such as fish blood and bone which can be found in most garden centres or garden supply stores.

Additionally, we recommend that you check on your green roof after any extreme weather conditions – either a storm or unusually wet or dry weather. Check everything is still secure and in place, that your drainage system isn’t blocked and that your sedum is in good health after a dry spell.

If you weren’t convinced by a green roof before, you surely are now!

At GrufeKit we have the experience and knowledge needed to advise you on your green roof choices. For more information on how we can help, or if you’d like to discuss your green roof project with an expert, contact our friendly team at ANS Global today – we’re always happy to help and are standing by to answer any questions you have.