JULIE BARNES
HEATHER FRITZ
A GARDEN IN THE SKY Growing a Green Roof on a Garage Seven years ago, Toronto became the first city in North America to enact a bylaw requiring the construction of green roofs on new development.The bylaw applies to new residential and commercial projects with a floor area of 2,000 square metres and over. We’re a little further behind in Saskatoon. If you wish to eschew shingles in favour of
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Saskatoon HOME
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succulents, there are a few hurdles to jump, but the end result is worth the effort. Permit Process Although it’s decidedly smaller than 2,000 square metres, my husband Josh and I decided to incorporate a green roof on our new detached garage in 2014. Getting the permit was the first challenge.
SUMMER 2016
No matter what city you live in, you have to possess masochistic tendencies to enjoy the construction permitting process. Here’s a heads up—you need to have a structural engineer sign off on your drawings if you’re building a green roof.This added an unexpected expense and delay to our project. Once we had our permit
in hand, we began the planning process with Michael Molaro, an accredited green roof professional and owner of Higher Groundwork HortiCulture. Picking the Plants The goal was to create a lowmaintenance green roof—one that wouldn’t require irrigation once the plants were established