The original roof on Building 1 at the EPA's Atlantic Ecology Division was replaced with a greener option.
Project Profile
The
original 1963 roof at Building 1 at the EPA’s Atlantic Ecology Division
in Rhode Island had a wood deck outside the director’s office. In 2009,
the time had come for the roof to be replaced. “Consistent with the
mission of the EPA, we specified a green roof,” said Mark Tagliabue,
assistant facilities manager, Office of Research and Development,
Atlantic Ecology Division, EPA. “The GreenGrid Modular Green Roof System
was chosen for the project.”
The roof is 45 feet by
60 feet with a 12 foot by 24 foot deck area. “The plans included a new
deck or patio as part of the green roof in order to provide access to
the plantings and create a setting for showcasing the green building
technology,” said Stefano Gagliano, BHC Architects, LLP, with offices in
New York, Long Island and Baltimore.
The original
specification was for a composite lumber deck. Custom Copper and Slate,
headquartered in Medfield, Mass., was the project contractor. They were
concerned that a composite lumber deck would put enough weight on its
crossbeams to require a supporting substructure with posts anchored to
the roof through the thermoplastic olefin (TPO) membrane that
waterproofs the surface.
“With TPO, you want it to be
seamless to ensure it’ll be waterproof. Penetrating the membrane to put
in posts is something we try to avoid,” said Marc Green, an estimator
with Custom Copper and Slate. “We were responsible for guaranteeing the
roof. The last thing we want is to have to come back to fix
leaks.”
Concrete pavers were a possibility. “We
thought about concrete pavers,” said Gagliano. “But concrete pavers
would have introduced their own weight
problem.”
Green brought the problem to ABC Supply and
Mule-Hide Products to get their suggestions. Mule-Hide recommended
consideration of VAST Composite Pavers because they are lightweight and
could be installed without putting posts through the membrane.
Solution
VAST Composite
Deck Pavers, which measure 3 inches by 6 inches with a 1.6-inch height,
are a low-profile version of the company’s landscape pavers. They weigh
6.5 pounds per square foot, one-third the weight of similar size
concrete pavers. Thus, they could be installed directly on the roof
without harming the membrane.
The deck pavers are
made from VAST’s engineered composite material that consists of a
proprietary blend of up to 95 percent recycled car tires and plastic
containers.
With its patented technology, VAST
transforms post-consumer recycled rubber and plastics into composite
masonry. VAST composite masonry products are cradle-to-cradle green. The
manufacturing process starts with recycled materials, consumes 82
percent less energy and releases 89 percent less carbon dioxide than
concrete product manufacture, generates no volatile organic compounds,
yields zero scrap, and creates products that are 100 percent
recyclable.
“My first impression of the VAST pavers
was that it’s an ideal material for rooftop applications,” said
Gagliano. “They are tough but lightweight, offer the timeless visual
appeal of brick pavers, and we could match the paver color with the
building’s exterior walls and the sedum to be planted in the GreenGrid
system. That helped achieve a blending of the architectural elements of
the roof.”
“VAST solved the weight problem,” said the
EPA’s Tagliabue. “The recycled content makes it a green product and
that was consistent with our goal of going green up on the roof.”
Installation
VAST’s
engineered paver solution features an installation grid system that
makes it easier and faster for professional contractors to lay the
pavers. When the pavers are inserted into the grid, they are correctly
spaced and aligned. “We put the grid directly on top of the drain mat
that went over the membrane,” said Green. “The material was great to
work with: easy to carry, easy to cut, and easy on your hands. We found
out that with VAST we can reduce installation time by
half.”
“With the size of the pavers and give in the
material, it could follow the contour of the roof and accept the roof’s
slight rise. The installers got a nice, tight fit right up to the
edges,” said Tagliabue. “The low profile of the pavers made the patio
flush with the door from the director’s office so you can walk right out
on the patio.”
“The best part of the project for me
was when the director walked out the door and on to the patio for the
first time,” said Green. “He had an ear-to-ear smile on his face that
said all that needed to be said about the results of the installation.”
Just the Facts:
Location:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of
Research and Development
Atlantic Ecology Division
Wet
Laboratory Building 1
Narragansett, Rhode Island
Architects:
Beatty, Harvey, Coco (BHC) Architects, LLP
New York
Contractor:
Custom
Copper and Slate, Ltd.
Medfield, Mass.
Supplier:
ABC
Supply Company, Inc.
Avon,
Mass.
Products and
Manufacturers:
• Mule-Hide TPO Roof
System
Mule-Hide Products Company, Inc.
Beloit,
Wis.
• GreenGrid Modular Green Roof
System
Weston Solutions, Inc.
Vernon Hills, Ill.
• VAST Composite Deck Pavers
VAST
Enterprises, LLC
Minneapolis
Rooftop Patio Tops Off Green Roof at EPA Building