ASTM E2777-14 - 1.5.2014
 
Significance and Use

4.1 Intended Use—The intended use of this guide is to provide general information to practitioners in the fields of vegetative (green) roof design and construction. The guide encourages innovative but responsible vegetative (green) roof design, with a focus on performance and quality assurance. Numerical ranges, practical minimums, and benchmarks that are incorporated in the guide are intended for reference. Design requirements for specific projects vary and therefore qualified professionals may prepare designs with features that may vary from the recommendations contained in the guide. In all instances, vegetative (green) roof system designs shall conform to the applicable code requirements of Federal, State, Provincial or local agencies with jurisdiction.

4.2 Users—Users of this guide include: planners, developers, architects, landscape architects, engineers, general contractors, subcontractors, owners, facility managers, financial organizations related to building industry, building materials and product manufacturers, government agencies including building officials, and other building professionals.

 
1. Scope

1.1 This guide identifies terminology, principles and fundamental concepts including those related to sustainability, technical requirements of construction, and types of vegetative (green) roof systems used on buildings.

1.2 The considerations for sustainable development relative to vegetative (green) roof systems are categorized as follows: environmental, social, and economic as consistent with Guide E2432. (See Appendix X1.)

1.3 This guide discusses technical requirements for vegetative (green) roof systems pertaining to the following categories: plants, media, wind scour resistance, soil reinforcement, separation or filter layers, drain layers, water retention layers, protection layers, and root penetration barriers.

1.4 This guide addresses intensive and extensive vegetative (green) roof systems for roofs up to 15 % slope. Roofing/waterproofing membranes and insulation are key components of vegetative (green) roof systems, but technical requirements regarding their role in such roof systems is beyond the scope of this guide.

Note 1ASTM Technical Committees E60 and C16 have jurisdiction over the development of standards for roofing/waterproofing membranes and insulations, respectively. Some of their existing standards may be helpful in the evaluation of membranes and insulation used in vegetative (green) roof systems. As these two committees develop standards for such roofs, this guide will be revised appropriately.

1.5 The values stated in inch-pound units are to be regarded as standard. The values given in parentheses are mathematical conversions to SI units that are provided for information only and are not considered standard.

1.6 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.

 
2. Referenced Documents

E631-15

Standard Terminology of Building Constructions

E2398-11

Standard Test Method for Water Capture and Media Retention of Geocomposite Drain Layers for Vegetative (Green) Roof Systems

E2399-11

Standard Test Method for Maximum Media Density for Dead Load Analysis of Vegetative (Green) Roof Systems

E2400-06

Standard Guide for Selection, Installation, and Maintenance of Plants for Green Roof Systems

E2432-23

Standard Guide for General Principles of Sustainability Relative to the Built Environment

D4595-17

Standard Test Method for Tensile Properties of Geotextiles by the Wide-Width Strip Method

D4716/D4716M-22

Standard Test Method for Determining the (In-plane) Flow Rate per Unit Width and Hydraulic Transmissivity of a Geosynthetic Using a Constant Head

D4491-99a

Standard Test Methods for Water Permeability of Geotextiles by Permittivity

D4751-21a

Standard Test Methods for Determining Apparent Opening Size of a Geotextile (Includes all amendments and changes 9/23/2021).

D4759-11(2018)e1

Standard Practice for Determining the Specification Conformance of Geosynthetics (Includes all amendments and changes 1/6/2021).

D4873-15

Standard Guide for Identification, Storage, and Handling of Geosynthetic Rolls and Samples

D4439-24

Standard Terminology for Geosynthetics

E136-24

Standard Test Method for Assessing Combustibility of Materials Using a Vertical Tube Furnace at 750 ?C

E2788-11

Standard Specification for Use of Expanded Shale, Clay and Slate (ESCS) as a Mineral Component in the Growing Media and the Drainage Layer for Vegetative (Green) Roof Systems

D5818-22

Standard Practice for Exposure and Retrieval of Samples to Evaluate Installation Damage of Geosynthetics

D6637-11

Standard Test Method for Determining Tensile Properties of Geogrids by the Single or Multi-Rib Tensile Method

D7361-07(2023)

Standard Test Method for Accelerated Compressive Creep of Geosynthetic Materials Based on Time-Temperature Superposition Using the Stepped Isothermal Method

E108-20a

Standard Test Methods for Fire Tests of Roof Coverings (Includes all amendments and changes 4/17/2020).

D5617-23

Standard Test Method for Multi-Axial Elongation of Geomembranes

C88-13

Standard Test Method for Soundness of Aggregates by Use of Sodium Sulfate or Magnesium Sulfate

D1079-20

Standard Terminology Relating to Roofing and Waterproofing

D1987-22

Standard Test Method for Biological Clogging of Geotextile, Drainage Geocomposites, or Soil/Geotextile Filters

D2974-20e1

Standard Test Methods for Determining the Water (Moisture) Content, Ash Content, and Organic Material of Peat and Other Organic Soils (Includes all amendments and changes 3/24/2020).

D3786/D3786M-18(2023)

Standard Test Method for Bursting Strength of Textile Fabrics—Diaphragm Bursting Strength Tester Method

D4354-12(2020)

Standard Practice for Sampling of Geosynthetics and Rolled Erosion Control Products (RECPs) for Testing

D5262-21

Standard Test Method for Determining the Unconfined Tension Creep and Creep Rupture Behavior of Planar Geosynthetics Used for Reinforcement Purposes

E2114-23

Standard Terminology for Sustainability

E2396-11

Standard Test Method for Saturated Water Permeability of Granular Drainage Media [Falling-Head Method] for Vegetative (Green) Roof Systems

E2397-11

Standard Practice for Determination of Dead Loads and Live Loads Associated with Vegetative (Green) Roof Systems