Cell-Tek Tendon Chart

BUILDING GREEN: WATER CONSERVATION

By Stephanie Norton (via caddetails.com)

“Active” systems for harvesting rainwater use pipes, tanks and pumps for collecting, filtering, storing and recycling water that would otherwise be sent to municipal sewer or storm water systems. These are differentiated from passive harvesting systems which detain rainwater in vegetated swales, rain gardens, green roofs or permeable pavements so that it can infiltrate naturally back into the soil.

Go Here for FULL STORY: http://www.caddetails.com/2004/main.asp?article=august2010.htm

Milwaukee Public Library installs green roof

 - By Don Behm of the Journal Sentinel

The roof of Milwaukee's Central Library sprang to life, and went to work, in Friday's steady rain.
Thousands of sedum, a ground-covering plant, and clumps of chive and ornamental grasses - all perennials - were planted Friday in a six-inch layer of small gravel and soil spread across 30,000 square feet - nearly seven-tenths of an acre - to create a green roof atop the historic building, said Taj Schoening, business operations manager for the Milwaukee Public Library.
Its job is to mimic nature. The living roof will collect and store thousands of gallons of rainwater during a downpour, rather than allowing the clean water to drain immediately to a street sewer, Schoening said.
Each gallon of fresh water kept out of the pipes decreases the risk of sewer overflows, according to Kevin Shafer, executive director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.













GO HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE: http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/93174094.html

Geosynthetics at Work: Beyond Blankets and Mats

CHECK OUT CELL-TEK ON THE COVER OF THIS MONTH'S EROSION CONTROL MAGAZINE!!! http://www.erosioncontrol.com/

Geosynthetics are amazing materials. They drain, contain and filter. They separate as well as hold together. They work underground and underwater, on mountainsides and on rooftops. According to the International Geosynthetics Society, the words geotextiles and geomembraneswere coined only about 30 years ago, at the first International Conference on Geotextiles, in Paris. Since then, we have added geogrids, geonets, geosynthetic clay liners, geofoam, and geocomposites. These materials are made of polypropylene, polyester, high-density polyethylene (HDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLPDE), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), to name a few. All are flexible and durable.

Geotextiles are one of the largest groups of geosynthetics. Their fibers are either woven, knitted, needle-punched, or matted together into fabrics. They’re porous to varying degrees and are used for separation, reinforcement, filtration, and drainage. Geomembranes are another large group of geosynthetics. These are relatively thin, impervious sheets of polymers. They’re often used for linings and covers to contain liquids or vapors in landfills, reservoirs, and canals.

Geogrids are stretched sheets of polymers that form open grids. Uniaxial geogrids stretch in one direction and have rectangular apertures. Biaxial geogrids stretch in both directions and have virtually square apertures. They can be filled with soil, aggregate, or concrete and almost always are used for reinforcement and to improve load-bearing capacity.

PHOTO: CAPITOL GREEN ROOFS

Article by: Janet Arid. Go Here for Full Story: http://www.erosioncontrol.com/may-2010/geosynthetics-slope-stabilization-1.aspx

Baltimore's green success stories

April 22, 2010 - by Donna M. Owens - http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/

Happy Earth Day! To celebrate, we bring you a sampling of green success stories: local residents and businesses, nonprofits and municipal agencies, all of whom are trying to make the Baltimore area a little greener, a bit more livable.

What: Northwest Honda
Where: Owings Mills
Earth Philosophy: A car dealership with an eco-friendly vibe

If you coax him, you might get Ed Dreiband to climb a narrow ladder, open a steel hatch and stand on the roof of his dealership. From this vantage point 25 feet above busy Reisterstown Road, Dreiband can survey 29,000 square feet of roof — and its 57,000 living, growing plants.
The green roof is the centerpiece of Northwest Honda’s eco-friendly auto facility, which opened in 2006. Its features include insulated glass panels, automatic sensors that control lights, and carwash bays that recycle upward of 3,000 gallons of water daily. “The roof is beautiful, especially in May when everything’s blooming,” Dreiband says of the tiny, drought-tolerant plants (most are a hardy species known as sedum). Green roofs can help reduce, filter and cool stormwater runoff. That in turn can protect sewer systems and watersheds. The roof makes Dreiband happy. “I have kids and grandkids, and I am thinking of them. We have one earth, and we all have to share it.”

GO HERE FOR FULL STORY: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bthesite/blog/2010/04/post_46.html

Homeowners plant a ‘greenroof' for aesthetics and cooling

Is there vegetation spilling out over the edge of a roof near you? Are you thinking the property owner hasn’t gotten around to cleaning out his gutters? Perhaps it means that house is sporting a deliberately planted surface that makes a cool statement, both figuratively and literally.

Several high-profile buildings such as Atlanta City Hall and the Woodruff Arts Center have planted roofs, and they’re starting to show up on homes as well. These planted roofs are called "greenroofs."
Not “green roof,” but “greenroof,” a term becoming commonly accepted as a way to differentiate the planted roof from a roof made of green-colored building materials.
Some may want a greenroof just because it dresses up an exposed roof area, but a greenroof also serves two important environmental functions: It helps to slow down stormwater runoff and it provides an insulating effect, helping to reduce cooling bills.

Taken From an Article By C. W. Cameron For the AJC. Go Here for full story: http://www.ajc.com/lifestyle/homeowners-plant-a-greenroof-420091.html
Photo by Vino Wong, vwong@ajc.com

FOR INFORMATION ON CELL-TEK'S GREENROOF-TEK SYSTEM GO HERE: http://www.celltekdirect.com/new/system5.html

Hard-working roofs

Roofs will have to work harder to meet the demands of sustainability, says Mike Crook, who argues that green roofing could provide the way forward.


If the green roof was once the domain only of environmental pioneers, it has now become a fact of mainstream construction. Long gone are the days when it was enough for a roof to waterproof a building, with added value because it provided effective insulation or contributed to the impact of a new design. Today a roof has to work much harder – and keep on working harder for decades.















There is a whole host of reasons for this, including:
• exponential population growth
(with most pressure on the core of densely populated urban areas);
• depletion of financial and energy resources;
• threats to the environment;
• legislative changes

Excerpts taken from an article by By Mike Crook - Green Build News
Go Here for FULL ARTICLE: http://www.greenbuildnews.co.uk/features-details/Hard-working-roofs/133

Landscaped Rooftops Save on Energy Bills

Landscaped Rooftops Save on Energy Bills

Alexandria, VA - Roofs are now going green and taking our nation by storm.  Many building owners and homeowners are replacing standard roof shingles with vegetation in order to reduce their carbon footprint and enjoy significant savings in their heating and cooling bills.  Vegetated green roofs offer many earth conscious advantages. 

A roof is considered “green” when covered with soil and vegetation.  Although the concept of green roofs has been around for centuries, they’re growing in their popularity in our green world.  Consider its advantages – energy reduction, reduced storm water runoff, reduced heat island effect, increased habitat area, extended roof life and let’s not forget its sheer beauty.   A standard dark colored roof’s temperature is about 175°F compared to a living roof where the temperature reduces to a mere 95°F.  This drastic reduction in the roof temperature can ultimately reduce heating costs up to 25% and cooling costs up to 50%.

In the past, green roofs have been primarily constructed on flat rooftops often in urban environments.  Gravity, vertical wind uplift and erosion problems prevented building owners with sloped or pitched roofs from installing a green roof.  Recently, a resident in Alexandria, VA approached Capitol Green Roofs for a living roof on their recent addition.  The challenge presented to Greg from Capitol Green Roofs was their uniquely designed arched roof.  Greg teamed up with Cell-Tek Geosynthetics from Crofton, MD, who manufactures a recycled stabilizer grid system designed specifically for this application.  “There are various challenges when dealing with a sloped or pitched roof.” says Gregory Long, Design Director at Capitol Green Roofs.  “Cell-Tek’s System solved my concerns with soil migration and wind erosion.  It even allowed me to ensure an even coverage of soil throughout the roof,” says Long.

The contractor who installed the green roof removed the existing shingles on the addition and laid down a rubber waterproofing membrane to protect the roof and prevent any water leakage into the house.  The next layer was a geo-textile drainage mat followed by the Cell-Tek 3” depth cellular confinement system.  The system is then secured to the roof by tendons to prevent any slippage.  Afterwards, the cells were filled with topsoil.  The finishing touch was a pre-vegetated sedum mat and the end result was a beautiful living roof for this homeowner.

Greenroof using Cell-Tek

Pictured here is a green a greenroof project in Northern Virginia installed by Capitol Greenroofs www.capitolgreenroof.com .  The greenroof was on a new addition that had a cathedral sloped roof.  The installation of the greenroof comprised of using an Enkadrain root barrier & drainage system.  To stabilize the planting layer the contractor used Cell-Tek's stabilizer grid www.celltekdirect.com made from 100% recycled high density polyethylene.  The stabilizer grid was expanded on to the roof and fastened down using cable tendons that stretched from one side of the roof to the other.  The expanded cells were filled with a premixed lightweight soil.  Then preplanted sedum mats were rolled out to provide instant vegetated covering of the roof.

The Cell-Tek system was the ideal choice to solve the problem of preventing the planted roof from sliding off.  The tendon system also stabilizes the planted layer preventing vertical wind uplift.