flat-roof / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Metal roof with solar panels
Roof coverings

How to choose roofing materials

1. Asphalt shingles: Asphalt shingles © Ecohome We’ll start with shingles to get it out of the way, because choosing an eco-friendly, durable roof covering starts first with dismissing any idea of installing asphalt shingles. High-embodied energy, rarely if ever recycled, they deteriorate rapidly with UV rays, emit s...

Living green roof installation on the Edelwiess house
Roof coverings

DIY green roof installation video

DIY Green Roof Installation The following DIY green roof video shows the steps needed to ensure your green roof will not leak. Watch more Green Building Guide videos from EcoHome on YouTube here The most common building material used for roofing in North America is asphalt shingles, and because of their poor durabili...

Commercial Living green roof on the Helen Schuler Nature centre
Roof coverings

Living green roofs: the secrets to success

Commercial Green Roof Case Study AB Canada Nestled in the Oldman River valley in Lethbridge Alberta, the green roof on the Helen Schuler Nature Centre (HSNC) has been attracting local and international attention from visitors and living roof enthusiasts since its completion in 2013. On the roof of the building, a 200m2...

How to Vent Roofs - the Methods, Vent Types, Fans
Walls and Roofs

Why Roofs need to be ventilated and how to ventilate a roof properly

It is pretty much inevitable that at least some warm, moist air from living areas will find its way into the roof of a building and bring with it the very real risk of frost and ice forming in a cold climate, or mold and rot in a temperate climate. This is a simple product of physics and the realities and limitations o...

Flooded streets impervious surfaces - Calgary Alberta
Rainwater Collection & Watering

Rainwater management and water-permeable surfaces

Stormwater - why it's important to choose permeable surfaces for paths & driveways As cities expand into the green space around them, naturally permeable landscapes are replaced with buildings, roads and parking lots. This inhibits the natural water-filtering process that happens when micro-organisms in the soil br...

Tesla Solar Roof Tiles installation just got easier
Solar photovoltaic

Tesla solar roof gains ground with target of 1000 solar roofs / week

The Telsa solar roof tiles are in the news again. They now have solar panel shingle installations going in 8 states so far - with what's becoming competitive pricing. If news of these PV roof shingles is also news to you, check out our Tesla solar roof review from when it was first announced in 2016. What was missing b...

Mineral wool insulation in roof by Rockwool - LEED Platinum V4
Roof assemblies - new construction

Using mineral wool insulation batts in roofs

Mineral wool roof insulation used to best effect: Watch more green building video on the Ecohome YouTube channel here The Ecohome's Edelweiss House LEED Platinum certified V4 roof is a 2/12 pitch insulated to R95 with Rockwool (formerly Roxul) mineral wool batts. R95 far exceeds the most rigorous Canadian building cod...

Frost in Attics: What causes Attic Ice? How to Fix it?
Roof assemblies - renovation

Why is there frost in my attic? Is ice in roofs a problem & How do I stop it?

Frost in Attics: why is there Ice in my roof?  When a warm sunny day arrives after a long cold stretch and it seems like you have a roof leak when there isn't a cloud in the sky, it's probably Attic Icing, otherwise known as Ice Dams or Ice Damming, and the surprising thing is that it's very unlikely that the roof cove...

Tesla Solar Roof shingles
Solar photovoltaic

The Tesla Solar Roof: we love the hype, but we'd like to see some actual facts.

Tesla is a powerful brand that when riding on its track record of Electric Vehicles needs to do little but step into a market to get glowing accolades. Some of it is well-deserved, but in the case of their solar shingles that are flooding news feeds, we found very little hard facts behind the big marketing push. To get...

Ice dams on roofs & how to fix them
Roof assemblies - renovation

What causes ice dams and how to fix them

Ice dams form at the bottom of roofs, letting water penetrate and cause damage to the interior of walls and roofs.  When snow melts on a roof it runs down until it meets the unheated bottom edge of a roof and then freezes. This chunk of ice is called an ice dam, and it can cause water to backup beneath shingles and Ice...

Solar Air Heating Panels for Homes - How to Build DIY
Solar thermal collectors

All about solar air heaters - DIY or purchased

How solar air heaters work: Solar air heater diagram © Ecohome The above diagram indicates the basic concept of a solar air heater, and while there are many designs, the basic principle is the same - a small fan feeds interior air into a south-facing wall-mounted panel. Air is heated as it passes behind a black surfa...