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The way Brooklyn brownstones are currently renovated does not work. It does not work for the environment nor for the inhabitants’ comfort and utility bills. Eco Brooklyn is focused on redefining how a brownstone gets renovated. We use the Brooklyn Green Show House as an example of a renovation template that works for [...] Navigating the maze of paperwork to get the New York Green Roof and Solar Tax abatement can be confusing, and we’re green roof and solar installers! Below is a list of all you need. The process is pretty simple once you figure it out. Any New York green roof installer and solar panel installer [...] We just went to check on one of our green roof installations in Brooklyn. It had just rained and the air was crisp and clean. Mists floated over the still sleepy brownstones and tree lined streets. And the little pockets of sedum on the green roof dimpled with sparkly rain drops. It was a [...] 350.org is a site worth knowing about. It is at the helm of a very sensible movement to get the CO2 levels of the world back down to 350 part per million, which is a safe level. Right now they are at 387 and it isn’t very clear whether they will keep going up [...] Here is a useful booklet on green roof installation. It lays out the different options depending on the growing medium thickness and drainage requirements. Although it is a booklet created by ConservationTechnology.com to sell their product it is an excellent booklet on how to install green roofs. We are green roof installers in Brooklyn, [...] Here is a cool window shade made out of a box and semi wild plants. It shows how we can put plants in a lot more places that the hyper manicured garden. Window sills, ledges, above doors, on walls, as fences….plants can be part of our building structure just as we use other materials [...] We had to install a green roof in Brooklyn with part of the roof being slanted. We wanted a product that was ecological as well as practical in terms of keeping the soil on the slope. We found our solution in one of our favorite places: the dumpster. We love the dumpster because every [...] We just installed another green roof in Brooklyn. This time it was in Park Slope. We tried something different with this one. Instead of the conventional drainage mat we tried a new kind of mat. The conventional mat has dimples and is covered by a mesh so earth does not pass through. It looks [...] I just met with landscape designer Rachel Poritz who is designing a green roof design for some gas stations. Hey, even gas stations can benefit from a green roof. The gas stations are not just any pit stop though. They are Gaia Certified gas stations. They will sell gasoline derived from socially and [...] We just prepared a Brooklyn brownstone for a green roof installation. It was your typical Brooklyn brownstone: 750 square feet or tar. At least the owners had the foresight to cover the tar with reflective paint. The roof had 100 years of tar on it. There must have been almost three inches of [...] Whenever we do a green roof installation in Brooklyn we get our sedum from Motherplants. They just sent us some pics of other green roof installations they supplied plants for. The installations were not Brooklyn based but the climates were similar which means they can easily be done in Brooklyn too. This one is [...] The materials needed for a Brooklyn green roof are varied. If you are dealing with a brownstone there are real weight requirements to contend with. We have removed the roof and built a stronger one but that is cost prohibitive in many cases. Simply removing the 80 years of accumulated tar is often a [...] We have an interesting challenge on a green roof we are installing. The roof is a typical brownstone roof in Park Slope. But the facade of the building goes higher than the building so there is a steep sloped roof at the front of the building. We’re investigating the best materials to use on [...] If you ware building a green roof in Brooklyn or installing a solar PV system in Brooklyn you can apply for a tax abatement. It is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. You want to go here That will give the NYC forms for you to download and fill out. You [...] What is the best drainage mat for a green roof on a Brooklyn Brownstone? That is the burning question in our minds right now. Price, recycled materials, water retention, water drainage and shipping distance are some of the considerations in our search for the ideal mat. Robie Anson is Eco Brooklyn’s current R&D guy [...] Green roofs use an engineered substrate, rather than natural soil, to support plant growth. There are a number of commercial varieties available, but these are often shipped considerable distances from supplier to consumer and can be expensive. To reduce the cost of our roofs, it would be best if we could produce our own [...] Here is a green roof and deck we are designing for a job in Park Slope Brooklyn. The deck area ranges from 900-1100 square feet. It would be made out of salvaged fir or possibly Black Locust if budget permits. The pergolas are intentionally without many beams. The vegetation will be the main source [...] Here is the Green Roof Tax Abatement. The green roof tax abatement makes a green roof a very sound financial investment. With the rebate it barely costs more to get a green roof than it does to install a crappy tar roof. And if you include that a green roof lasts at least twice [...] As brooklyn green roofers the first thing we suggest is a green roof. It has so many benefits and is at an affordable price where it would be silly not to. If that is not possible a cheaper alternative is to simply paint the roof white. The reduction in air quality both inside the [...] We have built a pergola on the green show house for solar pv and thermal. This raises it above the green roof. Green Architect Roxanne Ryce-Paul sketched up the drawings for it: It looks really great. Eco Brooklyn green builder and project manager Jack Watson built it with his crew. [...] Here is the list of sedum we installed on the Brooklyn green show house green roof installation. We got them from motherplants.net, a great source of green roof plants. We picked these sedum because they will do well in Brooklyn. SEDUM ACER Sedum acre, a yellow-flowered, short-statured plant that does well on cold climate [...] If you are putting a green roof on a Brooklyn brownstone (like we just did) chances are you don’t have a lot of space for soil and plants to be laying around. This means you need to get your materials the day before you plan on installing your green roof. We recommend getting the [...] We just installed the green roof on the Brooklyn Green Show House. Here are the material costs to build a green roof on a Brooklyn brownstone. Total Roof area 600 sq.ft. Green Roof area 500 sq.ft. Roof Prep This stage is about getting as much insulation and waterproofing on as possible. A green roof [...] In Brooklyn there aren’t that many pitched roofs. You get a lot of them in certain areas, especially Ditmas Park. We have a client in that area who approached us to replace their asphalt roof with the same. We are green roofers in Brooklyn so we come up when people do internet searches. [...] In this post, I’m going to diverge from the format of my past several entries a bit and explore strategies for installing green roofs on pitched surfaces. The International Green Roof Association (IGRA) states that roofs with up to a 30 degree pitch can be outfitted with a green roof, and that “traditional” green [...] We are designing a green roof in Park Slope, Brooklyn, for buildings that are joint condominiums. The total roof area is about 7000 sq.ft. Two design ideas are being thrown around, one with the walkway along the front wall perimeter and the other along the center of the buildings. The original idea was to [...] We are a Brooklyn green roof installer and the question of sedum type comes up a lot. Cuttings, plugs or plants? Most people aren’t interested in seeds: Too complicated and too long to grow. My preference is cuttings. Fully grown plants are not a consideration for price and other reasons. Between plugs and cuttings: [...] My manager Jack and I were talking about the direction of Eco Brooklyn today and we were trying to put into words the concept of Eco Brooklyn’s services. Jack came up with a genius term: Urban Off Grid. That is exactly what Eco Brooklyn does. We create urban off grid houses. This does not [...] Shashin Error: “title” is not allowed for ordering with type=albumphotos [...] Brooklyn NY brownstones are not built to carry heavy loads on their roofs. So when you install a green roof you need to build for it and know what the weights are. Here are the numbers from my friend Avra: Extensive – 10-50 lb/squ. ft Semi-intensive 30-90lb/sq. ft. Intensive 80-150 lb/sq. ft. Here are [...] |
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