Floating homes on Lake Union are all the craze. These homes, situated on rafts semi-permanently moored to a dock, are unique and provide luxury. When contracted to add a green roof to a new floating home, WALP member firm Pacific Earth Works was awarded the bid to work on the project that proved to be a challenging task. But the rewards were spectacular for the Monroe-based company.

Along the way, they earned a well-deserved Grand Award in the Residential Construction Category in WALP’s 2013 Environmental Landscape Awards Program.

The project called for a unique wrap-around, extensive, built-up green roof surrounding the outdoor patio area of the new floating home on Lake Union. The project was designed by the home owner and GC Design. Pacific Earth Works installed the American Hydrotech green roof system which featured sedum tiles atop a build-up system including a protection sheet, root barrier, drain board, filter cloth, slotted aluminum edge restraint, gravel ballast vegetation-free zone, extensive growing media, and sedum tiles.

With any project, challenges did arise. This project required coordination for material delivery and handling and access to the roof deck by hand. In addition, ballasting of the floating home to level it on the water had to be coordinated with the builder to accommodate the variance of the load during placement of the materials, as well as to accommodate the final additional green roof load. The tight quarters didn’t lend well to the ease of the project either. With the project area being very small, planning and coordination was required to accommodate the crew and materials within the tight working area.