Leah Berenson

Leah Berenson

January 20, 2025

What are Blue Roofs, and Should You Get One For Your Home?

Major cities often have several infrastructure problems. As such,cities and residents are constantly seeking new sustainable practices to minimize waste and make good use of available resources and the Blue Roof is the latest in sustainable home design. 

Controlling Waterflow

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Image Credit: Architecture Today

The Blue Roof is designed to help manage rainfall and was designed and developed by Hydrotech in Montreal. Amazingly, the roof won’t interfere with other sustainable measures such as solar panels or a green roof, popular in urban areas for providing better insulation and a green space for food or leisure activities to improve mental health. 

Managing Flooding

An image of a blue roof building with an advertisement for a company who handles installation and maintenance.
Image Credit: Architecture Today

“It’s a new form of green infrastructure,” Rohan Hakimi, in integrated water management based out of Ontario, Canada told Cbc. “When it rains in these areas, because of all these hard surfaces, the water doesn’t have anywhere to go, so you get a lot of runoff and risk of flooding.”

Where Flooding Concerns are Prevalent

Jets of rain drain into the drainage system on the roof of the house
Source: Shutterstock

According to the President of Enviro-Stewards, flooding is the leading cause of damage to personal property in Canada. “With climate change, you won’t get the same amount of precipitation but you get it in a shorter duration in bigger, shorter storms,” Taylor said. “If you get water faster than you designed for, then it fills up and it starts backing up and you get flooding. And flooding is very expensive wherever that occurs.” 

Meanwhile, some places in the U.S. are more prone to flooding than other places. Regardless, the benefits are clear, reusing water is advantageous for everyone, person, plant, or animal.

Read More: Solar Roof Technology Promises to Boost EV Performance for a Decade

The Blue Roof Design

An image of a blue roof with sustainable energy panels.
Image Credit: Architecture Today

The Blue roof has been developed into two systems. One that allows the rainfall to be collected and sent back to city drains, and released into lakes and rivers, preventing contamination to more clean rain water than necessary and preventing city drains from becoming backed up and flooding the cities. Meanwhile, the other offers residents or homeowners an added bonus. 

The second system includes piping so families or businesses can recover and reuse the water for other things like watering the garden or doing laundry. 

The Blue Roof Controls Water Flow

A diagram showing how the blue roof opperates.
Image Credit: Architecture Today

The Blue Roof design has “aggregates” or a “cavity under a paving stone,” according to Renoquotes. This is where the water is stored, controlling “ the flow and return of any accumulated water.” 

Adhereing to Envrionmental Standards

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Image Credit: Pixabay

Environmental standards must be adhered to during installation but the good news is the Blue roof can be built onto new construction, or can be added to an existing building provided the building can withstand the weight of the system. As such, the most recommended building is concrete, while steel and wood are the least recommended. Firstly, an inspection will be conducted by the company who handles installation, and most likely any future cleaning or maintenance. 

An Inspection is Required

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Image Credit: Pixabay

This inspection will cover all the bases including whether the building is structurally sound and if the waterproofing system in the pipes needs to be updated. To take sustainability a step further, the blue roof waterproofing system uses a combination of recycled materials but still offers quality and durability. 

Alternative to the Blue Roof

Workers wear protective clothing Roof construction, new roof installation, roofing tools, electric drill used on new roofs with sheet metal construction
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However, the blue roof can’t be installed on a slanted roof. Instead, it’s best for flat roofs, or those with only a slight slant. Alternatively, a similar system can be installed with tanks that “harvest” rainwater. Regardless, the blue roof system works for “a wide range of building types.” Meaning, the blue roof is a worthy adversary in renewable home design and can be used for commercial or residential purposes. The Blue roof is “situated above” the waterproofing system, or “ the water flow-reducing layer.”

Sustainable Alternative

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Image Credit: Pixabay

Although the Blue Roof is seemingly gaining popularity, the green roof is also a popular home design choice, particularly for urban areas. The green roof space provides an area for a garden or other nature related space, repurposing the roof and improving insulation. While both are revolutionary and versatile, they each offer different advantages. 

Blue Roof Advantages

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For instance, the blue roof is cheaper than the green roof. However, it’s more costly than a standard tar, shingle, or metal roof. Meanwhile, both the green and blue roof designs provide better insulation than standard roofs. Furthermore, green and blue roof space offer a path, if not several, to sustainability and renewable sources. 

Read More: Enormous Floating Solar Farms Can Extract Carbon Dioxide from Seawater to Replace Fossil Fuels

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Additionally, both have been proven to help lower the cost of energy bills, alongside solar panels, which have also become increasingly popular among renewable energy sources. Lastly, the cost and risk of needing repair for burst pipe, decreases in both the green and blue roof options. 

Meanwhile, the blue roof has been efficient in using precipitation to help cool buildings. 

Downside of a Blue Roof

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Sadly, there is a major drawback to the green or blue roof. Both are considered a specialty, so finding a company with the expertise and resources may be difficult, time consuming, or even more costly.  Either way, the blue roof is a revolutionary toward more sustainable living, particularly in densely populated and urban communities, according to ArchitectureToday