GaiaSoil™ Ultra-Lightweight Growing Media

Product Summary

 – GaiaSoil is a proprietary ultra-lightweight green roof medium that provides unparalleled ecological function at a tiny fraction of the weight of competitor’s green roof media. Nothing else compares.

GaiaSoil Specifications Up Front:

• Dry Weight: 10-12 lbs./cubic foot
• Fully Saturated Weight: 28-32 lbs./cubic foot
• Water Holding Capacity: 33% (or 2″ of water in 6″ of GaiaSoil)
• Soil Air Volume: 17% (soil air is critical for robust growth!)
• Insulation: 1.7R/inch under field conditions (65 F; 15% saturation – more info in specs below)
• Typical 6″ Green Roof Design Weight:  21-23 lbs./sq. ft. including fully developed plants (native meadow palette) and at 100% saturation
• Did we mention that GaiaSoil can float? Plants will never get waterlogged even under the heaviest rainstorms. That’s because GaiaSoil is lighter than water and held together by roots, so the soil column rises and a water reservoir is created below it. This property makes our GaiaSoil Floating Wetlands possible, which can cost-effectively store over 2 feet of water under the soil column for maximum stormwater capture

Why GaiaSoil?

Insulation Capacity

The Styrofoam used in GaiaSoil creation has a lab-tested insulation factor. With an R-Value of 2.7/in for dry GaiaSoil and 1.2/inch for fully saturated GaiaSoil, Leaf Island produces the only green roof media on the market that insulates. GaiaSoil typically has an R-Value of 1.7/in under field conditions (70 degrees F, 15% saturation). We offer the option of installing additional foam block insulation below the drainage mat if the client desires a higher rooftop R-Value.

Adaptive ReUse

Styrofoam takes up 30% of landfill volume and doesn’t degrade. GaiaSoil is composed of mostly recycled Styrofoam by volume. Leaf Island prides itself on turning waste stream products like Styrofoam, which pollutes our waterways and oceans, into something that can be used to great ecological benefit. Its unlikely that the world will ever stop producing Styrofoam in the foreseeable future, but you can rest assured that purchasing a GaiaSoil Ultra-Lightweight Green Roof System will remove thousands of cubic yards of Styrofoam from landfills. Also, each yard of GaiaSoil stabilizes 72 lbs. of atmospheric carbon, so a 10,000 SF green roof permanently removes over 13,300 lbs. of carbon from the atmosphere.