Roof Garden - Help Please

[bubs]

Dear all,
I have an apartment with a 1000 square feet of flat roof. It is ugly bare concrete and somewhat rough. Would appreciate some advice on: (1) what is the most cost effective way to make use of my roof garden - for example, would it be advisable to tile it up? or place timber decking? (2) what is the most low maintenance? (3) As I live in Singapore and the weather here is troical, hot, sunny and with rainstorms, what is the best in terms of durability? (4) what would be the approximate cost for each method? thanks in advance!

[suemarkp]

First, can the roof even take the weight of a roof garden? I don't know how deep you want the soil or how large of a garden you want. But it would be at least advisable to make sure you're locating the middle of it over a supporting wall or post below it. Soil is heavy, especially wet soil. Just because your building is concrete doesn't mean it was built like a vehicle parking garage.

I have no idea what building materials you have available to you or what they cost.