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Bethesda Bungalows' Blog
Green Building
Tag >> Brad Beeson
For me, one of the most satisfying parts of being involved in the building industry is seeing a finished home and then watching it mature. As each season goes by, the landscaping grows in, interiors & exteriors are personalized and the house turns into a home. I had my first taste of home building back in the late '80s when I worked three summers as a mason's tender for Don and Frank Pilson, bricklayers from Mt. Airy, MD. We built chimneys and brick facades for Pulte developments in Olney and Germantown, along with custom work all over the county. It was absolutely back-breaking work, but at the end of day, you saw the fruits of your labor. Now my role at Bethesda Bungalows (fortunately) doesn't include much manual labor, but I still get a strong sense of satisfaction when I drive by a project that I was involved in. One particular home on Burning Tree in Bethesda stands out. Set atop a majestic lot, the home is a faithful "Greene and Greene" bungalow. We completed it last year, and now that the grass is growing and the fence is up and the pool is in, it is really starting to come into it's own. Thanks go out to Pam Sarris, who provided much consultation on the interiors, and my good friend, Roger Miles, who supervised the construction. Happy Fourth of July everyone! 
Bethesda Bungalows is proud to announce that 5120 Fairglen Lane, Chevy Chase MD has achieved LEED Silver certification.
Located on "Bungalow Row", this custom home's high performance features include an insulated slab, SIPs panels walls, a WaterFurnace ground-source heat pump system, and an ERV.
Many thanks go out to homeowners Susan and Peter Greif, whose passion for the green building movement made this project possible.
Serious Materials is changing their name to Serious Energy, to better reflect their complete product offerings, which include advanced building products and energy software services.
I've long been a fan of several of the other products, including QuietRock, which I've used in the soundproofing of several home theaters.
The NIST Net Zero home will be built using their SeriousWindows 725 Series with a custom glass package that includes the SeriousGlass 9 glazing. These will be the highest performing windows we've used in a home, and I for one am excited to check them out. Windows are always the weakest component of the thermal envelope, so even a small improvement in performance yields a large dividend. And hey, they're filled with Krypton!
Happy Friday everyone, it's a beautiful spring morning here in the nation's capitol, and my taxes are done. The NIST Net Zero site is fully prepped and the basement has been dug to grade. The last load of stone for the stabilized construction entrance is in place, and assuming the rain isn't too heavy tomorrow, we should be ready to pour footers early next week. We've noticed that the soil drains and dries quite rapidly, a good sign.
Todd Cirner of Therrien Waddell has been working non-stop on getting our submittals over to the team at Jacobs Engineering for initial review, before they pass them onto Building Science Corp for final review. The requirements for this project have made the submittal process a bit more challenging than we are all used to, but we'll work through it.
Click here to continue reading the Bethesda Bungalows' blog.
A quick update on our new custom home going up on Denton Road in the Edgemoor neighborhood of Bethesda. The essential architecture of the home is an American Four Square, with the owners having added some personal touches. We've got the siding up on the exterior and like many of our customers, we've gone with the pre-finished Hardiplank cement fiber board for superior durability and low maintenance. On the interior, we've got the trim crew showing up tomorrow to start installing cabinetry, doors and trim.
I know the owners are anxious to get out of their cramped rental, so hang on there David and Lindsey, you're almost home!
Posted by: Brad Beeson in Victory Woodworking, NGBS Emerald, LEED Platinum, Incredibly Green Home, icestone, Frank Lloyd Wright, foursquare, Brad Beeson, bamboo countertops, Arts & Crafts Homes on
Mar 1, 2011
One of our favorite magazines, Arts & Crafts Homes and the Revival, is featuring Bethesda Bungalows in their Spring 2011 issue. Click here to read the article.
Here’s Arts & Crafts style with sustainability for the future: a Maryland company finds inspiration for its high-quality, energy-efficient homes in the building traditions of the bungalow era.
Six years after a small beginning, 25 employees hustle to keep up with demand for Bethesda Bungalows’ signature product: “green” adaptations of Arts & Crafts houses. Most of them are small by today’s up-market standards, but they marry optimal energy efficiency with good looks—a combination that’s catnip to today’s homebuyers.
The temple-like dining room is elevated, giving it special importance: Frank Lloyd Wright would have approved.
Shown here is one of the company’s recently completed projects, a Foursquare in Chevy Chase, Maryland. At 4,700 square feet, the house is not their smallest model, yet it fits seamlessly on an infill site in a medium density neighborhood. Called “The Incredibly Green Home of Chevy Chase” by its builder, the house boasts the high-quality, energy-efficient construction that got it platinum-level LEED certification, the first such honor in Montgomery County.
“Historically, bungalows have always been a naturally efficient home, and the original ‘anti-mansion’,” says Peter Guida, company founder and president. “These homes are perfect for smaller lots in the city and for close-in suburbs.”
From the insulated foundation to the rooftop solar panels, the Chevy Chase Foursquare embodies modern energy efficiency. Although LEED certification dates only to 2008, the philosophy is familiar to students of the Arts &Crafts movement and its revival. In the “Incredibly Green Home,” the idea resulted in the use of mold-resistant drywall, cabinets constructed from American cherry certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, materials with sources close to home, glass re-used from old windows, low-VOC paint, and recycled-fiber carpeting.
Arts & Crafts furniture, French doors, and cabinets with cloud-lift details are period inspired.
Its Arts & Crafts personality evident in the house form and its details, the Chevy Chase Foursquare boasts five bedrooms and five baths on three floors. Today’s sensibility drove the open plan of the main level, where living and dining rooms flow into the kitchen. But with tapered square columns, cloud-lift mirror frames and cabinet doors, prominent cornices, and a four-squares motif reminiscent of Wright and Mackintosh, the inspiration for the millwork dates to a century ago.
The dining room is separated from the music room by Shoji screens.
“We think of it as a Frank Lloyd Wright–Japanese fusion,” says Beeson, who was responsible for much of the interior design. “It combines Arts & Crafts woodwork with a spare simplicity; our workers call it ‘Shinto cabinetry’.”
Bethesda Bungalows’ source for cabinets is Victory Woodworking of Canaan, New Hampshire, a shop owned by Peter Guida’s uncle, Andrew Daum. Daum used glass reclaimed from an old New England farmhouse for upper kitchen-cabinet doors.
Kitchen cabinets are green-certified Pennsylvania cherry wood.
In these photos taken on completion, interior paint colors speak more of 2011 than 1911. “We used neutrals,” Beeson says, “because the house was built on spec, and we didn’t want to take the risk of historic, saturated colors on the walls.” Besides a home theater, contemporary elements in the house include a luxuriously appointed, tiled laundry and double sinks in the master bath. In the garage, there’s an outlet for an electric car.
“The house is within walking distance of public transportation,” Peter Guida says. That was important to homeowners 100 years ago, and is once again a valued selling point. The shops and businesses of downtown Bethesda are less than a mile away, making it easy to run errands on foot. Even without an electric car, the residents will conserve energy and save money: this house will do it for them.
Taking the LEED
LEED, an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, provides builders and homeowners with internationally recognized standards for green building design, construction, operations, and maintenance. Guidelines govern standards intended to improve performance in energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, stewardship of resources, and sensitivity to their impacts.
The Washington Post featured Bethesda Bungalows' NIST Net Zero project. Click here to read the article.
Ecohome Magazine's ongoing coverage of our KellyGreen project continues with an article about the all-important pre-drywall inspection. 
Green rater Andrea Foss consults with Bethesda Bungalows'
Mark Razmic during the LEED pre-drywall inspection at the
KellyGreen house in Chevy Chase, Md.
Our lovely project on Cedar Lane in Kensington has been featured in an article in Chesapeake Home + Living magazine. Click here to read it. 
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EcoHome Series
EcoHome Magazine is following our entire KellyGreen project in Chevy Chase!
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