The Incredibly Green Home Blog

Merry Christmas Everyone! Hope you had the chance to spend time with family and friends. I am fortunate to have most of my family right here in the DC area, and my older brother brought his two children down from Montreal for the weekend. We spent Christmas day at my folks house in Olney, and had a great time as usual.

My younger brother, Steve, and his wife Karen live in DC in an older building and they are in the midst of a major kitchen renovation. Their son Benjamin is now two, and like so many kids these days, he suffers from asthma. He had an attack on Christmas Eve that nearly sent him to the hospital. That got me thinking about the "healthy home" features of The Incredibly Green Home and how I wish Steve's family lived there. I truly believe that Ben would be a happier, healthier boy if that were the case.

Just to review, here's a list of the major features of the home that make it a "healthy home".

1. Central Vac with main unit in garage and vented to outdoors.
2. The only carpet is in the home theater. Allergens such as dust mites, pollen and other contaminants cannot get trapped on wood and bamboo floors.
3. Entire home has Certainteed ProRoc mold-resistant drywall
4. Super tight envelope ensures that the vast majority of air coming into home is first filtered by MERV 13 filters.
5. All finishes, sealants and adhesives are VOC compliant.
6. All engineered wood products are made with no-urea added formaldahyde.
7. Ductwork was sealed with mastic during construction. This prevents any unwanted construction debris from contaminating the system.
8. Multiple redundant systems designed to ensure that moisture is kept out of home, minimizing the chance of mold and mildew.
9. All bathrooms have humidstats, again to reduce chance of mold and mildew.
10. Programmable thermostat has humidity monitoring and control. Too much humidity leads to mold, too little leads to dry nasal passages, chapped lips, and gaps in your hardwood floor.
11. All cracks and seams caulked and sealed.  Outlet and switch boxes are caulked.
12. Sealed sump crocks with active radon control systems.
13. All combustion appliances externally vented, eliminating carbon monoxide and other toxins.
14. Garage fan connected to motion sensor, so when the vehicle pulls into the garage, exhaust is removed from home.

Finally, the home passed final inspection for the EPA Indoor AirPLUS certification on Wednesday the 23rd. Halleluliah!

So, with the soaring rates of asthma in this country, it would seem that the public would start demanding these features in their new homes. As usual, Bethesda Bungalows is leading the charge, and everyone else is going to have to catch up. Lets hope the future owner of The Incredibly Green Home values all of the extra attention to detail we have given this home. Going into the Spring '10 market, it will probably be the only home in the area with these features, and we hope that helps to sell it.

Here's to the end of the decade that is the Zeroes - bring on the Tens!

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Just in time for the blizzard that's heading our way, we are putting the roof trusses up on the Greif home at 5120 Fairglen. For this project, we've contracted with CSSI to supply a turnkey framing package using Porter Structural Insulated Panels (SIPS), and engineered trusses. Their crane showed up this morning to set the trusses, and they got the whole thing done in 2 1/2 hours. Productivity!

This is the first time Bethesda Bungalows is using SIPS, and I'm anxious to see how they perform. This will be a LEED-certified home, and we're shooting for a HERS rating of under 40. Coupled with the insulated slab and foundation, and the sprayfoam on the underside of the roof, the envelope should be extremely tight.

Now if we can get the roof sheathing on in the next 5 hours, we won't have to shovel snow off the second floor on Monday.  Go Go Go!

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We had a nice write up in the Gazette this week. Click here to read it.

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Cue the marching band, The Incredibly Green Home is finished!  And wow, is it stunning.  Words do not do it justice.

Stop on by for a FREE tour any day of the week, Monday thru Saturday 11 to 1, and Sundays 1 to 4pm. 

The home is being listed by Marc Fleisher of Long and Foster, with help from Jill Schwartz, their Green Ambassador. 

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The finish line is in site! And who better to get us there than Fabulous Finishes, a company that we have relied on for several years now. They provide a super high level of house cleaning that really puts the final touches on our projects.

For The Incredibly Green Home, Fab Finishes founder, James Young, developed a specialized package of green cleaning products and techniques. Using only all-natural, non-toxic cleaning products, James' went above and beyond to ensure the home's indoor air quality remained pristine, while protecting the health of his employees. They are also using microfiber cleaning cloths instead of paper towels, reducing waste paper going to the landfill.

Their attention to detail really puts the final touch on our homes, and we here at Bethesda Bungalows really appreciate the effort.

James Young and the team from Fabulous Finishes

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You know, working here at Bethesda Bungalows can sometimes get a little monotonous. On any given day, we might have 6 or more spectacular homes in various phases of construction. And you get a bit jaded, because heck, its just another amazing custom home with another ridiculously beautiful kitchen, and on another we are getting ready to pour concrete for the swimming pool, and another is having their wall panels delivered, and so on.

But yesterday was not like that. Yesterday was an exciting day. Because yesterday, we had the solar panels installed on The Incredibly Green Home. The crew from Standard Solar got here in the late morning, and were done by early afternoon. A total of 10 Suntech panels were installed, the Sunnyboy inverter hooked up and tested, and they were on their way. Piece of cake.

In the meantime, one of their Sales Engineers, Scott Carr, stopped by and did a shade analysis for another project we are starting next week just up the street. We're looking forward to bringing that system online next spring.

And here's my chance to give a shout out to my old bud, Brad Henderson, who's the new Sales Director at Standard Solar. Congrats, dude.

George, Andy and Allen aren't all thumbs, they got the panels installed in two hours.

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The "walkability" of a particular neighborhood is a key factor in determining the desirability of the homes in that neigborhood. This is why Bethesda Bungalows identified Fairglen Lane in Chevy Chase as a prime location to focus our building efforts. Now, a new study by CEOs for Cities has validated this concept. Entitled, "Walking the Walk - How Walkability Raises Home Values in U.S. Cities", the study analyzed data from 94,000 real estate transactions, which was evaluated using the Walk Score algorithm.

The Walk Score website (www.walkscore.com) determines your proximity to key community resources such as stores, restaurants, public transportation, parks and green spaces, schools and other facilities. Based on that data, it gives your address a score between 1 and 100. The study found that in 13 out of 15 U.S. cities, higher walkscore translates to higher home values.

The Incredibly Green Home of Chevy Chase has a Walk Score of 91!! This falls into their highest category - Walkers' Paradise. For this, the USGBC awards points in the Locations and Linkages category of the LEED standard. And since our office is right across the street, Bethesda Bungalow's headquarters falls into the same category. Which makes me want to take our mascot, Romeo, for a walk.

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One of the things that distinguishes a Bethesda Bungalows home is the high quality cabinetry. We really take pride in our kitchens, vanities, built-ins, and other custom woodworking. Whenever possible, we use Victory Woodworking, out of Canaan, New Hampshire. Victory is owned by Peter's uncle, Andrew Daum. "Uncle Andy", as he is affectionately known, is a true craftsman, a person whose passion and attention to detail shines through on every piece he makes.

For the Incredibly Green Home, he's really outdone himself. The kitchen is shaping up to be a masterpiece. The base cabinets and door panels are made of PureBond (Formaldahyde-free) domestic maple. The door frames are solid american cherry, harvested in Pennsylvania. The coolest part for me, though, is the uppers. Andy is neighbors with a guy who reclaims glass out of old barns and homes, and so he had his neighbor hand-lead reclaimed glass that is over 100 years old. Wow, its really beautiful. You really need to see it in person - the pictures don't capture the magic.

They've also installed the front porch columns (FSC-certified mahogoney), dining room columns, master bath vanities, fireplace trim and mantle, and a bunch of other beautiful accents.

Andy has been assisted this week by his son, Caleb, along with Alan LaRose and Dan Lombard - all imported from New Hampshire. Thanks a million guys!

Andy Daum and son Caleb

Dan Lombard and Alan LaRose- all the way from NH!

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Another one of our steady business partners is Drywall Systems, Inc. of Gainesville VA. They consistently deliver a high quality install at a fair price. And they're fast. So when we called our rep, Richard Dodge, we knew this was one phase of the project that we didn't need to stress about.

For The Incredibly Green Home, we selected Certainteed ProRoc Moisture Resistant Gypsum Board. The D.C. area often has very humid spring and summer seasons, and this drywall helps ensure that there won't be mold issues in the home.   We put the "Type X" 5/8" version in the garage, as it is fire resistant.

Drywall Systems completed the job in less than 3 days, and we've the moved onto painting phase.

The tile guys have started the master shower, and it looks great. For me, this is when the fun begins. The finish line is in site!

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The Incredibly Green Home has siding! The generous folks from LP Corporation have provided us with their SmartSide Siding and Trim. Each piece of engineered LP SmartSide Trim & Siding is fortified throughout the material with their proprietary SmartGuard^® process with zinc borate to resist fungal decay and termites. Since this part of the country is considered a "moderate to heavy" termite infestation area, there is a strong benefit to having the siding imbibed with zinc borate. Oh, and the stifling humidity of the swamp they call D.C. doesn't even have a chance to start fungal decay. Thanks to LP and Barron's Lumber for making the exterior of The Incredibly Green Home beautiful and built to last.

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