Martha Rose Construction

By, Staff Seattle Magazine

Do you know your LEED from your Living Building? Deciphering local green-home certification is the first step of eco-house building

Green Houses
Most of us “green” our homes with the same scattershot methods we use to improve our diets (organic apple here, “natural” energy bar there). We buy an Energy Star dishwasher, blow in some extra insulation and build our deck with wood stamped with a logo that looked sustainable under the sallow CFLs of Home Depot. But even homes accessorized with à la carte green features weigh heavily on the environment. According to the Seattle-based nonprofit Bullitt Foundation (whose mission is to promote sustainable development), buildings currently generate 39 percent of carbon emissions, 65 percent of waste and 70 percent of electrical use in the United States.

So it’s good news that more local homeowners have gone beyond sustainability snacking and committed to a whole-house menu. Perhaps that’s because there is growing evidence that a home built or retrofitted to be energy- and resource-efficient will add green to the wallet. Airtight ductwork and solar panels are expensive, but so are energy costs. Homes meeting green certification standards can save 30 percent or better on energy performance over a single-family residence built to traditional code. Also, according to a study by Phinney Ridge–based GreenWorks Realty (greenworksrealty.com), green-certified King County homes are selling at a faster rate and for higher prices than non-certified homes.

Which may be why green-home certification programs are booming. Patti Southard, project/program manager for Green Tools Solid Waste division in King County, says enthusiasm for the locally developed “Built Green” home certification (see next page) has surpassed expectations. “Our goal was to have 10,000 Built Green homes certified by 2010,” she says. “We had them by the end of 2007. This is a region of the country where we have a lot of early adopters.”

This is also a region where we hear a lot of green-home buzzwords without necessarily understanding the nuances of each. Does “Built Green” mean your house gets an Energy Star? Is a “Living Building” as good as “LEED certified”? And what about “zero energy” and “passive energy” homes? (FYI: Those last two are strategies builders may use to attain the different types of certification outlined on page 50.)
Green-home certification programs provide invaluable guidance through the process of creating a more sustainable home, but before consulting a builder or an architect, brush up on which ones mean what. All of these programs set specific goals for a builder working on a sustainable-home project in a variety of categories, such as energy and water consumption, indoor air quality and use of sustainable materials. A note to buyers: Since MLS listings claiming “green” status vary greatly, check for proof of one of the following certifications through the programs themselves.

Built Green
Run by: King County Master Builders Association in association with King and Snohomish counties
Details: Twenty-five percent of new construction in King County is now built to this standard. Certifies homes from one to five stars, based on points accrued after assessment in five areas, taking into consideration everything from a home’s landscape to the sustainability of its materials to toxicity of finishes and energy efficiency of systems. Projects earning one to three stars are self-certifying—the builder certifies that a checklist of green requirements has been completed. Four- and five-star projects require third-party verification.
Testimonial: King County’s Southard says, “Built Green is the more user-friendly program [compared to LEED for Homes].” She also considers Built Green superior in offering incentives to builders who use local materials. And she says its new remodel standard (which requires an energy audit and retrofit) is “the best remodel checklist in the country.”
Where to see it: Issaquah’s zHome development (z-home.org), which offers monthly walk-through tours, and Martha Rose Construction’s Fish Singer Place (martharoseconstruction.com).
More: For King County’s green building tips, visit your.kingcounty.gov and search for “greenbuilding.”

Read the full story. http://www.seattlemag.com/0p212a2253/shelter-green-houses/

By Adrian Willanger, LEED AP

A new segment of the home buying population that has become increasingly frustrated with maintaining an older home are looking to re-establish themselves within an amenity rich urban neighborhood, wanting, still,  to be close to libraries, markets, churches, parks and fee from week-end home repair projects.  

Developers and builders are starting to see this trend happening throughout the country, causing many to re-think their approach to building.  One developer-builder Martha Rose has figured it out. It’s critical “that I build something that fits into the neighborhood” mentions Rose when asked about her infill strategies.

Her latest infill-collection of homes are a perfect example of adding value to the community by building less,  smaller homes that are more environmentally friendly that blend into the existing neighborhood. Their new “lifestyle house” is a product that is targeted to a specific group of buyers looking for a well designed house in a neighborhood centric area. Their overall goal is too eventually build homes that are sustainable, environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a home’s life-cycle.”

Adrian Willanger, founder of Eco-Redux, who has been working on the marketing say’s “this project has had that special feeling from the very start.”  Starting with the financing, Rose received financing because, among other things, she happened to be building a green project. The local building department fully embraced Rose’s decision to make the site a low-impact-development choosing to keep the majority of rainwater runoff on site as opposed to directing into storm drains and eventually ending up in the local lakes, streams and nearby Puget Sound.

This was successfully done by minimizing the amount of hard surfaces choosing to install green roofs on all garages, equip each house with 2-1000 gallon rain barrels to help catch roof runoff, and used pervious (porous) concrete for the roadway that sits on top 2-4 feet of railroad ballast (crushed rock) which allows for additional drainage and added support to the roadway.

Rose states “it’s a nice trade-off building in an established neighborhood which has built-in amenities while adding environmentally friendly new homes.”

Martha Rose, president of Martha Rose Construction located in Shoreline Washington, has been building green homes since the start of the Built Green program in 2002. Over the last five years they’ve been building at the challenging 5-Star level of the Built Green certification as well as having all of their homes certified by the partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (D.O.E) Energy Star program and DO.E’s Building America programs.

Martha Rose Construction
Shoreline, WA

Martha Rose, one of the preeminent green builders in the region, has recently completed her latest community of 5-Star homes including four new single-family homes and one 5-Star remodel of the home that was originally on the site. The project is called Fish Singer Place, and the homes are modeled to be 49% more efficient than code, and the innovative green building strategies are too numerous to count. 1000-gallon rainwater tanks, green roofs, vegetable gardens, and an espaliered fruit tree grace each site. LED lighting, heat recovery ventilators, R-29 walls and quadruple pane windows achieve the energy efficiency. Whole house radiant heating and low toxic paints and finishes ensure the homes have clean indoor air, and meticulous selection of locally sourced certified wood along, recycled tiles and an 87% construction waste recycling rate demonstrate a responsible use of materials. Finally, a centrally located community fire pit creates an atmosphere rarely found in new construction.

Some of the many green features of the project include:

Site and Water Protection

• Vegetable gardens and espaliered fruit trees and worm bins provided at each property
• 1,000 gallon rainwater catchment tanks
• Community driveway is made of pervious concrete
• No turf grass anywhere in the community
• Centrally located fire pit to promote community interaction
• Green roofs installed on the garages of two of the units
• Preservation of 6 large trees in on the site
• No impervious surfaces outside of the house footprints
• Installed only dual flush toilets
• Accessory dwelling units provided with two of the units

Heat recovery ventilator acts as whole house fan on timers to ensure optimum indoor air quality

• Garages detached from homes
• Used only low VOC paints, sealers, caulks and adhesives
• Installed formaldehyde free cabinetry and shelving systems
• Installed drainage plane between walls and siding
• No ducted heating in the homes
• Shoe removal vestibules located at both front and back entrances to homes

Material Use

• 87% construction waste recycling rate achieved by source separation
• Used 25% flyash mix in all concrete
• Milled trees from site into fir flooring for homes
• Used locally sources salvaged wood for built-in furniture
• Used 50 year recycled content siding
• Used locally sourced, locally manufactured doors
• Unfinished solid pine shelving provided in all storage areas
• Provided built-in recycling center
• Used brick from original chimney to create central fire pit

Ask us about our summer close-out pricing. For more information contact  Adrian Willanger 206 909-7536 Adrian@ecco-redux.com

by, Martha Rose

When selecting windows for Fish Singer Place our goal was to find the windows that would provide the highest levels of comfort and energy efficiency and were manufactured in the United States.  Selecting Serious Windows was relatively easy after comparing performance data from the all of the top manufactures.

We decided to go with the Serious 925 model for many reasons. The environmental friendly fiberglass frame is very strong, and expands and contracts at the same rate as the panes of glass since it’s made out of the same material. Because the frame is hollow, it can be insulated. With these particular windows, foam is injected into all of the hollow parts of the frame to help eliminate thermal bridging. Fiberglass windows last longer than wood and require little or no maintenance. The color is integral and painting them is unnecessary, however, fiberglass is fully paintable. Finally, the expected lifespan greatly exceeds vinyl and most wood.
Features:

• Up to R-9.1 insulation 3x ENERGY STAR® rating
• 99.5% UV Protection (reduced fading)
• Reduced condensation
• Increased comfort with less draft in winter and reduced solar heat in summer
• Lower energy bills
• Over 28 years experience in both residential and commercial windows
• Can contribute to LEED credits
• Decrease the size of your HVAC system

“Choosing to use better materials and designs to increase our energy efficiencies and indoor comfort in our homes is one of our highest priorities” -Martha Rose

Mike Lubliner, ME Building America and Tom Baledrson, Building Performance Constant at Conservation Services Group

Pictured in photo: Mike Lubliner ME Building America and Tom Balerson Building Performance Consutlant at Conservation Services Group

By, Martha Rose

In the mid-1970’s I had the pleasure to be living in a rural area of Grays Harbor County and simultaneously learned that a twin nuclear power plant was to be built 15 miles away as the crow flies. This turned into an opportunity to really learn about alternative energy sources.

Then as well as now, it turns out, conservation is THE lowest hanging fruit of the energy tree. Simply put, insulating more and better can eliminate the need to build more nukes or to drill for more oil.

In the 70’s, I didn’t know that our housing stock was responsible for the greatest amount of energy consumption (40%). I thought the biggest culprit was industry (15%+/-) followed by vehicles (25%). What an aha!  Moment it was when I learned the truth about energy consumption.

So even if lifestyle changes are made by riding the bus, walking more, and eating local food, there still remains the opportunity to make the biggest impact on our own personal energy consumption. By achieving personal peak efficiency (PPE), we can become part of the solution of cleaning up our environment.

Consider this: The passive solar homes being built by Martha Rose Construction use less than ½ the energy and water resources as other new homes built today. These same homes’ efficiencies look even more impressive if they are set beside older homes.

Now, add active solar systems for hot water heating and electricity and the home’s energy consumption becomes very close to the magic zero number.

We are at the forefront of energy efficient homes in the Seattle market, setting new standards for other builders to follow. Three homes are available now.