Martha Rose Construction

By, Staff Eco-Redux

While the economy is struggling to find even footing green home builder Martha Rose continues to raise the green home building bar.  “We have seen a tremendous amount of interest in our new high-performance homes,” mentions Rose, “we are seeing a much greater consumer interest in energy efficient and environmentally friendly homes.”  

In 2008 Martha Rose Construction joined U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to announce a new national energy-saving initiative-the U.S. Department of Energy’s Builders Challenge.  The program encourages U.S. home builders to adopt the E-Scale on a voluntary basis.  The idea is to accelerate integrated design and building practices that have been developed and verified through DOE research in its Building America program.

The U.S. Department of Energy has posed a challenge to the homebuilding industry – to build 220,000 high performance homes by 2012.  Homes that qualify for the Builders Challenge must achieve a 70 or better on the EnergySmart Home Scale (E-Scale), meaning that they will use at least 30% less energy than a typical new home built to code.

“Building high-performance homes makes us part of the solution when it comes to our world’s energy challenges. Working with the Building America Team insures that we will accomplish this goal with clarity and efficiency,” says Rose. 

For more information: MarthaRoseConstruction.com or buildingamerica.gov/challenge 

By,  Adrian Willanger Eco-Redux 

Martha Rose after exhausting hours of research has selected to go, with an industry leader, A.O. Smith’s newest hot water heater the “Vertex 100” for installation in her latest high-performance homes.  

The Vertex is the result of a 3 year project between the United States Department of Energy and A.O. Smith to accelerate development of a higher efficiency hot water heating solution.  The Vertex 100 operating at 96% thermal efficiency provides a higher output with more efficient combustion to produce hot water at a lower operating cost.  

Understanding thermal efficiency, think of thermal efficiency percentage as a dollar spent operating your water heater. Standard water heaters operate at 78% or less thermal efficiency meaning that 22 cents of every dollar used to heat hot water is wasted.  Compared to the 96% efficiency of a Vertex this can add up to a substantial difference in lost energy and money over the life of a water heater. 

One of televisions’ first green genre stars Ed Bagley Jr. has selected the Vertex 100 for his own  use as well as talk host Jay Leno for his green update of his car museum style garage.  You may not be able to afford any of his cars but you can use the same “celebrity” hot water heating system.   

by, Staff Eco-Redux

Green Builder Martha Rose Chooses the high-efficiency Mantis freestanding gas fireplace for her new homes at Fish Singer Place in Shoreline, Washington.

The Mantis is the first and only vented 28,000 BTU fireplace that is certified to exceed 93% efficiency AFUE.  The   AFUE is the most widely used measure of a furnace’s heating efficiency.  It measures the amount of heat actually delivered to your house compared to the amount of fuel you supply to the furnace.

Humidify While You Heat

Capturing the condensed water, a byproduct of its clean combustion and efficient heat exchanger and then evaporates it adding humidity back into the room.  

Just one of the many energy saving features that can be found in the 5-Star Built Green homes at Fish Singer Pace.

Make your plans now to join Builder Martha Rose on June 19 from 1-5 for the 2nd annual Eco-Enclave Sales Event.

The “Second Green” grand opening celebration mirrors the eco-friendly construction aspects unique to the four homes at Fish Singer Place. The four homes designed by noted AIA architect Craig B. Anderson of CB Anderson Architects and built by award winning builder Martha Rose, of Martha Rose Construction, will be unveiled at the event with sales underway and one of the new homes already under contract.

The “First Green” event featured the Queen City Eco-Village, this enclave consits of 3 newly constructed 5-Star homes featuring detached carriage houses, as well as an extreme remodel of a 1900s farm house.  To achieve the 5-Star rating, the homes used extensive green building strategies starting with site specific designs and implementing low-impact-development strategies.  Builder Martha Rose mentions “it may cost a little bit more to build this way” but it’s the right thing to do.  The use of pervious concerete for all the driveways and community entrance along with supplying each home with a 2,600 gallon rainwater collection tank help minimize the amount of stormwater runoff that would normally find its way back into the water ways picking up pollutants along the way.

The homes at Fish Singer Place are priced from $599,950 and are move-in ready.  The available three floor plans all feature 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms with at least 1 bedroom 1 bathroom on the main floor. All homes are built to the rigorous 5-Star Built Green standards exceeding code built new home energy efficiency by at least 70%.

The homes at Fish Singer Place is sure to appeal to anyone seeking a high-performance quality built green home in a great neighborhood that has it all, from restaurants,  parks, shopping,  highly rated schools, and easy access to all of Seattle.

To visit Fish Singer Place go west on 160th Ave from Aurora Avenue for approximately ¼ mile, go south on Dayton Ave to site entrance.

For more information, visit FishSingerPlace.com or call 206 909-7536

Bear by, Jason Reed Brown

By, Adrian Willanger Eco-Redux

Native Americans once populated the coastlines of the Pacific Northwest. Their tribal folklore and art pay special reverence to the once abundant natural resources of this unique region.   The Salmon was their major food source and was celebrated with rituals and art.

Martha Rose, president of Martha Rose Construction, pays special homage to the once Salmon rich waterways of the Pacific Northwest with the naming of her latest Green development Fish Singer Place.   By choosing to build a Low-Impact-Development (LID) that focuses on keeping stormwater on site avoiding particles from brake pads, gas, oil, transmission fluids, and pesticides from polluting Puget Sound waterways.

Northwest Native American art installed on each house is a reminder of the rich ecological and natural resources that the region is well known for. The Bear, Salmon, Raven and Orca bronze sculptures made by local blacksmith-artesian Jason Reed Brown serve as a proud reminder of how fragile our ecological system is.

In addition to their stormwater management practices which include: green-roofs, two 1000 gallon rain barrels per house, rain gardens and pervious pavement over a bed or rail-road ballast type rock which aids in filtering the rainwater runoff slowly back into the natural aquifers, and emphasize drought tolerant plants or plants with low water requirements. 

The site has been a learning center for many local building departments, students, building and design professionals, as well as many environmentalists.

Rose mentions “I want to offer something that the masses aren’t producing.  A notch up in quality means a lot to me.”

The four homes at Fish Singer Place are now available for pre-sale starting at $638,000. For more information contact Adrian Willanger 206 909-7536 Adrian@eco-redux.com

By, Eco-Redux Staff

Seattle, WA. April 22, 2010- Fish Singer Place has made a conscious effort to go beyond the Energy Star standards for incorporating green building practices into their home building.  To be considered ENERGY STAR, a home must meet guidelines for energy efficiency set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These homes are at least 15% more energy efficient than homes built to the 2004 International Residential Code (IRC), and include additional energy-saving features that typically make them 20–30% more efficient than standard homes.  The four new homes, at Fish Singer Place, designed by CB Anderson Architects and built by Martha Rose Construction are projected to be 60-70% more efficient than standard built new homes.

Martha Rose Construction has been building at the rigorous 5-Star Built Green level since its inception, choosing to make this their standard practice as opposed to making energy efficient options upgrades. “Building at this level requires more work and allot more attention to details” mentions Rose. The real benefit is to the new home owner who gets a home that is more energy efficient, healthier and more comfortable to live in.

The four-home community has been a living classroom for environmentalist, builders, architects, students, home buyers, real estate agents, and curious home owners looking for energy upgrade ideas.

The homes range in size from 2000-2900 square feet and are priced from $638,000-$788,000. For more information please visit FishSingerPlace.com