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Featured Home by Centex Homes
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Our
featured home this month is part of a new crop
of Built Green homes being built by Centex
Homes in Mukilteo,
Snohomish County. Not only is Centex promoting the
Built Green program through its
company marketing materials, it is providing “green” training
to its superintendents and marketing personnel.
Energy savings will be provided for the homeowners
in this
home through an Energy Star-rated Whirlpool dishwasher
and an upgraded water heater. Also, Energy Star
windows provide a more energy-efficient glazing
system. Compact
fluorescent light bulbs, that should last about
ten times longer than incandescent bulbs, were
provided to the homeowners. Open-web trussed
floors allow
for more efficient heating runs, and ducts are
sealed
with low-toxic mastic to prevent heat loss. Water
intrusion around windows is prevented by installation
of a system with an extensive flashing detail.
Bath fans are tested at a higher level to meet
a 50 cfm
outtake for improved indoor air quality. Long-life
fiber cement siding from James Hardie was installed
for durability on the home’s exterior. Other
long-life products include granite countertops,
tile and hardwood flooring, 30-year composition
roof and
hardwood cabinetry, among others. Centex participated
in a recycling program for construction waste,
including cardboard, metal scraps, wood, packaging,
drywall,
yard waste, and asphalt roofing. To read more
and see the virtual tour of this home, click
here.
Fortune
Magazine ranked
Centex No. 1 in its industry on the magazine's
annual list of "America's Most Admired Companies," and
Centex recently built the Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition house for the Dore family
in Kitsap County.
| New
Members |
All
American Waterproofing
Waterproofing contractor
in Kirkland can be reached at (425) 488-0500
Contracting
Management, Inc.
Construction
management firm specializing in the finest quality
custom home construction and remodeling
Catapult
Community Developers
Speculative
builder and developer with extensive experience
in green building
Georgia
Pacific
Leader in the manufacture and marketing
of plywood,
gypsum
boards, lumber, and engineered wood products
Murray
Franklyn
Building your best investment
The
Oak Floors of Greenbank
Owner Dan
Bollinger literally wrote the book "Hardwood Floors," an
industry standard published by Taunton
Press
Preston
Michaels Construction
Remodeling specialists
Western
Red Cedar Lumber Association
Non-profit
trade association representing quality producers
of western red cedar
View
our current
members.
| New Certifications |
 This
month a total of 281 homes were certified as
Built Green, along with two new Built Green certified
communities!
Congratulations to our builders, remodelers,
developers and architects who made the extra effort
to certify
your homes!
Centex
Homes certified its first homes with our program:
72 homes in Lynnwood
and
47 homes in Mukilteo at the 3-Star level.
Bennett
Homes certified 107 homes this month in several
neighborhoods.
Velocipede
Architects certified 2 remodel projects
in Seattle.
The
Cottage Company certified 12 of its small
cottages.
Fine
Home Development certified one small community
in Seattle, as well as six homes
within the community.
Greenleaf
Construction certified four townhomes
and another single family residence
in Seattle.
Ten
Directions Design, a Seattle architecture
firm, certified a Seattle remodel.
Strandberg
Construction has certified the first Built
Green community
in Anacortes!
Owen
Roberts Group certified a single family residence.
Martha
Rose Construction certified
five homes and one
remodel in
Seattle.
Specialized
Homes certified 15 new
single family homes in Issaquah
Highlands.
And
last but
not least, Habitat
for Humanity of Seattle/South King
County certified
10
homes! (We waive the
fees
for
affordable housing projects such
as
Habitat.)
| Events |
 Thursday,
March 17
Built Green Conference, Expo and Tour
The Built Green Conference and Expo, Greening the 21st
Century,
will be held at the Seattle Center Northwest Rooms on Thursday, March 17. The
following day, a green
homes tour will begin at the Environmental Home Center. Click
here for details.
Wednesday,
May 18
Low Impact Development in Puget Sound: Experiences
and Practices in Residential Development
At this one-day accredited seminar, a diverse range
of professionals will share their low impact development
experiences. Instead of a theoretical discussion,
expect balanced and realistic perspectives on the
integration of LID techniques into residential communities.
Key
questions remain about this evolving development
practice
and its value to consumers, the environment, and
the bottom line. Whether you are a developer, consultant,
or agency representative you will gain a broader
understanding
of the merits or challenges of using low impact development
techniques to create livable communities. Faculty
includes principals from CamWest, Snohomish County,
Hillis, Clark,
Martin and Peterson law offices, Weber + Thompson
Architects, Associated Earth Sciences, Triad Associates
and Washington
State University. The seminar will be held on Wednesday,
May 18 at the MBA Housing Center from 9:00 am - 4:30
pm. For further information and to register, contact
Lorman Education Services at 1 (888) 678-5565 or
visit www.lorman.com and enter seminar id 345355 in
the
Express Registration box. Please mention priority
code 17130
when registering.
Saturday,
May 14
MBA’s
Rampathon Aids Disabled Homeowners
Join the MBA for a one-day ramp-building
spree to build free access ramps for disabled low-income
homeowners
in King and Snohomish counties on Saturday, May
14. To volunteer, contact the Master
Builders Care Foundation at (425) 460-8238 or via email.
Setting the Context for Low Impact Development
in Puget Sound
Several half-day workshops on LID are happening
this month in various locations. Experts Bruce
Wulkan of Puget Sound Action Team, Curtis Hinman
of
Washington
State University Pierce County Extension, and
Ed O'Brien of Washington Department of Ecology
will provide an overview of the low impact development
technical guidance manual for Puget
Sound and guidance for estimating flow-control
credits for low impact development
practices. Register by contacting Gigi
Williams of the Puget Sound Action Team via email
or 360-725-5454.
Tuesday,
March 8 - Federal Way
Dumas Bay Center, 3200 SW Dash Point Road
8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Tuesday,
March 15 - Mount Vernon
Skagit Station, 105 E Kincaid Street
8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Tuesday,
March 22 - Port Hadlock
Washington State University Learning Center,
201 W Patison Street
12:30 to 4:30 p.m.
MBA
Calendar of Events is posted at
the bottom left of the homepage.
For more information, contact James
Cadungug at (425) 460-8213.
| Earth
Art |
It
may look like a computer-generated fractal, but it’s
a real photo of the eastern Himalayas Mountains in
China. The USGS and NASA teamed up to bring stunning
images of the Earth taken by the Landsat-7 satellite
and the Terra Satellite's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal
Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER). The website allows
users to download the images as posters and wallpaper,
and perhaps remind us how incredible our world in which
we live.
| Photos
Close to Home |
Need
an aerial photo, a topographic map or population information
for the area surrounding your site? Check out TerraServer,
a vast data store of maps and aerial photographs of
the United States, assembled by Microsoft
Research and the U.S.
Geological Survey. Many areas also have a link
to neighborhood information on population, income
and age. Pictured here is an aerial photo of Bellevue.
| From
the Director |
 |
FSC-certified white
oak flooring |
These
Floors Are Made for Walking…
Some people occasionally ask me, "Isn’t
it more difficult to build green?" My family recently
purchased some new flooring for our home, and I am
happy to report that making it green was not complicated.
I simply called Built Green member companies to find
out what they could do for us, and it turned out
they
could do a lot! My family had agreed that we wanted
the carpet downstairs completely removed to improve
the indoor air quality and the aesthetics in our
home, and we further agreed that we wanted hardwood
flooring.
Having lived for many years in an area where clear-cutting
and its resulting erosion is standard practice, I
want to be able to support efforts that manage forests
in
a more pleasing and sustainable way. For me, that
meant the best choice for hardwood floors was Forest
Stewardship
Council (FSC)-certified
wood flooring because it carries the assurance that
the wood
comes from an environmentally-responsible forest.
In fact, the Oregon white oak that we ultimately
chose from the Environmental
Home Center in Seattle comes
from a family-owned forest in Oregon (with
happy trees). I was able to fulfill my personal choice
because our member companies are committed to providing
high quality products that are also sustainable.
In fact, we have many member companies that offer
sustainable
flooring that includes cork, bamboo, other FSC-certified
products, salvaged and reclaimed woods, laminates,
all-natural
linoleum, slate, stone, brick, ceramic tiles, natural
fiber carpet, carpet made from recycled plastics
and many others. Here are a few Built Green members
that
can help with flooring: (for wholesale) Contract
Furnishings Mart and The
Floor Club;
(for salvaged wood) Elmwood
Reclaimed Timber,
the Re-Store and Second
Use Building Materials;
(for FSC-certified lumber) Dunn
Lumber and Environmental
Home Center;
United
Tile and our
newest member, The
Oak Floors of Greenbank.
Happy hunting!
Robin
Rogers, Program Director
|
Built
Green | Phone
(425) 460-8238 | BuiltGreen,
335 116th Avenue SE, Bellevue WA 98004
