Thatch, water reed, or fragmites is a plant with a tough, woody stem and a distinctive feathery tuft at the top. It is recognized as an invasive in the Chesapeake Bay, growing in shallow wateror wetlands and choking out other plants. It grows thickly and does not provide much useful habitat compared with native species. Some people value it for flood management. Continue Reading…
I made these sketches for my longtime collaborator and friend, Polly Bart. After a couple of decades as a green builder, she is building a house for herself using all natural and salvaged materials, including trees harvested from her land, strawbale walls, a green roof, and—possibly best of all—a thatched roof over the main living room’s steeply pitched log structure. Last month, the master thatcher came from Ireland to put up the roof. The photos of it are stunning. Continue Reading…
Here are some fun before and after images from the project! Continue Reading…
Greenbuilders brought the thatch from Turkey and the thatch master from Ireland for an exciting mad dash of thatching before winter’s first snow! Here is a quick glance of the process of building thatch roofs in action, filmed by Greenbuilders’ founder, Polly Bart. Continue Reading…
Green doesn’t have to be funky or blah. Here, real Bolivian rosewood (the stripes of sapwood are natural) forms the floor and the wood is Forest Stewardship Certified (FSC) sustainable, the highest standard available in the industry. The countertops are soapstone, quarried in Virginia, a material once used by the Native Americans in the area and later very common in laboratories because, unlike granite or marble, it is resistant to virtually all stains, and may safely hold a pot right from the stove.
The home had radiator heat; there was capacity on the boiler, but no room for a radiator in this sleek renovated kitchen. We laid radiant heat tubing between the floor joists, using a separate circuit from the boiler with its own thermostat, producing cozy comfort with virtually no increase in heating cost.
Every year Greenbuilders hosts a community event as our way of saying thank you. We call it an UNCONFERENCE, and it is intended to be our gift…. Yet, I always feel as though I am actually the recipient! This year even more so, as the day was filled with music, silence, global brainstorming, laughter, babies and grandparents, artisan delicacies and workshops, amazing conversations… and even fireworks!
We all agreed our bodies, minds and spirits were sent home completely fulfilled & eager for next year’s UnConference invitation to arrive in the mail.
LITTLE HOUSE OF THATCH
You are invited to Day One of thatching our roof, if you’d like to meet some cool people (you) and learn a little about how it’s done. No date yet; we’ll let you know.
Greenbuilders has been having the time of our lives building an experimental structure using agricultural material. Okay, we’re alternating with conventional materials — why? because we’re not CRAZY! Continue Reading…
Greenbuilders, Inc. of Baltimore Receives Best Of Houzz 2016 Award! Over 25 Million Monthly Unique Users Rated Top-Rated Home Building, Remodeling and Design Professionals in the United States and Around the World….. and WE WON. Continue Reading…
Greenbuilders, Inc has captured the attention of the following publications:
ABC Building Baltimore Magazine
American Institute of Architects (AIA) Magazine
Baltimore Magazine
Chesapeake Home
Mt. Washington Post
STYLE Magazine
Urbanite Magazine
The Washington Post
For media inquiries, please contact us here.
By Polly Bart and Sara Barnett
A child’s scope can be limited to a few spaces – their bedroom, preschool, or a grandparent’s house. When this important space undergoes a change, it may seem that their whole world is being turned upside down. While choosing details for the renovation may seem the top priority, keeping children comfortable and happy in a home renovation is even more important. Continue Reading…
This morning I received a call, “Are you the best green builder in Maryland? I just Googled ‘Best Green Builder Maryland’ and you came up first.”
What a fantastic question… but, how does one answer if they are the best green builder (or best general contractor for green construction) in the entire state of Maryland with the perfect combination of humility and confidence? Continue Reading…
Polly Bart is an expert LEED consultant who has been invited on numerous occasions to speak on the subject of “What is LEED?” She has published a series of five articles in Chesapeake Home Magazine on LEED for Homes. This video quickly and clearly explains exactly what LEED is, and why it matters. Continue Reading…
As the founder of Greenbuilders, Inc., I cherish moments when a creative burst is revealed or a spark of organic genius is lit that I get to share with you, my favorite green-minded clients. Today, I am sharing such a moment. Continue Reading…
When people think green architecture, most of us tend to view it as a new concept.
This is no doubt due to the growing public interest in environmental responsibility. It is hard to see its beginnings behind the rising crest of the past decade’s wave of enthusiasm. Continue Reading…
Greenbuilders, Inc. had the pleasure of STYLE Magazine capturing one of our local events recently. If you didn’t get your copy off the stands, we’ve scanned it hot off the press for you! Continue Reading…
Renovation Nation Volume 3, Ep. 24 “Baltimore, MD: Staw Bale Garage”
Hosted by home building expert Steve Thomas, Renovation Nation explores the latest in green home building techniques. In this episode, Steve came to Baltimore to help Greenbuilders, Inc. build a garage for a local Baltimore family using the all-natural insulator…straw! Continue Reading…
Solar panels on the roof of this structure will heat glycol which in turn heats the water to run through tubing laid in the concrete slab. Looks simple, but… Continue Reading…
Imagine an old-fashioned wooden barrel — standing twenty-two feet high! In Baltimore, a group of these proud giants have stood for one hundred years on an industrial site, part of a pickling plant. For a century or two before that, the Douglas Fir trees Continue Reading…
“You might have something here!” said Mike Schramm, director of the Bowie Parks and Grounds headquarters construction project, as he basked in the shade of a stack of straw bales towering twice the height of his head. Mike walked into the sunny side of the wall and into the oppressive August sun. It was a full twenty degrees cooler on the inside of the wall, and we hadn’t yet even put on the roof! Continue Reading…
On September 15, 2011, Dean Phil Closius of the University of Baltimore Law School and his wife, Merritt Pridgeon, generously hosted a Greenbuilders, Inc. open house attended by STYLE Magazine. The party was themed around a contest — suggested by Phil — called “Can You Find What We Did?” Continue Reading…
Home renovation is a big deal to adults. It’s an even bigger deal to your kids — literally! Their home may be the only place they’ve ever lived, and if you remember your own childhood view of things, everything was on a much larger scale. New people, sounds, and shapes in your home may be much more noticeable to your children than to you. Continue Reading…
“That” said our young client, aged six, “is a turtle. I want a tortoise. A Galapagos tortoise. They have claws.” We then received a short by emphatic lecture on the distinction between turtles and tortoises, and the coloring on the underbelly of the Galapagos variety in particular. “And” said our young scientist wistfully, “could they fly???” Well, not normally, but … Continue Reading…