This is the fifth in a series of articles about green building and renovating in Mount Washington.  The articles were all written by Polly Bart, a PhD who has been working as a builder for …

This is the fourth in a series of articles about green building and renovating in Mount Washington.  The articles were all written by Polly Bart, a PhD who has been working as a builder for …

This is the third in a series of articles about green building and renovating in Mount Washington.  The articles were all written by Polly Bart, a PhD who has been working as a builder for …

2005: Crest Road
This is the second in a series of articles about green building and renovating in Mount Washington.  The articles were all written by Polly Bart, a PhD who has been working as a …

I met my first Mt. Washington clients through architect Julie Gabrielli, who lives in Mt. Washington. Julie had designed a lovely reading room/sunporch addition for Bob Byrnes and Ruth Sadler for their 75-year-old house on Greenspring Avenue.

Bob, Ruth, Julie and I were all committed to environmental preservation and particularly to energy conservation. The addition Julie designed was to be completely sealed and insulated for maximum comfort with minimum energy use. We were removing a small porch and we found ways to reuse almost all of the materials. The exterior siding would be HardiPlank and the interior finishes would be low VOC, meaning that they would not emit harmful chemicals called volatile organic compounds.