Portland, Ore.-based custom building and remodeling company Green Hammer takes an extremely holistic approach to green building, according to its founder and president Stephen Aiguier. Going far beyond the basics of creating tight building envelopes and ensuring energy-efficient performance, Green Hammer pays close attention to its materials: where they come from, whether the source is managed responsibly, the manufacturing process, and their impact on the health of the home’s occupants.
This green idealism is perhaps a large part of the reason Green Hammer won the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) 2008 Designing & Building with FSC Award for a 2,000-square-foot custom home and additional 600-square-foot studio unit built almost entirely of FSC-certified wood products. Every structural wood member and most of the finish and trimwork in the house came from (mostly local) FSC-certified forests—all except the stair treads (milled from a felled tree on site) and most of the baseboard (milled from salvaged high-school bleachers). The home’s LEED-H Platinum certification is pending.
Portlanders Charlie Weiss and Katharine Lawrence, the house’s owners, set out very specific goals for using FSC-certified woods throughout the project. The couple are related to the operator of Zena Timber, a local FSC-certified forest, who referred them to Green Hammer for their project and from whom the construction company sourced much of the lumber for the project. Weiss and Lawrence wanted to support the local FSC market but also prove that building a green home that looks and feels good is possible.
To showcase the FSC wood products used, the hybrid timber-frame’s posts and beams were left exposed in the interiors and the ceiling was finished with tongue-and-groove wood planks. A variety of different FSC-certified wood species was used throughout, including Douglas fir, Madrona, hemlock, spruce, and birch.
For Green Hammer’s dedicated team members, who share a common green ideology, the FSC award helps validate their efforts. “Getting these sorts of awards vindicates what we do,” Aiguier says. “It’s not easy, and it hasn’t been easy to struggle to find all the products we want, working with millwrights, ordering all the product we want four months in advance, and educating people on why we really do want FSC wood and why we’re willing to wait longer. Getting the award is definitely good for motivation.”
