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Snoqualmie Valley Record • June 27, 2012 • 7
Snoqualmie Valley
Home & Garden Roof revolution Carnation couple turns lifeless space into natural resource By Carol Ladwig Staff Reporter
It’s not quite finished yet, but the new front porch on Toby Maloy’s Carnation home is a great source of pride to him. Someday, he hopes, it will also be a sort of advertisement. Maloy, with the help of his wife, Jennifer Resler, and many friends and colleagues, recently built, filled and planted what may be Carnation’s first-ever green roof. It’s the first one permitted, anyway, and Maloy’s first, despite years of trying to convince clients to build one. “I’ve always been interested in green roofs,” said Maloy, a contractor and owner-operator of Seamus Woodworks. As a contractor, though, he couldn’t persuade people to, essentially, landscape their roofs. Maintenance concerns, he said, outweighed all the benefits, even though “green roofs do not cause leaks,” he said. See GREEN ROOF, 8 CarolLadwig/Staff Photo
Toby Maloy and his wife Jennifer Resler, survey their 270 square-foot green roof, the project of many weekends and work parties this summer. Toby, a self-employed contractor, convinced Jennifer to try this experiment when they began rebuilding the porch on their Carnation home. An assortment of sedums and other drought-tolerant succulents were left over from June 16, when Toby and Jennifer, with the help of their 3 year-old son Arrow, planted their new green roof. About 150 plants went onto the roof, including an almost-black type of clover, and, just for fun, chives. Arrow’s contribution was that “he slept through the entire planting,” Toby said, “—and that really helped us get it done!” added Jennifer.
To boldly go Green living on the blue when Snoqualmie’s Travis Boothe creates a minimized, floating hi-tech home By Seth Truscott Editor
Twenty years ago, Travis Boothe’s home was his sailboat. He never forgot the freedom and adventure of that lifestyle. Now, with life at a crossroads, the Snoqualmie resident is taking stock of what’s really important. For him, that’s an interesting, meaningful existence. He’s about to bring his home evironment into line with that ideal, in a dramatic way. Recalling his boating days, he’s about to set sail, trading his home and much of his belongings for a houseboat on Lake Washington. Boothe, a nine-year Valley and longtime trainer at Mount Si Sports + Fitness, watched his daughter Journie Kirdain graduate from Mount Si High School earlier this month. Now, with a house to himself, more than he can handle, he knew it was time for a change. “I’m on my own,” he said. “I can choose what I want to do.” See BOLDLY GO, 15
Above, Travis Boothe’s remodeled houseboat, with glass and wood paneling in plenty. Far left, fitness-oriented Boothe is a familiar sight biking in Snoqualmie.