Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mary Richardson Kennedy have redesigned their 1920s colonial home in Westchester County, NY for energy efficiency and LEED Gold Certification.

The Kennedy’s home had been damaged by floods, which resulted in mold and the house needing to be raised. The Kennedy’s felt strongly that the flooring needed to be reclaimed wherever possible as well as be FSC.

John Yarema was chosen for his work and award winning designs by Mary Richardson Kennedy. Yarema came highly recommended by architects and designers in New York. He was able to take 600 sq. ft. of the original, turn of the century, flooring and make it into a parquet pattern for the entry, gallery, and halls. Yarema made it a mission to find and use reclaimed wood on other adjacent areas in the home as well. Yarema was able to locate 3 homes in the Washington DC area slated for demolition. Yarema, with the help of Sprigg Lynn from Universal Floors removed over 4000 sq ft of white oak from those homes and create some beautiful custom parquet designs for the Kennedy Green House.

The Kennedy’s wanted a patterned floor for the living room. Yarema used high quality, FSC lumber from Denney Hickman of  Alleghany Hardwoods

All 4800 sq feet of custom designed flooring in The Kennedy Green House was installed using Bostik’s BEST®. Bostik’s BEST is a moisture-cure urethane wood-flooring adhesive.  Bostik’s Best is not only the installers choice because of the performance of the product but because it fit into the criteria needed for this eco-friendly home due to the products low-VOC content.

All Bostik’s Hardwood Adhesives and other installation products meet or exceed the LEED V3 Green Rating Systems Credits for Low Emitting Materials: Products that meets or exceed the Indoor Environmental Quality IEQ) credits 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 and some products meet the criteria for Recycled content and rapidly renewable materials. For a complete list of green products offered go to our websites Green Initiative Page and download the low-VOC Product Portfolio or contact us at 1-800-7/BOSTIK, or www.bostik-us.com.

- Christine Krisko