Built By Wood – The Gehring House

Using wood in construction aligns historic preservation goals, local economic impact, and carbon reduction.

Addressing Local Needs

As a quaint village located in the Mahoosuc Range and a short distance from recreational amenities such as Sunday River and Mt. Abram, Bethel, Maine offers residents many amenities – but the small town is not immune to pressing challenges.

The boom of the short-term rental market, as well as the regional housing crisis, hinder individuals looking to remain in the area or relocate there. More frequent and intense flooding, overflow of the Androscoggin River, and increasingly common rain-on-snow events threaten municipal and residential infrastructure. The housing crunch prompted the Center to purchase the historic 10,000-square-foot Gehring House in 2022 to create quality apartments for people who work in the Bethel area, and the context of mounting climate pressures motivated us to lower the carbon impact of the restoration as much as possible.

In 2024, construction crews began transforming the building into eight 1- and 2-bedroom apartments and one studio. Rentals are priced for middle-income, full-time residents in the Bethel area, filling a critical gap in the community. The Center teamed with the architecture and construction firm Woodhull to prioritize reclaiming existing materials and using local wood products to ensure the Gehring House would blend history and innovation while reducing its environmental impact and supporting the local economy.

Using Climate-Smart Wood Products

Extending the Life of Stored Carbon, Procuring Local Wood Products

As with its renovations of the Parker J. Noyes building in Lancaster, New Hampshire and 560 Railroad Street in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, the Center prioritized the reuse of existing building materials where possible before buying new materials. In doing so, the Center extended the life of carbon stored within the building’s existing wood products. Trees take in – sequester – carbon from the atmosphere as they grow then store that carbon in their trunks, branches, leaves, and roots. When harvested, that carbon remains locked in wood products for their lifetime until disposal.

photo of Maura Adams

This approach not only reduces carbon emissions associated with disposing of old materials, but it also eliminates the carbon emissions that would have been produced from manufacturing and transporting new materials. Every time we re-use wood in one of our renovations, we’re doubling down on the carbon benefits.”

– Maura Adams, Director of Community Investment

Historic tax credits are aiding the reclamation of over 14,900 original woodwork such as sills, banisters, trim, doors, and columns as well as 88 windows, including the Gehring House’s iconic curved windowpanes.

The construction crew is reclaiming more than 6,400 square feet of existing maple, birch, oak, and pine flooring. Where contractors are unable to reuse existing floors, the Center purchased new wood flooring from Maine-based Hancock Lumber. Due to the renewability of trees, hardwood floors outcompete alternatives such as linoleum, vinyl, and carpet.

Calculated using Builders for Climate Action’s BEAM tool.

Similarly, the construction crew retained 5,000 square feet of existing exterior pine siding and patched unsalvageable areas with 2,000 square feet of siding also procured from Hancock Lumber. Collectively, the existing and new finished carpentry, floors, siding, and rough lumber will store about 146,100 lbs of carbon dioxide over the lifespan of the building – equivalent to offsetting the emissions from 7,455 gallons of gasoline burned. This figure would be even higher if all existing rough lumber were accounted for.

Calculated using Builders for Climate Action’s BEAM tool.

Bringing Innovation Inside

In keeping with the State of Maine’s leadership in innovation within the forest products sector, the Center incorporated new-to-market, climate-smart wood products into the design of the Gehring House.

TimberBatt wood-fiber insulation, manufactured 73 miles away at TimberHP’s Madison mill, has replaced conventional fiberglass or foam insulation. TimberHP is a first-in-the-nation wood-fiber insulation manufacturer, bringing a European technology to the U.S. Using wood fiber insulation reduces the embodied carbon of the building and produces a carbon benefit. The TimberBatt will store carbon within the building while new trees regenerate in the forest, sequestering nearly 8,300 lbs of carbon dioxide emissions over the lifetime of the Gehring House. As with wood floors, wood fiber insulation surpasses alternative materials such as fiberglass, spray foam, and XPS foam – and is healthier for occupants!

Calculated using TimberHP’s product declarations.

The building features two modern wood pellet boilers to replace the existing oil boiler. Bethel-based Maine Energy Systems, a leader in introducing modern wood heat to North America, supplied the boilers. Funding from the U.S. Forest Service made it possible to include this innovative source of renewable heat in the building. The new system reduced the building’s emissions from heating by 54% upon installation compared to the heating oil previously used. During two months of heating in 2025 alone, opting for wood pellets avoided over 14,200 lbs of carbon dioxide emissions. That’s equal to emissions from 728 gallons of gasoline.

Wood pellet boilers.

Wood pellet storage.

From the Ground Up

Cumulatively, using these wood products in the Gehring House stores at least 154,300 lbs of carbon dioxide over the lifespan of the building and avoids 43,800-69,100 lbs of carbon emissions by not using building materials traditionally based on fossil fuels.

“We’re proud of the redevelopment we’ve done on the Gehring House,” said Adams. “We’ve restored this historic building to provide homes for residents and created a model example of climate-smart design with a wood-first approach.”

Stay tuned for future updates on the Gehring House as well as on other real estate work in the region and join us in our learning journey through our Built By Wood series.

Click here to view and download our Gehring House 2-pager (pictured above).

Staff Contact

photo of Amy Scott

Amy Scott

Program Manager

Email

Cell: 207-357-3189

Photo of Kendall Gray.

Kendall Gray

Program Manager

Email

Cell: 443-841-5201