Forest Run

Forest Run

by | Sep 27, 2024

Forest Run

Out on a secluded lot in the County, Forest Run home is a peaceful retreat for retirement.  The lot entices you to pull up a chair and just listen to the birds, frogs, bugs and furry critters in the surrounding forest. Once inside, you feel a sense of coziness by the warm-toned finishes, but still have a great connection to the idyllic nature surrounding the home through the large and strategically placed windows.

Unfortunately, during excavation the foundation trench became a big muddy pond due to the clay-rich soil. This resulted in many days suited up in waders and rubber boots. During the foundation pour, we made the choice to use less fly ash in the concrete mix than we would normally because of the cold temperatures and soupy ground. For context, we try to use as much fly ash as we can to reduce the foundation’s embodied carbon. But sometimes compromises have to be made in order to create a more robust structure.

Overall, Forest Run was a fun project to do, with some twist and turns along the way. We are so honored to have built our second-time client another home!

 

Specs

  • Overview:

    • 1234sf SFR & 1152sf unconditioned garage/shop
    • 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom + bonus loft
    • Net Zero Energy
    • Aging-in-place design
    • Passive solar heating/cooling design
    • Insulation: R-29 walls & R-59 ceiling
    • Air Sealing: 0.46ACH
    • Certifications: DOE Zero Energy Ready Home certified, ENERGY STAR certified, EPA Indoor airPLUS certified, anticipated Built Green 5-star certified

    Mechanical:

    • Ventilation: Fantech Hero 250 with built in HEPA filter. Built-in humidity, temperature, and CO2
    • Heating/Cooling: Fujitsu 18RL mini-split
    • PV: 5.04kW solar array

    Selections:

    • Cedar siding & soffits
    • Lifetime warrantied asphalt roof
    • Fir trim & doors
    • GREENGUARD Gold certified oak flooring
    • Custom maple plywood cabinets
    • Quartzite countertops
    • LED lighting
    • WaterSense plumbing fixtures
    • ENERGY STAR appliances
    • Balanced range hood
    • No/Low-VOC finishes
    • Triple pane, Low-E coated, argon-filled vinyl windows
          Lynden Powerhouse

          Lynden Powerhouse

          by | Nov 15, 2023

          Lynden Powerhouse

          Lynden Powerhouse is a highly efficient, net-positive home with an additional ADU and stick-framed garage/shop. This home will receive the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home, ENERGY STAR, EPA Indoor airPLUS certifications, and Built Green 5-star certification.

          Lynden Powerhouse will provide full-time and temporary housing for up to four separate family groups. This level of complexity required a greater attention to climate and ventilation zoning, which necessitated the installation of three separate Fantech Hero 250 HRV units and one extra-large Chiltrix CX50 heat pump. These devices allowed the home to be compartmentalized into three separately conditioned spaces – the main living space downstairs, living space upstairs, and ADU. Breaking up the air spaces ensures that the fresh air circulation can independently adapt to the measured CO2 levels and temperatures of each air volume. Given that hazardous airborne viruses are a normal part of life for the foreseeable future, having three separated air spaces allows those infected to quarantine without infecting others. Further measures to make the home as energy efficient as possible with the best indoor air quality included hydronic radiant floor heating, HRVs with integrated HEPA filtration, all ENERGY STAR rated appliances, LED lighting, triple pane windows, and Aerobarrier air sealing.

          One of the owners, who works in the tech industry, used his knowledge to create innovative automation systems for the ventilation and hot water circulation systems using motion detectors and CO2 sensors to minimize wasted energy, water, and time. Each air space has a motion sensor that will stop the HRV unit if no motion is detected for 24hrs to conserve energy. Additional automation uses custom algorithms to vary the HRV air velocity to balance CO2 extraction with ventilation-induced heat energy loss. Motion sensors placed near each plumbing fixture trigger the hot water circulators only when need is anticipated. By the time the person turns on the fixture, hot water is available, minimizing both water, time, and energy waste.

          Lynden Powerhouse features a 17.01 kW solar array with six 48v 100AH LFP batteries for backup storage. The system was designed to be oversized, knowing that the combination of PV with storage allows for disaster resiliency and for the house to operate completely off-grid for weeks if needed. It also supports three EV charging ports, two for occupants and one outside for guests. Moreover, having an oversized solar array on an already super-efficient house, means the owner can eliminate the entire energy bill which makes retirement budgeting more predictable and effectively making the cost of living cheaper in the future. By over-sizing the system, the house can fully power the AC units of four less efficient homes in the cul-de-sac, thereby minimizing peak energy loads for the entire block. The reduction in peak-energy loads helps reduce the stress on the grid caused by extreme weather events. And is the key to eliminating petroleum powered peaker plants, thereby reducing CO2 production for the entire street.

           

           

          Specs

          • Overview:

            • 1549sf SFR &  842sf ADU
            • 1123sf unconditioned garage & shop
            • 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath SFR &  1 bedroom, 1 bath ADU
            • Net Zero Energy
            • 1st floor aging-in-place
            • Passive solar heating/cooling design
            • Insulation: R-29 walls & R-59 ceiling
            • Air Sealing: 0.45ACH
            • HERS Index: -24
            • Annual Energy Cost Savings: $3,717
            • Certifications: DOE Zero Energy Ready Home certified, ENERGY STAR certified, EPA Indoor airPLUS certified, anticipated Built Green 5-star certified

             

            Mechanical:

            • Ventilation: (3) Fantech Hero 250 with built in HEPA filter. Built-in humidity, temperature, and CO2
            • Heating/Cooling: Chilltrix CX-50; hydronic radiant floor heating downstairs and (3) fan coil units
            • PV: 17.01kW solar array with whole home battery back-up

             

            Selections:

            • Timber framed entry
            • Metal roof
            • Locally made walnut and maple cabinets
            • Bamboo Floor Score certified flooring
            • Vanair vented interior doors
            • Locally made solid fir front door
            • Silestone and Corian countertops
            • ENERGYSTAR appliances
            • LED lighting
            • WaterSense plumbing fixtures
            • No/Low-VOC finishes
            • Triple pane, Low-E coated, argon-filled vinyl windows
              Download Case Study Here!
              Victory Heights Net-Zero Home

              Victory Heights Net-Zero Home

              by | Apr 12, 2020

              This Built Green 5-Star zero-energy home defines the Seattle eco-lifestyle. It features an open floor plan, heated hardwood floors, 9-foot ceilings, and exposed beams.  On the roof, a 9.5kW net-metered solar array provides all the home’s power needs, and an electric car charging station is built into the garage. Triple-pane windows and SIPs construction offer plenty of insulation, and a whole-house filtration system keeps the air pure. Designer touches include Hinkley lighting, custom cabinetry, Carrara marble countertops, stainless steel appliances, an induction cooktop, and a 9-foot kitchen island.

              Download Case Study
              Bellingham Carriage House DADU

              Bellingham Carriage House DADU

              by | Jul 18, 2019

              TC Legend Homes demolished an existing one-car garage and re-purposed the available space with a cozy, high-performance, 775 square foot, detached accessory dwelling unit (DADU) that includes an attached single-car garage. The RE Store handled the structure demolition to maximize recycling opportunities and minimize waste.

              The DADU was designed from the ground up to be net-positive-energy, meaning it will produce more energy on an annual basis than it requires. TC Legend Homes applied the same approach and many of the same building techniques to this DADU as it does to any of its other homes.

              Key Features

              • A simple design to minimize exposed surface area

              • Orientation and window placement to optimize active and passive solar

              • Slab on grade with 4” under-slab insulation & Insulated concrete forms

              • Structural Insulated Panel construction (vice traditional framing) to reduce possibility of thermal bridging

              • Triple-pane windows

              • High-efficiency mini-split heat pump for heating & cooling and high-efficiency heat pump for water heating

              • HEPA High Efficiency Whole House Insulated Filtration System

              • 5.4kw photovoltaic solar system

              • Energy Star, EPA Indoor airPLUS, and 5-Star Built Green Certified

              • Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index is negative 16!  (A typical new home has a rating of + 62).

              Toomes’ Bellingham Affordable Net-Positive Home

              Toomes’ Bellingham Affordable Net-Positive Home

              by | Nov 6, 2018

              Built by the TC Legend Homes/Powerhouse Designs team. We design and build. With a standard palette of materials & details that have been chosen, tested & refined over many houses, there is no confusion for the crew. The draftsman, engineer, and crew are consistent through all our projects, so everyone has done this system before.

              Key Features:

              • Positive Energy – produces enough electricity to also power an electric car.

              • Energy Star, EPA Indoor airPLUS, and 5-Star Built Green Certified.

              • Honorable Mention in the Affordable Category of the 2018 US Department of Energy Housing Innovation Awards.

              • The home is oriented for both passive & active solar performance by facing south, as a rectangle with the long side (26’) running from east to west. The home is outfitted with an 8.1kw photovoltaic system.

              • Energy envelope includes structural insulated panels (SIPs). The 6.5″ Neopor R29 SIPs panel walls are locally made in Washington. Designed & engineered to reduce cold bridging by minimizing structural lumber & maximizing use of foam splines to connect panels. Shell is air sealed with triple beads of mastic at all joints and panels additionally taped at all joints. RIM joist insulated with R30 spray-foam at floor systems. Perfect rectangle box adds simplicity to construction & reduces corners & thus cost & air leakage.

              • 4″ Extruded Polystyrene (EPS), a low VOC foam (R20), is used under-slab. The concrete slab-on-grade is exposed and is effectively a free finished-floor and a functioning thermal mass.

              • The heat recovery ventilator (HRV) is a Zehnder Comfo-air 200 which can scavenge 95% of the heat from the outgoing dirty air. Running through a class 4 filter (merv7/8) at between 29 and 118 cubic feet/ minute (cfm), the unit ventilates the whole house, extracting moist air from bathrooms/utility spaces, bringing fresh air into living spaces.

              • Energy Star appliances including a Geospring 50-gallon heat pump-powered hot water heater.

              • Stormwater from the roofs is infiltrated on-site using splash blocks below the gutter downspouts.

              • Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index is negative 25!  (A typical new home has a rating of + 62.)

              Purchase Plans-Set HERE!