Samish Solar

Samish Solar

by | Jul 25, 2023

Samish Solar

Sitting on a stunning 5-acre lot nestled into the woods and surrounded by wildflowers and berries, Samish Solar Home is an oasis for a growing family of mountain bikers and nature enthusiasts.

Along with this home’s solar array making it net-zero, it has an added level of resiliency with its 28,000-gallon rainwater cistern that supplies the house and its fire suppression system with water. The rainwater is filtered through a sediment filter, activated carbon filter, and UV filter to ensure it is fit for domestic use.

Built using TC Legend’s tried-and-true methods, Samish Solar Home exemplifies what our construction strategies can produce. Just look at these stats!

Specs

  • Overview:
    • 2345 sqft heated living space & 234 sqft unheated sunroom
    • 1600 sqft barn with 895 sqft loft
    • 4 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom
    • Net Zero Energy
    • 1st floor aging-in-place
    • Passive solar heating/cooling design
    • Insulation: R-29 walls & R-59 ceiling
    • Air Sealing: 0.27ACH
    • HERS Index: -20
    • Annual Energy Cost Savings: $2432
    • Certifications: DOE Zero Energy Ready Home certified, ENERGY STAR certified, EPA Indoor airPLUS certified, anticipated Built Green 5-star certified
    • Winner of Housing Innovations Award!
  • Mechanical:
    • Ventiliation: Fantech Hero 250 with built in HEPA filter. Built-in humidity, temperature, and CO2
    • Heating/Cooling: Chilltrix CX-34; hydronic radiant floor heating downstairs and a fan coil unit upstairs
    • PV: 10.8kW solar array with Enphase microinverters and battery ready
  • Selections:
    • Timber framed entry
    • Locally made cherry cabinets
    • Certified metal cool roof
    • Greenguard Gold Maple flooring
    • No/Low-VOC finishes
    • Fir doors and trim
    • Triple pane, Low-E coated, argon-filled vinyl windows
Shepard-Nguyen DADU

Shepard-Nguyen DADU

by | Jul 25, 2023

Shepard-Nguyen DADU

Built to house grandma on a multi-generational property, Shepard-Nguyen DADU is an accessible 484 square foot home with an additional 176 square foot loft. The DADU was designed to be light, airy and open in order to create a welcoming and safe environment for the grandkids to play in and grandma to hide away to when needed. The clients have an excellent eye for interior design, so the home was completed to a sleek and modern finish.

Since the main occupant is grandma, the home was designed for aging-in-place with wide doorways, a curbless shower with handrails, lever style door handles, extra grabs for the pocket doors, and a seat at the entry.

Specs

  • 484 square feet
  • 176 square foot loft
  • 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom
  • Net Zero Energy
  • 4kW solar array with Enphase micro-inverters
  • HERS Index: -10
  • DOE Zero Energy Ready Home certified, ENERGY STAR certified, EPA Indoor airPLUS certified
  • Fujitsu mini-split
  • HEPA filtration
  • ENERGY STAR 50-gallon domestic hot water tank
Cascade

Cascade

by | Nov 15, 2022

Cascade Lane

Cascade was constructed and sold as a spec home, neighboring two other TC Legend Houses from the
earlier days of Ted’s green construction career. The home is nestled in the steep hillside with the driveway and most of the house standing on stilts. The area is notorious for almost inaccessibly steep driveways, so to create a usable flat driveway at street level and eliminate concrete retaining walls, the 24’ wide driveway bridges to the house with the garage located on stilts, on-grade with the main (second) floor. Cascade projects into space with only a small foundation containing the plumbing. This stilt-house configuration substantially reduces the cost to
build from a traditional foundation and leaves the onsite flora largely intact.

From the entry you walk into the open kitchen, living and dining area with views of the green forest all
around. Behind the kitchen is the utility room and first bathroom. On the lower floor are three
bedrooms and a bathroom, with the master able to be re-configured as a Jack-and-Jill. Also on the lower
floor is the laundry which is located under the stairs and a cozy living or work space with a sliding glass
door out to a small deck that can hold your mini vegetable garden. In total, Cascade is 1400 sf with 3
bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a 240 sf garage.

Built and performing just as all our standard homes, Cascade is a Net-Zero home and will receive a Built
Green 5 star certification along EPA Indoor AirPLUS certification, EPA Energy Star certification and
Department of Energy Zero Energy Ready Home rating.

Specs

  • 1400 square feet
  • 3 bedrooms, 2 bathroom
  • 240 sf garage
  • Cook’s kitchen
  • Kitchen bar

Fullenwider Home

Fullenwider Home

by | Jul 22, 2022

Fullenwider Home was built in spring of 2022 and was constructed on an infill lot in the heart of Bellingham. The home features a 562 sf certified Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) above the 531 sf garage and 1,280 sf of main living space. 

In juxtaposition with the colorful exterior, the interior of the home remains simplified, highlighting the white paint and natural wood tones. Throughout the home, the extensive daylight lights the warm wooden floor, trim and exposed beams, inviting its guests to stay and relax. 

The first floor of Fullenwider Home is designed for aging-in-place with the main living space, a bedroom, zero-threshold shower, washer and dryer, accessible entries and more. The second floor currently holds the ADU and a bedroom, bathroom plus a spacious recreation room in the main living residence. However, the second floor was designed for future renovation where the recreation room can be walled off to create a second bedroom and a third bedroom can be added where the current cut out to the first floor is. In the spacious ADU, the main living room was built to have lots of wall space to maximize usability of the room. It also features a compact chef’s kitchen with full dishwasher, fridge and range.

 In addition to all this home already has to offer, the garage should not be overlooked. It was built inside the heated envelope of the house, which means it offers more than just a spot to park a car. It can double as a flex space, which are becoming increasingly popular for running a small business, using as a shop or art studio, or even a home gym. Likewise, the covered patio area just outside the kitchen and living room adds valuable living space for a low cost and helps connect the homeowner’s to their community while maintaining some privacy.

As with all our homes, Fullenwider Home was designed and built using the TC standard envelope and mechanical systems creating a Net-Zero home. On the Southern roof is an 8.6kW photovoltaic array, powering the house and an electric vehicle. Harvesting passive solar, the majority of the glazing is installed on the southern exposure of the home. The driveway was also poured with permeable concrete allowing the stormwater to infiltrate back onto the lot.

As Bellingham continues to grow, infill lots and lot efficiency are becoming increasingly important for affordability, availability and to decrease urban sprawl. Fullenwider Home manages to do just this. ADU’s create additional dwellings within the city for those who choose to rent or cannot purchase a home. They also help homeowner’s offset their own mortgages, making owning a home more realistic for some.

Lake Samish Lookout

Lake Samish Lookout

by | Jul 22, 2022

We could not have asked for a more perfect site to build on than Lake Samish Lookout. Besides the striking views all around, the lot is mostly flat and already came with utilities stubbed on site. There were also no trees harmed in the building of this home. In all, the lot created a very cost-effective build which made all parties happy!

Lake Samish Lookout was designed to use space efficiently and effectively while optimizing the stunning easterly views of Lake Samish and natural southern lighting. The house includes 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and an upside-down layout with a spacious, open kitchen, dining and living room on the second floor looking over the lake and surrounding forest. From the second floor living space, you can effortlessly access the 240 sqft deck for the full panoramic views. Whether it be outdoor cooking and dining, lounging, or working with a view, the spacious deck adds a complementary flex space to the small footprint home for bigger living. In total, this Net-Zero house measures 1500 sqft and was completed the summer of 2022. 

Lake Samish Lookout was built using our standard TC Legend envelope and mechanical systems but with Fujitsu 18RL heat pump with one head on each floor. On the Southwest sloping metal roof, sits an 8.1kW photovoltaic array, allowing the house to produce an excess of electricity to power both the house and an electric vehicle, qualifying the house as a Net-Positive home. The aesthetic wooden arbor in the northeast corner of the house coveys the roof’s stormwater to an unusual up-slope infiltration trench required by the site topography. 

With a 0.41 air changes per hour, the envelop sealing exceeds Passivehaus standards. We expect the home to receive at least a 4 Star Built Green rating and has received Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Ready Home rating, Energy Star certification and EPA’s Indoor AirPLUS certification. 

Lead carpenter Jeff did a superb job managing the construction on this cozy abode, with photographer John Trax commenting that this was the cleanest construction site he has ever seen. On site just about every day for the last 2 months of the build, Jeff made sure the house was finished to the highest standards!