Projects

Toomes’ Bellingham Affordable Net-Positive Home

by Senna | 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!

West Seattle Emerald Star Home

by Senna | Nov 6, 2018

This is a Built Green Emerald Star home in West Seattle. It was the first Emerald Star home for TC Legend and the second of its kind built in Seattle! It is also a Department of Energy 2018 Housing Innovation Award Winner and Built Green’s “Green Hammer” Project of the Year!

This floorplan is flexible into the future, with two extra bedrooms already in the program, fitted with egress windows & minimum floor area to meet code; One will partition behind the utility, the 2nd can partition from the recreation room upstairs. So this 3 bedroom main house can grow to 5 bedrooms in a day!

The energy-shell is a simple rectangle, conforming to and ideal 1:1.6 established ratio for temperate environments. SIPs shell construction is post & beam type of load-bearing construction that means internal walls can be moved easily during the life of the building as they carry no load. The post & beam structure is visible as both architecture and a celebration of the woodcraft of the Pacific Northwest.

Specs

3,160 Square feet
4 Bedrooms
4 Baths
9.9-kW Solar
Triple-pane windows
10,000-gallon rainwater storage
Air-to-water heat pump
2 electric car charging stations
Low- or no-VOC products sourced throughout. No PVC.

Photos by Yuriy Manchik.

Ballard Net-Zero-Energy Home

by Senna | Aug 4, 2015

Owners: Eric Thomas and Alexandra Salmon

Designer: Zero-Energy Plans, LLC (zero-energyplans.com)

Builder: TC Legend Homes (tclegendhomes.com)

Site Address: 612 NW 60th St., Seattle, WA 98107 (Ballard)

SPECS:

1,915 square feet, single-family, 2 stories, 3 bedrooms + work loft, 2 bathrooms, concrete slab foundation, radiant heat floors, Hardie plank siding.

GREEN FEATURES:

Structural Insulated Panel construction, air-to-water heat pump, 6kw solar electric (photovoltaic) system, triple-pane windows, passive solar design, rain garden, stained concrete floors, reclaimed fir floors, recycled fixtures, zero-VOC paint, low-waste engineering, low-energy LED and CFL lighting, capacity for additional solar panels to power an electric car 5,000 miles per year.

Download Case Study

Leavenworth Passive Home

by Senna | Aug 2, 2015

The hallmarks of a Passive House are super-high levels of insulation, a design that takes advantage of passive solar gain, and, as a result, has little need for heating beyond that provided by the sun, warm bodies, and appliances. Passive Houses also come with a list of requirements, like a heat recovery ventilator, a somewhat costly piece of equipment that recoups some of the energy that would normally be lost from circulating fresh air through the house.

Murphy ADU

by Senna | Jun 23, 2015

Murphy ADU

Built in 2015, the Murphy ADU House was a much-loved house for the young couple who raise their first child here. It features fantastic daylight all year round and sky views while still offering good privacy with windows placed high on the wall. Murphy house also features a cook’s kitchen that could cater a large Thanksgiving with plenty of space for a big table and bar seating.