The Ring Street Cottages feature passive solar design to facilitate natural heating and cooling. Fundamental to the process is solar access, which involves letting sun in during cooler months to provide warmth, while keeping summer sun out to prevent overheating. This was achieved through building orientation with southern exposure, room layout, window placement/sizing, and shading. Other passive design features include insulation, thermal massing via the concrete slab, and natural ventilation through vented skylights.

Radiant Heat

A radiant heating system provides warmth to the entire cottage. The water is heated by the Sanden electric heat pump.  When the thermostat calls for heat, a pump activates and 95-degree water flows through the floor, turning the thermal mass of the concrete into an inconspicuous radiator of warmth.  This system can maintain comfortable heating temperatures with very intermittent use of the high-efficiency heat pump, even on the coldest days.

The Ring Street Cottages are built to near Passive House standards, which requires the use of a very small amount of energy for heating and cooling. The building envelope (in layperson’s terms: insulation, walls, and roof) was designed to be durable, extremely efficient, and fully insulated while offering a high degree of breathability. The cottage walls have an approximate R-value of 30 with R-60 blown cellulose ceilings.

Custom Doors & Windows

Extra care was taken when selecting well-insulated doors and windows since even the best standard market options are relatively inefficient compared to floors, walls, and roofs. We were happy to work with EuroClime to design custom cottage-style fully insulated solid wood exterior doors, with R-values comparable to the cottage walls. The triple-pane UPVC windows, another Euroclime product, are true SDL (simulated divided light) windows similar to those seen in old Craftsman homes built throughout the Snoqualmie Valley in the early 20th century.

All of the structural posts and beams, as well as the fireplace mantel, were made from old growth Douglas Fir salvaged from a barn teardown near Glacier National Park, Montana. A particularly unique raw maple tree slab was cherished by a local carpenter for years before making its home into the cottage, repurposed as a desk.

Installed in the attic is a heat-recovery ventilator (HRV) which features two fans—one to take out household air and the other to bring in fresh air. What makes a heat-recovery ventilator unique is the heat-exchange core where heat is transferred from the warm side of each passage to the cold. While the airstreams never mix, the heat is retained within the home. It also includes a HEPA filter for filtering out dust, toxins, and pollutants.

Zero-VOC Paints & Finishes

Paints and finishes can release low-level toxic emissions into the air for years after application.  The paints and finishes used in this project are zero-VOC, while a low-VOC stain was chosen for the exterior posts and beams due to greatly extended durability (20-year stains).

Investing in low-flow fixtures is an investment in water conservation and future cost savings. The washer/dryer unit from Blomberg is compact, high efficiency, and ENERGY STAR® certified for conserving energy and water. The washer features an automatic water adjustment system that calculates the volume of laundry, so every load uses only the amount of water required. We also installed low-flow Stealth toilets by Niagara, one of the best options on the market. Flushing only 0.8 gallons per flush, Stealth Technology is the first and only true ultra-high-efficiency toilet.

Water Catchment

Rainwater is better for your plants and soil, as it is highly oxygenated and free of the salts, inorganic ions, and fluoride compounds contained in tap water that accumulate in the soil over time and potentially harm plant roots. The rainwater catchment system installed at the Ring Street Cottages helps prevent erosion, controls moisture levels around the foundations of the home, and reduces future water bills! The harvested water can be directed through the drip irrigation system in the garden which allows the water to drip slowly to the roots of plants helping maintain the ideal moisture level, encouraging the formation of deeper roots and more abundant foliage.

The radiant system and domestic hot water is powered by a high-efficiency Sanden Heat Pump Water Heater.  This CO2 heat pump has a global warming potential (GWP) of 1 as opposed to a GWP of 2,000 for the refrigerants found in popular mini-split systems. Through initial testing of the first home, the system can easily maintain a comfortable 65-68 degree air temperature using 95-degree water and intermittent cycling throughout the day.

Induction Stove

The GE stove installed in the cottage kitchen has the capacity to heat water to a boil in 90 seconds! Induction heating is fundamentally unique in that it uses electromagnetic energy to directly heat pots and pans. This method is able to deliver roughly 80 to 90 percent of its electromagnetic energy to the food in the pan. Compare that to gas stoves, which convert 38 percent of its energy, and electric stoves, which manages roughly 70 percent.

LED Lighting

All light bulbs in the house and on the exterior are energy-efficient LEDs. LEDs are 90% more efficient and last up to 25x longer than traditional bulbs. Most of the energy produced by incandescents is emitted as heat instead of light, so LEDs keep the space cooler and lower energy bills. They contain no mercury, and a recent Energy Department study determined that LEDs have a much smaller environmental impact than incandescent bulbs.

Sno Valley Cottages worked alongside permaculturist and landscape designer Jessi Bloom of NW Bloom to design and implement a functional stormwater management system. Bio-retention ponds capture all of the water from the cottage roofs, sidewalk and site storm drainage before slowly discharging it downstream. The ponds are filled with a soil mix comprised of sand and compost that is highly absorbent, aids in removing pollutants from the water and provides excellent nutrients for the plants that will fill out the ponds.

Permeable Alleyway

For a driveable-yet-green alleyway, our team ‘paved’ with a True Grid paving system over a permeable road base which allows rainwater to penetrate into the ground. This system is designed to be filled in with soil that can be seeded with slow growing and drought tolerant grass, helping to restore the road area to a water-absorbing green space while providing an inexpensive and cooler alternative to asphalt or concrete.