Smart Blueprints…
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I found a great article in the magazine “Small Homes” (a publication of Fine Homebuilding).
In the article, “A Low Budget, High Impact House,” Designer Chris Stebbins talks about the advantage of building with standard-length materials. This house, for example, is built in multiples of 8-foot increments. The overall size is 24′ x 36′. Smart design! Below is an excerpt from the article showing this strategy in action:
The total space ends up around 1700 sq ft, and was built at a cost of $126 per square foot. Nice work!
Another nice idea is the use of “unfinished” lumber – the ceiling joists in the photo below are regular 4×10 lumber that have had the mill marks ground off with a wire wheel. There’s no insulation or drywall in the ceiling – the “roof” of the first floor forms the subfloor of the second story.
Other ideas talked about in the article are maximizing the feeling of space through long site lines and 9′ ceilings (a luxury my ADU may not be able to have!)