In today’s hard economic times, everyone is looking for high efficiency living. One way of accomplishing this is to create small house plans that work. When designing small house plans, it is very important to carefully plan out every square foot of space for maximum utility and comfort. This process needs to start with you–the homeowner.
Everyone has different needs and wants from their homes. It is hard to argue that an efficient home, in terms of energy consumption, is not important to everyone. One advantage to small house plans is that they allow you to design with energy efficiency being a top priority. There are many areas that can be focused on to increase efficiency.
One area that can make a big impact is windows and doors. A small house plan will usually have fewer windows and doors, which are typically very expensive components of a home. So, by reducing doors and windows, you can stay on budget. Windows and doors is also where much heat (or cooling) is lost, so by reducing them you can use a smaller HVAC (heating/ventilation/air conditioning) unit, thereby saving money. In a small house plan, HVAC units can be smaller and more efficient also because they don’t have to heat and cool a huge space. Insulation can also be upgraded at a reasonable cost because of a smaller space.
