576 square foot two bedroom house plans

I love small efficient homes, and I design some too.  One of my favorites is the smallest version of my "Muir Series" home designs.  At 576 square feet (24'-0" x 24'-0") it is suitable in many areas as a full-time stand-alone residence, a vacation home, or a backyard building that can be used as a guest house, in-law apartment, or rental property.  The 24' x 24' dimensions were derived from a series of buildings sold through the Home Depot in the northeastern US by Sheds USA.  At one point I designed living spaces to fit into every single size and model they sold (16 designs).  I am posting an isometric drawing and floor plan below.  This and other designs may some day be available to buy on my "Small Home Plans" page above.

Isometric Drawing

The concept behind this house is basically this; keep it simple and inexpensive to build.  Keeping the size small and the details few helps keep costs low.  With nine windows, two optional skylights, one exterior door, seven interior doors including four bifolds, apartment sized appliances, and just what you need in terms of counters, cabinets, and plumbing, all sitting on a simple slab foundation, there isn't really that much to to waste money on. In fact, because of the small square footage and simple design, anyone building this may be able to afford better quality roofing, siding, windows, doors, cabinets, finishes and furnishings than they could if it were larger or more complicated.

Floor Plan

You might notice that there is no apparent mechanical room (no obvious space for furnace and water heater).  That's because this place is intended to be heated with electric heat to keep initial investment costs low.  A small electric water heater could fit in either the attic, the bathroom vanity, or one of the kitchen base cabinets.  Alternatively, a tankless water heater could be mounted on the exterior wall above the toilet.  

Although electric heat is cheap to install, it can be expensive to run.  For that reason, I'd suggest four inches of rigid insulation under the slab if you build in a cold environment, and insulating beyond code requirements for the exterior walls and ceiling.

If you like this basic design, I'd be happy to make modifications to it for you and draw you up a complete set of detailed plans.  Just "like" the Small Scale Homes FaceBook page and then message me through that.

Click here to see an 8' x 20' container home I designed.
Click here to see my 8' x 40' container home design.
Click here to see my plan to convert a 20' x 28' garage into an apartment.

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