'Katrina cottages' now available to all
The tiny homes were originally sold only in La. and Miss.
Lowe's stores around the country are now selling Katrina cottages, designed after Hurricane Katrina to provide modestly priced, quick-to-build, attractive, dignified permanent housing.
Heretofore, the cottages were available only at Lowe's in Louisiana and Mississippi to house those left homeless by the 2005 hurricane.
When the cottages were introduced at the International Builders Show in Orlando in 2006, there was immediate demand from those who wanted to build them as vacation cottages, in-law homes, rental units, guest houses or permanent dwellings.
But the cottages, designed by architect Marianne Cusato, were provided first to residents of the Gulf Coast left homeless by Katrina. They were intended as an alternative to the unattractive, dispiriting, temporary FEMA trailers.
At
» READ MORE: www.lowes.com/loweskatrinacottage
, photos and renderings of 19 cottages and their floor plans are posted. They range in size from 308 square feet to 1,807 square feet. Six sets of the blueprints cost $700.
Plans and packages of building materials and components can be ordered online or at the commercial-sales desks at Lowe's stores.
The price for the package of plans plus materials will vary depending on the cottage size and style and the options the buyer selects, a spokeswoman for Lowe's said.
The package does not include the building site, foundation, heating and air-conditioning system, labor, or finish work.