Architect/Home Builder

I had that idea, but for a different reason. Instead of building one large house, which a wife/partner might have to upkeep in the future, build two and connect by the walkway (could be in glass on a north side perhaps - I have to say "north" or @DAVE1952 will tell me I am "OYFH" - with a nice view of the garden) and then if the day comes and the widow is in need of cash, the houses can be separated and one sold. The original design has to, of course, be such that each could be used as a separate house but I would initially have bedrooms in one and living area in the other.

 

I would never think to make this ''OYFH'' derogatory comment to an elderly Gentleman with one foot in the Grave such as yourself. No Sir that is not my style, however if you were to push the right buttons, this may induce the correctly spelled comment of ''AYFH'' (Aff Yer Fecking Heid), it is high time there was an Emoji for this on the site?

On a more serious note, the basic idea of building two small houses to be used as one initially is very practical, but I do think there is a bit of underthinking going on here, in my opinion for a house to look and feel fully detached there has to be a separation between them and the neighbouring house of around 6mtrs. a much more cost effective way is; build two Semi Detached houses, they can still look attractive having a Hipped roof at each end, the only problem being the mandatory fire wall between them that has to extend beyond the roof line, this can be blended in somewhat if covered with the same sheet and ridge capping material as the roof.

Now two fully detached houses each having two Hips to each roof and one extra wall to have them detached would entail a lot of extra expense and would have to be built fairly close together to have a short passage between them and again just another expense, which may even look odd and out of place? perhaps OK initially but when the time comes where the old Coffin Dodger has both feet planted in the Grave, what then, the passage has to be demolished, some sort of privacy wall built between the two houses and likely both properties would end up being just too close to this wall, many quite attractive house in PH are often built too close to their boundary walls and this is is not aesthetically pleasing to me to have this fine house jammed up against a wall.

As for the two Semi Detached houses I'm sure a saving of at least a Million pesos or more can be had over the building of two Detached homes, when it comes the time to have these separated as two individual homes it is a lot less work, less expense, less problematic and a fairly easy fix to block up the dividing door/arch between the two Semi's.

 

True Dave, but if I would ever build semi-detached I would insist on having a cavity wall to separate the two, to make sure there's a decent amount of soundproofing and also much better fire resistance than those rather silly "firewall" requirements in the Philippines.

 

I lived in a detached house for 20yrs the solid dividing wall was done in clay bricks and this prevented any sound transfer between the two houses, I would guess a CHB wall would have much the same properties?

At one stage I had considered to build a couple of Semi Detached Studios adjacent to my house, these would have been rented out as B&B's, a service not readily available in PH I think? Perhaps this is a viable small business venture for someone? It is my opinion that by far the best way to build a house there in PH is the method I used, Steel Stud Walls, clad with Hardieflex and the cavity filled with cheap readily available Rice Hulls, so I gave some thought to the Firewall between these two Semi's, this I would build in more or less the same manner, only the cavity would be filled with concrete, there you have it; A solid concrete wall firewall where the shuttering Hardieflex, is left in place to provide a finish to it. I never did get around to experiment with this, but it had been my intention to try out a concrete mix using a high proportion around 50% of Rice Hulls within it, I'm sure they would be more resilient than your standard CHB and near perfect for the above application of this Fire Wall.

 

Actually there are quite a few of them in the PI now, even Dumaguete and Bacong. Since because of children in the states we may never stay in the PI full time I am even considering a B&B as a business because I have plenty of in-laws that could be gainfully employed running them when we are not there. I have not ruled that out yet.

 

In-laws to run them, Yer Aff Yer Fecking Heid, very few Filipinos could run anything, not even a p*ss Up in a Brewery, I can see you have lots to learn about the Philippines?

 

A few points:

1. Perhaps one foot, but the other one is catching up.
2. You did not consider, when mentioning distance, my motorised zimmer frame (I was going to put this in the current thread on best motorbikes, so hope it's not off-topic here). This takes a passenger and so the wife can hop on at bedtime (for methodology consult me via PM).
3. For those without such a device, there could be a short piece of railway track. I fully understand why you failed to grasp this seeing as Scotland has none - the railway WILL get there one day but I guess they are waiting for people to live there first.
4. AFF??? You mean "GPS-based computer software first developed in 2000. Using a map-based interface, an authorized user can identify, view, and monitor the location of government-registered aircraft, in the air or on the ground. AFF can automatically track specially equipped aircraft, providing location and velocity information in near-real-time to dispatchers and aviation personnel." OR "AdultFriendFinder®, Adult Friend Finder SM, AFF®, FriendFinder Networks SM and the FriendFinder Networks logo are service marks of Various, Inc" OR "Army Families Federation (AFF) is a charitable incorporated organisation registered in England and Wales with registered charity number 1176393 and a charity registered in Scotland [Where is THAT???] with registered charity number SC048282 having its principal office at IDL 414, Floor 1, Zone 6, Ramillies Building, Marlborough Lines, Monxton Road, Andover SP11 8HJ." OR " Asean Football Federation (AFF)" OR any of the 255 meanings for AFF as shown on 'https://www.allacronyms.com/AFF'? I am confused Sir.

 

yes yes it was DPX that I had the fortune/misfortune to get mixed up with

 

He's a Big talker from Hawaii. I also have a friend that used him and it went like most projects, over budget, longer than expected, didn't meet sales pitch promises.
Side note, me being American + from the south = being a story teller
---- yet even I commented that this guy talks alot and has nothing to say.
Heed the warning my friends- we can't all be wrong can we?

 

I will guess you have not had the best "in-laws" experience but it could just be your attitude too.