The beach house and lot [Archive]

Frank Woolf

07-10-2009, 07:44 PM

When I was first looking for land I spent weeks search for a beach lot that I could live on but they few available were either much to far away for the kids to get to school or the land was mostly vertical.

Eventually a broker who has become a friend suggested an accessible place for the house on a hill top with a great view and a separate beach lot that is about 30 minutes away with the right sort of car. This sounded like a good idea. He had a four hectare beach lot he was subdividing and he found the very nice lot for the house. Part of the deal was another one hectare near the highest point on Samal and a three hundred square meter residential lot near City Hall. Add the one hectare we have an Alambre, Toril and you see why we need a farm car.

The beach lot is one hectare with a few places suitable for building a house but for the immediate future at least I will just put a beach house at the back of the beach. They say there will be a good road going through soon. If that happens it will be worth building a house at the road side or selling one or two house lots with access to the beach.

A lucky bonus is that after a year of searching for good fishing spots the best I have seen is right off the beach.

So far I have done nothing with the beach lot. There are tenants there who are moving out. They have built their new houses and will be all gone in two or three weeks then I will start clearing the houses away and preparing for the beach house.

The first picture is the tenants starting a pier. The second is on the road to the beach lot. The third is taken near the beach lot and the last is the beach in front of the four lots.

Frank Woolf

09-29-2009, 08:47 AM

I met with my agent and friend yesterday who after five months is still having problems with the previous owners of the beach lot in trying to clear the title deeds.

He has offered an alternative place that is a lot smaller but has a 60 foot boat pier and an 80% finished 2 story wood frame house. I will go see it this week.

Frank Woolf

10-11-2009, 08:45 PM

The deal is done. We now have a different beach lot that has a very nice pier and good size two story house that needs to be finished.

It feels good that I can now get moving at last so I will be out shopping for bathroom fittings very soon. As soon and the bathroom is useable we will be able to stay overnight which I am looking forward to because I am almost sure fishing at night will be successful.

I got the caretaker started on filling in holes leveling lumps and getting the lot reasonably even so we can the get it all grassed over and start planting the trees and bushes that have been waiting in my front garden for months.

Frank Woolf

10-11-2009, 08:47 PM

A few more pictures

Frank Woolf

11-05-2009, 08:38 PM

Work is underway finishing the house, starting with the bathroom.

Before I bought the lot the city engineers came with a back hoe and without asking permission proceeded to dig up the lot on both sides of the road, install a culvert and then just left it with a massive trough wide open.

Soon afterwards there was heavy rain. The water through the culvert caused a massive landslide on the lot. It smashed into the partly built bathroom destroying half the roof and filling the bathroom 3 feet deep with rock an mud. Some massive boulders fortunately stopped short of the house.

The soil and rocks went through under the house and down the beach wiping out what was a great dive spot as there was a coral wall. Now it is just a steep slope of soil, sand and rocks. Water was running down past the house and pier foundations eroding the soil away. Within a couple of weeks the culvert they installed was totally blocked so all the damage they caused achieved nothing anyway.

I knew this before I bought the lot so I was prepared to pay for it to be fixed.

I went the the city hall to ask about hiring their back hoe. They sent the operators out to see what I wanted done. The operators said they could raise the road level with limestone to allow the water to continue down the hill instead of causing a massive mud puddle (what should have been done in the first place). Fill in the huge trough they left and move a large amount of rocks boulders and soil to put right the damage. They estimated one day of work.

I went back to city hall and paid the 20,000 pesos for a day. The next day the city engineer went to look and said he can't be seen putting right the damage they caused (not his exact words but that's what he meant). He said they can put in another culvert but they won't raise the road or fix all the damage even if I pay for it. I said why the 'ell would I pay you to cause even more damage than you have already done? He agreed to refund the money and said he had no objections if I get someone else to do it.

So now I am looking for a private contractor to do the job but I am so impressed by the team of guys I have working on the bathroom that I am thinking they can do it manually.

The first two pictures show them beginning to dig out the bathroom foundations and walls that were started. The third picture shows progress after two and a half days.

Frank Woolf

11-08-2009, 07:20 PM

The building team are making excellent progress with the bathroom. The outer walls, most of the inner walls and most of the roof are done. Tomorrow they will be pouring the floor cement, fitting electrical conduit and switch/socket plaster boxes before finishing the walls.

davaodan

11-09-2009, 04:07 AM

Frank that is great progress! They moved a lot of landslide soil to reclaim the foundation. I used the same construction technique of no posts and beams in building my CR and bodega. I believe that to be entirely safe when constructing small buildings like this.

All this work reminds me I need to pick up some hollow block for use in making stairs up the hillside for my place. It is really too steep to climb easily and I will be cutting grass sod into the disturbed soil to eliminate erosion. Once you get the soil landscaped and profiled properly you might want some similar steps.

I love the timber dock you have and I want to build something similar at my place. The trouble is my beach has a longer slope to reach out of the tidal zone so I may start out with a rubble pier.

I hope Keith and I will be able to scuba dive off your place soon to look at the condition of the coral wall.

I wish you continued good luck in your project.

Dan

Frank Woolf

11-09-2009, 08:47 AM

Yep I am sure it does not need concrete pillars for such a small building. The walls will support each other, especially as there are more walls inside.

Part the the plan is to terrace the lot with steps where terrace walls are. It may end up just varying degrees of slope but still will need some steps so I will be doing the same thing.

I think the coral wall is completely wiped out but it would be good for someone to take a look. I often see people walking from the direction of your lot along the beach with spear guns so I am guessing there may be something similar close by. Maybe in the next bay.

Frank Woolf

11-11-2009, 02:14 PM

When we bought the beach lot I thought it would be a great idea to keep feeding the fish at the end of the pier so the numbers would increase and attract the bigger fish that we would try to catch. It would also be great for the smaller children to see all the coral fish feeding and maybe some of the fry would get a chance to grow bigger.

Each time we went we took left over stale bread, fish scraps etc and fed the fish. The black and yellow sergeant majors soon got used to eating the bread and the shoals of bait fish of all sizes were getting huge. It was looking very promising.

Then the neighbors discovered the fish. According to the guys I have working there, in two nights the neighbors took 4 sacks full of small fish in very fine gill nets laid all around the pier.

Now there are less fish than when we started.

I guess that's another idea that will not work here so I have given up on that one. :mad:

davaodan

11-14-2009, 11:36 AM

Hi Frank,

There is a good chance the nets they used are illegal. Talk to the Bureau of Fisheries guy that works in that barangay. The BFAR guy in Kanaan confiscates nets and boat of illegal fishers, so use their system. The barangay will probably also tell them they cannot fish with nets off or near your pier. These measures could help with your problem. Don't let them grind you down.

Dan

Frank Woolf

11-14-2009, 11:55 AM

I wondered about that also. I believe there is a minimum size mesh for nets and what they are using are very small mesh.

I will see what I can find out.

Frank Woolf

11-16-2009, 07:30 PM

The team are still making good progress. The inside walls of the bathroom are now ready for painting and tiles. The inside doors are on and the lights are all working. The outside walls are finished but I will have them clad with the same material as the house so it blends in better.

Today was the first real test of the trailer I made. I took about 2,000 pounds of cement, wall tiles, adhesive, grout, water bottles, etc to the beach lot. It was a struggle up some of the very steep hills but the car and trailer did good.

It looks like there are loads of mangos on the tree by the house so that's something to look forward to.

Frank Woolf

11-21-2009, 07:16 PM

Progress at the beach lot is still good in spite of the wet weather. The trees that were creating to much shade. damaging the house roof and blocking the view have been cut and made into useful wood. The view is much better now and we started planting veggies and stuff where it will no longer be in the shade.

The floor and wall tiles are completed in the bathroom so I need to get some paint for the walls and ceiling soon.

The first picture is the view from the road with the unwanted trees gone although all the small branches are still all piled up.

The second is the shower cubicle so far.

The third is the toilet so far

The fourth is the the changing room floor (still messy)

The fifth is the bathroom entrance hall looking from the changing room.

Frank Woolf

11-21-2009, 07:23 PM

A couple more pictures.

The first is the new retaining wall around the garden at the front of the house filled with landslide soil from under the post.

The second is the garden area to the side of the house so far.

Frank Woolf

11-22-2009, 09:16 PM

Today, we made a start on moving rocks and soil to fix the mud puddles in the road. Tomorrow I have five extra workers coming so we will be doing it all day.

The first picture is the trailer being loaded with rocks to form a base to fill the gap where the water flows into the lot. Notice the trailer springs bent backwards with the axle touching the underside of the trailer!

The next two we are filling the mud holes with small stones and soil

The last two were taken after we finished work. My niece Julie and helper Malou being taken for a ride by two of the workers.

Frank Woolf

11-24-2009, 09:45 PM

Two days of raising the level of the road and filling the huge hole where the landslide went down is really showing good progress.

The road level is almost as high as it needs to be to stop the mud forming and the eroded area where the water was running through is now back to the road level. The road looks entirely different and far better than it was

Today I moved quite a few tons of rock as a base to fill the hole and the workers have moved some huge boulders and a lot of soil.

The first picture is the road with the mud areas and eroded are gone. It looks level in the picture but it still needs to be maybe another foot higher.

The second picture is the workers moving the soil and boulders into the gap.

Frank Woolf

12-19-2009, 05:23 PM

After being in Hong Kong for three weeks, today was the first chance I had to check on progress. I was impressed. The entire lot has been landscaped with terraces up by the road. The gully has gone and the huge boulders mostly buried. The parking area is now much larger and less steep.

Now the lot is ready for planting :) but its now the dry season So there won't be any rain for new plants :(

Add the fact that the barangay water has almost dried up and it looks like the plants that have been waiting in my front garden since April or May will have to wait a bit longer.

Maybe I should mulch the entire area so whatever rain we do get will not get dried out so quickly.

The first two pictures are looking up the lot to the road from near the back of the house. The third picture shows the terraced area near the road. The fourth is looking down the lot from the terraced area and the last is the parking area still being expanded with the soil used to raise the road.

davaodan

12-19-2009, 07:24 PM

That looks so much better now Frank. A complete change from the chaos that was before. Your people must have been working the whole time you were gone to Hong Kong.

Taking that tree down has really opened up your garden area. Very impressive start. You are finally able to get past the planning stage and can now start to enjoy your property.

I am still recovering from an operation December 2 but I will be stopping by your beach house soon. Welcome back.

Dan

Frank Woolf

12-19-2009, 10:06 PM

Yep they are a good team and my brother in law is doing a great job of managing them. When the lot is covered in grass and planted with trees, etc it will be really nice. I have loads of coir so I may take a trailer load and spread it all over the lot. We will make concrete steps down the terraces and a fence at the road. They have already made wood fences down both sides.

We terminated Muyo the caretaker today. All the locals say he can't be trusted and does very little work. I can tell you a lot more but best not on a public forum.

I have been wondering if you are OK. I sent you a text message but got no reply. Maybe it didn't get through.

I have the fishing tackle here but no hurry. Get well soon.

Guzzinuts

12-19-2009, 11:09 PM

Excellent work Frank - I been following the progress of the renovation/repairs etc of your beach front lot - & a very nice set-up it looks too - all be it still "work in progress"!? Don't know how you manage to find the time to organise all the work AND - write-up this forum with photos etc!? Lets hope you actually find time to enjoy yourself there on your veranda over-looking the sea - que sunset, drink in hand, comfee chair - etc!? :)
One thing I am a little puzzled over though Frank - I was looking through all your pics & couldn't find any shots of you with a shovel in your hand? Obviously, your being too modest - right!? Cheers Frank! :D

Frank Woolf

12-20-2009, 01:05 PM

Fortunately I just have to make it clear what I want. Pay the costs and get the materials. My brother in law finds the workers and manages everything for me. He also deals with the barangay officials, etc.

I only need to visit every few days and sometimes need to load up the trailer with cement, tiles, wood, or whatever they need. Talking of the trailer - we checked the wheel bearings and found I have been cheated again :( The bearings are totally mangled. My nephew took off one hub and found the inner and outer parts of the bearing did not match. The inner bearing retaining ridges mostly gone and loads of old scrap metal used to hold it all together. I didn't even bother checking the other side. I will try to get a new axle and hubs.

I can only do things like shoveling for a few minutes before I run out of energy. I am diabetic so I can't take any high energy foods or drinks. When I do physical labor I am exhausted very quickly so I don't have much choice but to sit back with a cool drink while I am there. Anyway, somebody has to take the pictures :D

Guzzinuts

12-22-2009, 09:59 PM

:) Actually Frank, your right - that's exactly how it is there in the Phil's. Especially during the search for the "right person" to talk to reference our prospective coconut plantation. Both my wife & I have left MOST of the leg-work & dealings with Barangay Captains etc, etc. In fact - I was mostly kept well out of it, especially during initial negotiations - you know the story - if they see a "Johnny-boy" involved with buying property etc.... know what I mean?
As regards to any future humping & dumping out there. In that heat & humidity - even without my duff shoulder & dodgy knee - I too would be taking a back seat with most of the labouring going on. Mind you - I do find it difficult to just sit on my butt day after day & watch others doing stuff that I wouldn't have batted an eye at a few years ago. But, I guess that's what happens when physical "old age" starts to catch up with "mental old age" - ha-ha!?
As regards to your dilapidated wheel bearings, sorry to hear. But I feel, not an unusual story in our beloved Phil's? One thing that should help me in a similar situation (I hope!) is my Agricultural machinery background. Having worked for Massey Ferguson for so many years, if the same happened to me, at least I will have the tools & knowledge to fix it up pretty quick - providing I could find the correct replacements - of course!?
So yes - I guess I would be right there with you Frank in that department - taking the pics too!
Take care & have a great time over Christmas & the New year - I envy you - especially stuck over here in these freezing temperatures! Cheers! ;)

Frank Woolf

12-23-2009, 08:44 AM

Yep I try to avoid any contact with officials, suppliers, workers, etc and get my nephews or brothers in law to at least make the first contact to get prices etc.

In the case of the wheel bearings I should have checked them when I bought the axle so that was a dumb mistake. My background is almost all mechanical, electrical, etc so I should know better. I was checking for anything that might need tightening or fixing when I noticed too much play in the wheel bearings. When I dismantled one hub I realized it was not even worth fixing it.

On Monday I got a new axle from a different supplier and checked it carefully. The bearings feel smooth with no free play and the guy even took the hubs off the show me the bearings.

I have now changed the axle and added shock absorbers.

One reason I never returned to the UK was because of the climate. Cold and snow is nice if you can sit by a log fire looking out the window but when you have to get to work its no fun at all. I remember having to fix my cars in sub zero temperatures and snow. I never want to do that again.

Frank Woolf

12-24-2009, 03:59 PM

Today was a good day. My wife arrived a couple of days ago so today we went to the beach house to collect my brother in law and let her see the progress. Grass (and weeds) are starting to grow on the newly landscaped bare soil so its easier to imagine what it will look like when the grass, flowers and trees are there. It will look great :D

My brother in law signed up a husband, wife and daughter team to be our new caretakers. They are well known by all the locals who say they are hardworking and honest. I was certainly impressed by what I saw today.

Today I gave thanks for the way things have turned out with the beach house so far. It felt very good to see everything coming together with no real problems.

Frank Woolf

01-19-2010, 06:36 PM

On January 17 we took most of the plants that were intended for the house lot to the beach lot and planted them.

A couple of weeks ago I took 30 sacks of coconut coir to the beach lot and we piled it around the plants. The tomatoes are doing great and the calamansi that have never flowered since I got them months ago are smothered in flowers so I can confirm that coir works pretty good.

Picture 1. Leaving home with the plants. I added seats to the trailer because at new year I came back from the beach house with ten relatives in the car and 8 on the trailer. They said the ride was fine but they want better seats and something to stop the wheels throwing mud at them!

Picture 2. Collecting another ten sacks of coir on the way to the beach lot.

Picture 3. Lumber being delivered by banca.

Picture 4. The tomatoes.

Picture 5. The varigated calamansi that never flowered in months now covered in flowers two weeks after piling coir around the base.

Frank Woolf

01-29-2010, 09:37 PM

A few weeks ago my brother in law went to a barangay council meeting where they suggested we build a fence the same as our neighbors along the side of the road nearest the sea. They said the road will be widened on the other side so it will be fine.

He went ahead and started building the fence then last week we got a visit from guys at city hall with a demand to stop work on the fence because we don't have a permit so we went to city hall a couple of days ago to get the requirements and forms to apply for a permit.

It turns out that they intend to make the current dirt road into a 30 meter wide highway! I can't see how this is possible in many places unless they have hundreds of billions of pesos to spend but this will completely wipe out hundreds of beach lots and make many others useless. It looks like a large number of people are about to lose a large chunk of their investment. If they do widen the road on the side away from the sea it will not be a big problem for me but if they intend somehow build the road on the steep slope nearest the sea then I will have wasted about 15,000 pesos on drilling a well and will have to do it again.

We did go to the planning office to ask what the plans are but they said we have to apply for the fence permit first then they will do a survey.

davaodan

01-30-2010, 06:18 AM

Hi Frank,

As you know my lot near Kanaan faces the same problem. How much are they going to take and from where, hillside or seaside? I have my house situated close to the road to encourage them to take from the hillside. That does not help you though as your house is nearer the sea. Perhaps you can put a caretakers house near the road.

Is it possible to build a living fence made of madre de cacao without a permit? Bend like a willow in the wind. Put it even nearer the road!

I think it will be years because of road funding before this problem comes to a head so in your place I would (if possible) build what you want where you want and don't worry about the future. Just enjoy today. :)

Later,

Dan

Frank Woolf

01-30-2010, 08:57 AM

Yes I agree. Actually I never intended to have an expensive fence with a hollow block base, concrete posts, steel tube etc but the Barangay Council suggested we just continue the same type of fence as the neighbors and I agreed it would look nice. I would be just as happy not spending so much money on a fence.

I am applying for the permit to try to find out where they want the fence and to see if they try the same thing as Babak where they want me to sign forms giving them the right to take as much land as they like whenever they like before giving the permit. I am no longer going to build anything at Babak, Bandera or del Monte due to that and will not be planting any of the trees etc. I am no longer interested in investing on Samal Island and will just sell the land later. The main permaculture farm/home will now be near Toril.

In the case of the beach lot if the fence is a problem I will simply do as you say and use madre de cacao and/or other plants. Of course this means they won't get the view of the sea from the road that they want which also suits me because I don't really want people on the road looking over the fence and possibly looking for something to steal.

I need to put something there to stop the soil being washed into the road and creating a swamp. The hollow blocks would have done that but plenty of plants might work.

Frank Woolf

02-20-2010, 09:03 PM

The well and pump are working.

Today we tested the new deep well. It goes down 42 feet which is a few feet past where they hit water. We are in a seriously dry spell right now so I am guessing that the chances of the well running dry are slim. The water is fresh and clean and I will now get a good size tank then connect to the house.

The picture shows the first water from the well.

Frank Woolf

04-01-2010, 12:19 PM

I just realized this record of progress at the beach lot is a bit out of date.

There is good and bad news to add so first the good:

I bought a 1,500 liter tank and made an 8 foot hight tower for it. The pictures below show the tower on the trailer before taking it to Samal and the tank on the tower before any painting and plumbing was started. It is actually now connected to the house so we have a working toilet, washbasin and shower at last.

There is a problem to be resolved. I installed a float switch in the tank so it switches on the pump when the water is about a foot below the top and switches off the pump when it is nearly full. The problem is that if we don't use much water the pump has to be primed again. I suspect the pump was run while dry when they installed it and this has destroyed the seal so water leaks back while it is standing idle leaving the pump dry. If anyone has experience of this please give me some input.

The fact that we have water means that we can water the plants and keep planting even during the drought so things are taking shape with the fruit and veggies.

I had a banca made for the kids to play with and for some close by fishing trips. The standard size is only big enough for two locals so just big enough for me! I had a larger size made big enough for 4 to 5 locals. The total cost was 7,000 pesos and it seems well made.

The bad news is that the Barangay said the resolution for the fence was complete and then said there was a problem. A week or so later I get a text message from someone claiming to be a city engineer telling me I must stop all development on my land because the guy managing the workers (my brother in law) does not respect the city engineers or the barangay!

I asked my brother in law about it and he has no idea what the problem is. We have coordinated with the barangay councilors asking their advice every step of the way and I have insisted we follow all the rules.

davaodan

04-01-2010, 03:56 PM

Hi Frank,

As far as losing your prime on the water intake I think you may not have a foot valve installed or if you have one, and you should, is that it is faulty and is leaking. My foot valve failed after a couple of years so perhaps yours is faulty. With more rain on the horizon and rising water tables you should be having less problems once you get them sorted out.

I cannot suggest anything about your persistent problems with the city engineers. You need to do more smoozing I guess. Get your wife on it when possible.

Later,

Dan

Frank Woolf

04-01-2010, 04:32 PM

Thanks Dan. I assume that is a valve at the bottom of the well pipe? Maybe there isn't one at all. I will check the list of things Jun bought with my brother in law.

Right from when we started pumping water I have thought it is not really right because there is not a solid flow of water.

Jun is OK at drilling the well but he knows almost nothing about the plumbing. He kept insisting we should install a pressure switch to regulate the water level in the tank and even brought one to the lot when we installed the tank. I dunno where he thought he would fit a pressure switch in a system with no pressure tank or pressure pump.

I think even if the barangay water comes back we will continue using the well water for the house. The well water is very clean with no taste but nobody likes drinking the barangay water

Beng is arriving in the morning for a few days and I do hope she will be able to talk to the Barangay officials and the city engineers. They may just be pissed off that I haven't offered a bribe for them to do their job but I am getting fed up with trying very hard to do everything right and just getting aggravation and harassment in return.

Frank Woolf

05-14-2010, 11:54 AM

I just thought I should add a couple of pictures to show progress.

I am not even trying anymore to get a fence permit. It is simply not worth all the hassle and aggravation. Instead I made bamboo trellises which will be covered in plants. Behind that is a row of madre cacao that will grow fast and ensure some privacy then there is bougainvillea and hibiscus behind that. It looks better and will eventually be more secure than a wire fence.

The pathway is almost complete and the bathroom and pump house are being covered with bamboo matting with nipa on the roofs so they match the main house.

The bedrooms still have to be finished and then we can start on the boat shed.

abu farsi

05-15-2010, 09:49 AM

Thanks for posting pics of your house.

I was so surprised to see that you put nipa OVER your metal roofing, instead of under it. How on earth did you hold it down without poking a hole in your metal roof?

Nice work man.

2! story made of light materials and no plywood. Impressive.

there is a check valve (one way valve) at the bottom of the pipe that runs down to the water in the ground. Without this your pump will fail to suck. If there is air in the water that comes up it will mean that your pump pumps faster than the surrounding water can replenish, or as they say, over pump the well.

Frank Woolf

05-15-2010, 10:51 AM

The purpose of the nipa is for insulation, aesthetics and no noise when it rains hard. It is dirt cheap and easy to replace after a few years if needed. Replacing it under the metal roof would be a much bigger job and would not silence the rain or hide the ugly metal. It may also be a fire risk with very hot metal on top of very dry nipa. The house roof is double for a few feet in from all sides to get really good air flow and cooling.

To fit the nipa a simple wood frame is fixed over the metal roof using a few fixing points then the nipa panels are laid like very large roof tiles and tied to the wood along their top edge.

Actually all the inside walls and ceilings are now marine ply sprayed inside with anti termite insecticide. The main supporting posts are very old coconut that is so hard it is impossible to get nails into it without drilling a hole first. A lot of the wood framing is also very hard coco lumber.

I thought maybe the driller did not fit a check valve but now the system has been used for a while it is fine so I assume there was dirt in the valve that has now cleared. I still think there may be air leaks in the pipe because there is so much air in the water but I will check it later.

abu farsi

05-15-2010, 11:07 AM

First let me say that I would never suggest you break laws in your region.

That said

The "lack of respect" letter sounds very much like somebody reporting gossip.

You live in a small place, gossip wise. You have no idea as to the "claims" to the lot you occupy, or how far back differences go.

As an example... I bought a lot just down the street from my nipa hut. The neighbor to this new lot showed me the title to the lot she owned. On that title was what she thought was a typo, as it was in English, she did not fully understand the meaning. In her mind she thought that the owner who sold this lot to me accidentally included the entire lot, not just the 400 sq M she intended to buy. She showed it to me so I would not buy the lot. It just convinced me that the title I was shown earlier was true and correct.

Of course we did a through searches as to liens on this lot, fund none. But in the process of getting a title, an actual title, we were notified of a as yet undiscovered lien, a P10,000 note to green bank filed in 1979, in the assessors office... alone.

No notification of any loan on the original title, from 1955.
No loan at Green bank, they had never heard of any such loan.
No record at the land title office, and a copy of ALL loans and encumbrances must be kept in their files...forever.
The original owner never heard of any such loan.

But as it turns out, the assessor is the cousin of the lady who had a previous claim to the lot as stated above. She was able to get a title to HER lot, despite the supposed lien.

When I applied for a building permit to build my house, I was denied as, I did not have clear title to the lot. Same thing with my fence.

I built both anyway. The city engineer visited my building site and had my power turned off... I simply hooked it up via a house across the street. I finished my house and fence. Then I moved my nipa house to my lot and took my meter with it, and the power company re-connected it past the engineers office (p2500 in "costs").

The mayor wanted the P15,000 for the permit they refused to give me, plus the P3500 a year in new taxes. I argued with the assessor who was now hat in hand, that my house did not exist on HIS books, as the lot was not even MINE, so why was he here to collect? And, frankly, now that I have a nice place to live, and never plan to sell, I really don't care if he issues me a clear title anyway or not. And getting a building permit, WOULD cost me P3500 a year in taxes and give me nothing in return. Further the true owner of the lot, according to his files, lives in Miasan, 450 klm away, make your next contact with HIM not me.

It is election time and the mayor needed the money.

2 weeks later we got a bill by messenger for the P18,500 in my wife's name. We paid. Issue over.

The rules as to fences is that light materials do not count. Neither do local materials, like stones or dirt. In other words, grading is not a fence. Have you considered rammed earth? And better yet, plastered rammed earth. Lots of web sites on doing rammed earth. I contacted the inventor of rammed earth technology, he told me his sample in catabato cost him P555 a M2.

Fences of rice sacks filled with earth are still just dirt. Rice sack dirt fences are very low tech and fast to build. Buy some barbed wire and run 2 rows of it between each horizontal layer of sacks a little over half filled with dirt.

In other words, you are going to build your fence faster than the engineer can get there, and if he does come, claims you berm is "fence" you argue that it is just grading. He did give you permission to grade the road to protect your property didn't he? There is really nothing he can do unless the neighbor is rich who you pissed off, so just forget any previous problems. The worst that can happen is you have to unstack the sacks

2 months later plaster the sacks.

Another suggestion... buy a sack of good quality rice, just in case. If the Engineer does come buy, have your boys place that sack of rice in his car, your WIFE saying "my relatives near Davao have rice farms and they keep sending us sacks of it, I don't really eat rice, perhaps you can give it to the poor for us"

Abu Farsi

Frank Woolf

05-15-2010, 11:51 AM

You are very likely right with the gossip. There is plenty of that originating from the caretaker I replaced because he was a thief and not doing any work.

I think my bamboo trellis (natural local materials) covered in plants, the madre cacao, the bougainvillea, etc will make a very good fence in a few weeks and they won't have the sort of fence they like and that was planned.

They like simple wire netting so everyone can see the view to the sea (and so they can spy on you to see what you are doing). Now they will get a solid mass of vegetation nobody can see through.

The previous owner had building permits for two beach houses like the one there now and a hotel up by the road because he was building a resort so I am pretty sure the title is OK.

Frank Woolf

07-21-2010, 11:26 AM

I just got back from about six weeks in Hong Kong and visited the beach house.

The bad news is that Pumpkin and Marrow that were doing great when I left have all gone. I would guess either rotted due to the heavy rains or attacked by bugs. Almost all the 120 or so tomato plants that were just beginning to bear fruit when I left were a tangled mess of side shoots and all dying. I threw away almost all but about 20 looked like they might survive with the side shoots trimmed off so I trimmed and left them.

The good news is almost all other plants are doing well. The house is coming along nicely with the new staircase in place, the kitchen work tops done, the new veranda handrail almost complete and the extension to the pier for diving and fishing almost done. The boat house has half the roof done and they will soon be pouring concrete for the floor. We will get the metal window frames and glass done soon and get started on painting inside the house.

The first picture shows the bananas and Papayas doing well with the posts awaiting the dragon fruit.

The second picture shows the new stairs. The cupboard under the small landing needs doors and I think we will need a wall behind the stairs.

The third picture shows one of the kitchen work tops. I will get the hinges etc for the cupboard doors today.

The fourth picture is the pier extension that just needs a little tidying up. Its a lot stronger than it looks in the picture.

The fifth picture is the beginning of the boat house. The roof will be covered to match the house and there will be a building along the back for a second CR, a second changing room and a lock up room.

Frank Woolf

09-19-2010, 08:33 PM

Just a quick update.

The stairs are now finished. The boat house has a roof and the second toilet, store room and changing room at the back are almost done. The kitchen is coming along nicely and I hope to start painting soon.

The new windows should all be fitted this week.

On the growing front the cucumbers are doing great and almost everything is doing well.

Frank Woolf

10-11-2010, 08:08 PM

The windows are all fitted but I asked for them to be made with no bars and guess what? They all have bars.

I went there yesterday intending to unscrew the frames and remove them then cut the welds and clean up with a grinder. Maybe two days work.

It didn't turn out to be so easy. after I pulled off the aluminum strip covering the screws I discovered they were not screws, they were big nails. There is not enough space to pull the nails out so I tried to cut them only to discover they are concrete nails that can't be cut. I had to think of another way.

I removed the glass from all the fixed windows so we could cut off the bars but this leaves half inch lengths of bar welded all around each frame so the caretaker will spend the next two or three weeks grinding off the parts of each bar that we couldn't cut off. I hope he can do it OK without messing up the frames. Then I can replace the glass and the aluminum strip.

Maybe next week I will make a start on painting so we may be able to start painting the widow frames also.

On the bright side, most of the small sweet peppers I planted ages ago are still getting bigger and producing lots of peppers while the first tomatoes are showing on the new plants I planted to replace all those that were lost while I was in Hong Kong.

The ramps at the front of the boat house are done and the lights can soon be fitted.

Frank Woolf

10-23-2010, 03:44 PM

I just got back last night from five days working on the Beach House with nephews Russel and Roy and helpers Eming and Toto.

All the bars are now removed from the windows I fitted an air conditioner in the master bedroom and a water heater in the main shower which made things a lot more comfortable for me.

I finished wiring the power sockets in the bedrooms, did most of the wiring of the boat house and fitted four more lights in the open lounge.

We refitted some of the doors, almost finished all the wall putty work and started sanding ready for painting to start next week.

I replaced all the tomato plant stakes that were too short with new 6 foot high stakes. We planted lots of new bougainvillea and a few red palms.

I took the barbed wire that was originally bought for the babak lot fence but on checking the cost of cyclone wire or hog wire decided a wire fence is too expensive at around 16,000 pesos. Instead we will copy the bamboo trellis we have at the back and front and just make it a bit higher. It will be far cheaper than a wire fence.

We discovered there are termites between the ground floor ceiling and the floor above. I thought it was all sprayed months ago but maybe it wasn't or its worn off so we opened up the walls and ceilings and sprayed everything again.

The house looks better with windows and will no doubt look even better when the frames and the internal walls are painted and I hope to start painting next week. The pictures below were taken just after sunrise.