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I spent some time in Philadelphia, where nearly all of the housing in the city core is rowhouses or apartment buildings. It's fantastic. It makes a dense, walka

by Frondo 7y ago

I spent some time in Philadelphia, where nearly all of the housing in the city core is rowhouses or apartment buildings. It's fantastic. It makes a dense, walkable city, and people still get the amenities of their own house with a little tiny backyard (big enough for a fire pit or grill). Also better for the environment when heat doesn't radiate off all four sides of a house. They've been building some of what they call row homes in the PNW, but these are still detached houses (no adjoining walls). It's better than it used to be, you can fit three houses on the space formerly reserved for one or two, but go the extra mile and connect 'em together.

burfog 7y ago
I think you really should have enough room for scaffolding. How are you going to take care of a wall that is physically touching your neighbor's wall? That wall ought to get inspected at least. It might need paint. If one house starts to collapse onto the other, then both have problems. You're also at a higher fire risk, even if the walls in the middle can't burn, because embers can more easily go from one roof to the other.
- drewbug 7y ago
  Yeah, the Philly MOVE incident led to 64 other buildings burning.
  - Frondo 7y ago
    I think the scope of that fire is better attributed to: the police dropped a bomb from a police helicopter on the home where people were living, and it was a poor neighborhood that may not have had firewalls between dwellings. I've seen fires there where the shared walls are brick, and those firewalls do work.
    - ceejayoz 7y ago
      They also deliberately didn't put the MOVE bombing fire out.
- refurb 7y ago
  Much of SF is build this way. Homes have maybe a 1” gap between them. Good question on how you’d repair the exterior wall. Usually if it’s that bad, it’s almost a complete rebuild and the wall comes down.
drewbug 7y ago
you're not allowed to have a fire pit in philly within 15 feet of a building

by Frondo 7y ago

burfog 7y ago

I think you really should have enough room for scaffolding. How are you going to take care of a wall that is physically touching your neighbor's wall? That wall ought to get inspected at least. It might need paint. If one house starts to collapse onto the other, then both have problems. You're also at a higher fire risk, even if the walls in the middle can't burn, because embers can more easily go from one roof to the other.

drewbug 7y ago
Yeah, the Philly MOVE incident led to 64 other buildings burning.
- Frondo 7y ago
  I think the scope of that fire is better attributed to: the police dropped a bomb from a police helicopter on the home where people were living, and it was a poor neighborhood that may not have had firewalls between dwellings. I've seen fires there where the shared walls are brick, and those firewalls do work.
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    They also deliberately didn't put the MOVE bombing fire out.
refurb 7y ago
Much of SF is build this way. Homes have maybe a 1” gap between them. Good question on how you’d repair the exterior wall. Usually if it’s that bad, it’s almost a complete rebuild and the wall comes down.

drewbug 7y ago

you're not allowed to have a fire pit in philly within 15 feet of a building