Ugly Cinderblock Extensions Make Bad Neighbors
A reader who has the misfortune to have had this ugly cinderblock extension and wall go up along one side of her garden wrote in for some advice last week. “The developer has left the extension unfinished on our side,” she writes, “Including a pole that was painted on every side expect ours.” Despite being…
A reader who has the misfortune to have had this ugly cinderblock extension and wall go up along one side of her garden wrote in for some advice last week. “The developer has left the extension unfinished on our side,” she writes, “Including a pole that was painted on every side expect ours.” Despite being a lawyer herself, the reader was not sure what obligation (if any) her neighbor had to either finish, or pay for finishing, the wall on her side. As it turns out, the developer did start finishing the wall yesterday, but the question is still an apt one. It’s possible that the “right” thing to do and the “legal” thing to do are not the same in this case. Anyone know for sure?
Sheesh, Anon 11:09. Why are you assuming this poor person’s yard gets as much sunlight as before, just because the photo shows sunlight? What is probably happening is that this yard is getting hit by the sun either later in the day or is getting shade much earlier in the afternoon, because the sun has to rise higher than before, over the ugly wall. In the winter, she probably won’t get much light at all. Just because you like to sit in the shade doesn’t make it a moral failing for those who don’t.
While I agree that bringing in a good designer can help minimize the impact, as a gardener, I would have a gripe against a neighbor who turned a yard where I could grow most any flower or vegetable I wanted into one where only hostas, begonias and the like could thrive.
Anyway, almost the exact same thing just happened to our neighbor farther up the block, and whatever you think of the person’s creativity or lack thereof, it does affect one’s enjoyment of their home. Does the offending cinder-block-building neighbor really have no obligation to at least paint the wall? Most rear facades around here are painted, which I assumed was as much a maintenance issue as an aesthetic one.
Vines such as wisteria or pyracanthus would look nice, but, think again about not being responsible for damage. Some vines “grab” any texture on the wall and actually grow into the surface, degrading the strength over time. All the ivy covered townhouses are horrible for the integrity of the brick/mortar.
If you plant the vines, YOU are responsible.
Correct meif I am wrong but if a climbing plant on my property weakens my neighbors wall, then I am responsible, right?
Anon 11:24, who gives a shit whether posters here were born in Brooklyn? What an idiotic, provincial remark. Plenty of jackasses have been born and bred here–has nothing to do with whether you like a wall next to your garden. Obviously. The latter part of your post has some merit–yeah, sure, it’s neighborly to inform the next-door folks what you’re building, and to build and finish it properly. I’m not some speculator, and I don’t think of my property as only a commodity. I’m saying that I have a wall just like this next to *my* garden–a wall that was probably built 80 years ago–and I think it’s great. Without it, I’d have much less privacy in my little outdoor space.
I don’t like decks either. So kill me.
Here in the ‘burbs a homeowner is always required to give a finished side to the adjacent neighbors. This applies to fences and walls.
So, let me guess, not a single poster here was born in Brooklyn, AND you’re not about to say anything bad about huge ugly walls in yards because you don’t want that opinion to affect your resale value. A neighbor traditionally speaks to a neighbor before building, letting them know what’s coming, even when it’s as-of-right, because that’s the decent if not legally required thing to do. The builder also says, “We’re putting such and such a finish on our side. Do you want us to do the same on your side or leave it alone?” Because it costs next to nothing to finish one last side, but on the other hand your neighbor has no obligation to finish their work to your taste. Good fences may make good neighbors, but people who treat neighborhoods like commodities and nothing more make both bad neighbors and bad neighborhoods.
10:45, we all can clearly see in the photo the yard is getting sunlight despite the wall. It’s the lawyer’s house that’s creating shade, not the wall.
What affects sunlight in Brooklyn yards is not the height of a wall like this, but whether it’s a North or South facing yard. Besides, there are plenty plenty of shade loving plants. There’s no such thing as a yard that can’t be made pleasant. Even the shady small yards. I prefer to sit in shade outside, not sunlight, hello skin cancer. What I always see in yards here is a lack of effort, not a problem inherent to the yard that makes it impossible to make a nice outdoor space. We can plainly see just from the patches of yard that is showing this lawyer hasn’t done anything with that yard. It’s not designed or planted. Just weeds.
I also have a wall on one side of my garden like this, with no windows in it, and I LOVE it. I have ivy and wisteria completely carpeting this wall, a 40-odd feet high wall of green. It’s fabulous. And, not to sound un-neighborly, but because the wall belongs to somebody else, I don’t have to worry about the fact that vines aren’t particularly good for masonry. 🙂