XmisterIS
Purveyor of fine nonsense
My next door neighbour is a bit of a DIY enthusiast.
Over the last 8 months since he moved in, I frequently hear drilling, banging and other such noises from his property. What he does in there that warrants 8 months of drilling and banging, God only knows!
Anyway, I personally think he has now exceeded "cretin" on the amateur DIY scale ...
Why? Well, he had a perfectly good garden wall, which was (note the past tense) actually in much better condition than mine! (Mine has cracked due to past subsidence of the bottom corner of my garden and needs tieing). There is an area of "no man's land" to the back of our properties between the ones beyond, then the land dips down by a couple of feet, then an old chain-link fence, then a wooden fence. I think, technically, our properties stop at the back of the garden wall and everything beyond is part of the neighbouring properties.
The other day I heard "bang, bang, bang" from his garden. I looked out to see him demolishing his own garden wall. I shoot ye not. Bear in mind that the wall is about 6ft high and 20ft long. Off the top of my head, I reckon cost of having it rebuilt would be in the hundreds of pounds, perhaps a grand. Not content with demolishing the wall, he's dug up the foundations too. There were raised beds up against the wall, which he's demolished as well. He's done all this in order to give himself an extra 3 feet of garden, if that.
What astounded me even more was rather than filling up the trench behind with compacted hardcore from the demolished wall and then putting a surface on the top, he took all the hardcore to the amenity tip ... and filled the trench (right up to the wooden fence) with soil from the raised beds!! I may be wrong, but my idiot sensor tells me that piling soil up against a wooden fence (which isn't yours) to a depth of two feet will very rapidly cause the fence to rot, bow and eventually give way.
I will be ready with the popcorn when the owner of the fence realises what's happened ...
Over the last 8 months since he moved in, I frequently hear drilling, banging and other such noises from his property. What he does in there that warrants 8 months of drilling and banging, God only knows!
Anyway, I personally think he has now exceeded "cretin" on the amateur DIY scale ...
Why? Well, he had a perfectly good garden wall, which was (note the past tense) actually in much better condition than mine! (Mine has cracked due to past subsidence of the bottom corner of my garden and needs tieing). There is an area of "no man's land" to the back of our properties between the ones beyond, then the land dips down by a couple of feet, then an old chain-link fence, then a wooden fence. I think, technically, our properties stop at the back of the garden wall and everything beyond is part of the neighbouring properties.
The other day I heard "bang, bang, bang" from his garden. I looked out to see him demolishing his own garden wall. I shoot ye not. Bear in mind that the wall is about 6ft high and 20ft long. Off the top of my head, I reckon cost of having it rebuilt would be in the hundreds of pounds, perhaps a grand. Not content with demolishing the wall, he's dug up the foundations too. There were raised beds up against the wall, which he's demolished as well. He's done all this in order to give himself an extra 3 feet of garden, if that.
What astounded me even more was rather than filling up the trench behind with compacted hardcore from the demolished wall and then putting a surface on the top, he took all the hardcore to the amenity tip ... and filled the trench (right up to the wooden fence) with soil from the raised beds!! I may be wrong, but my idiot sensor tells me that piling soil up against a wooden fence (which isn't yours) to a depth of two feet will very rapidly cause the fence to rot, bow and eventually give way.
I will be ready with the popcorn when the owner of the fence realises what's happened ...
