Tonight I sat on my back deck doing some reading for work and our neighbor began to mow his backyard. Because of my distance and activity, and the dimming evening light, I was actually able to watch his movements rather openly without it appearing that I was staring intently. It has led me to this post.
If yard and building maintenance are not things that you are willing to put much effort into, then don’t become a homeowner. Yes, I’m getting a little preachy with this post, but as an architect and someone who’s still trying to find a house to buy, I feel this statement needs to be said.
A little over a week ago, our community was hit with a pretty decent storm that took down a lot of trees and tree limbs. The city opened up drop-off sites where homeowners could take their tree debris and the line to these sites would exceed a mile at all times, and there is still significant evidence of damage all around the city. Our neighbor is one of them.
First, I should say that two of our other direct neighbors received large tree damage, the kind where half the tree falls down. I would also like to note that in both cases, the large section of tree fell within the yard instead of on the house, thus minimizing what could have been significantly worse damage. With one neighbor, the only piece still needing attention is a large limb that is still connected to the tree. It’s half resting on the ground, so it’s not an immediate threat, but my guess is that they are currently awaiting the arrival of one of the overworked tree companies in the area to be able to have the right equipment to safely take it completely down. The other neighbor cleaned up most of the smaller debris but the large piece is still there, their activities lead me to believe that they too are waiting for a professional service to help them out.
The third neighbor – the recent lawn mower – appears to be a different case. They clearly have a mid-sized limb down on the side of their yard. I just saw him move this limb, so it’s clearly no longer attached to any tree, and clearly small enough for one 30-something/40-something average man to drag out of the way. From the looks of it, a manual limb lopper would likely take it apart into manageable pieces in relatively short time. It does not appear to need a chainsaw for most of it. I’ll pause here to also note that our city picks up yard debris with the weekly trash, so anyone can cut up these small-ish limbs into pieces that could be disposed of – if not all at once, then over a couple of weeks – within the trash service.
After the neighbor moved the limb slightly, he spent about 10 minutes picking up what was probably 1’-2’ sized pieces and tossing them in the same general area, then proceeded to mow. I listened as a sound, that I can only describe as if someone were putting those limbs down a garbage disposal, started to come out of their yard. He was unconcerned about picking up the remaining small twigs and limbs that were scattered around. I can only imagine that his mower blade will need serious attention in the near future!
I won’t take a photo of what I see, but most of their yard is in trees, shrubs and other vegetation. On an average day, I would say it would take less than 20 minutes (easily) to mow what is mow-able. Their entire yard is considerably overgrown. Not in the wild-garden-is-beautiful kind of way, but rather in the nature-is-starting-to-reclaim-the-site kind of way. We live in a hilly neighborhood and our rental house is downhill from theirs, thus there are wood retaining walls/terraces visible from our driveway. Terraces which are clearly in decay/decline and are likely to fail completely within the next 5 years if not attended to. In fact, a piece of their fence fell into our yard earlier this summer and they just propped it up back in place – it took them a couple of weeks to see this section after we had leaned it against their remaining fence. (I know property fences are usually mutual, but without details, just know that this particular section of fence is theirs as is matches/continues around other parts of their yard.)
We took the limb clean-up as an opportunity to trim back a couple of overhanging branches from their property that were starting to rub up against our roof and siding. This is the extent of the over-grown-ness of their vegetation.
I can’t attest to anything with their house – as it’s difficult to see because of the trees and shrubs – but I’m experienced enough with buildings to know that too much vegetation directly around a house can impede water drainage away from a foundation. Roots from large trees can begin to push into a basement wall and weaken the very foundation of a home. If leaves from that many trees are not kept out of gutters and downspouts, water will drain directly off a roof and down the side of the foundation wall, creating a water pressure that can crack the system.
We’ve lived in our rental for well over a year and I have rarely seen these neighbors performing yard work of any kind. Although I must note that he seemed to be doing a little more work right before the storm hit, but that might have been the first time I saw them put effort into a very overgrown yard.
I must also admit at this point that my spouse and I “get at it” when it comes to clear maintenance issues. If we were owners of the house next door, there would be a significant change in the landscape. I absolutely love a treed lot (something that’s a must-have on our current home-seeking list) but this yard would probably have about half of what it currently has if we lived there. And the trees would have been professionally trimmed as there are some dead limbs higher up that need attention for safety’s sake.
Yeah – I’m being very judgmental about this, but maybe it’s time that someone spoke up about home ownership and maintenance. I don’t expect people to have perfect houses and yards. Most people don’t have time for all of that. But home maintenance – both on the building and the surrounding yard – help keep a property healthy and in good livable condition. And that’s what counts. People need to be able to breathe in their interior air without fear of mold spores being part of that make-up. Mold that easily grows when water intrudes into a house (due to poor drainage as mentioned above). Houses that are kept in good working condition – even if the decoration is “dated” – will always be an asset to a community and the longer a building is in service the better it is for the environment.
Rebuilding houses over and over again continuously use up embodied energy and contribute more to greenhouse gases and climate change. And it’s significantly more cost effective to keep up a building than to rebuild one. Note I say “keep up a building” not “defer the maintenance” which usually ends up creating a bigger problem.
To attest to this a little more, today I went to an open house. I noticed that simple items like cleaning the exhaust fan above the stovetop had not been done in a long time. Registers were taped to the face of the stair riser rather than fixed correctly. This particular house was still in serviceable condition, but it was also clear that someone had stayed in the house longer than they were able to, or willing to, maintain. It will take someone with deeper pockets to take on the fix-it list for that one as the things I mentioned were just the tip of the iceberg there.
Which leads me to my point (after that lengthy bitch-fest about people’s maintenance abilities), if you aren’t able to or willing to put in a regular amount of effort to keep a building in good working order, then do not buy a house. I repeat – DO NOT BUY A HOUSE.
In my area, I know for a fact, there are townhouse options and condos if people want to own something but wish to have lower time spent in maintenance. In fact, if a house is desired, I know of a neighborhood where a person can actually buy a small-ish single-family house and pay the HOA for all yard maintenance and house painting. Thus removing half the work (or more) associated with a house.
I love owning my own home and am frustrated by the inability to find one that we’re able to buy in this market (we also won’t compromise on what we want because this is to be a long-term purchase for us and we need to feel good living there). However, the older I get and the more architectural experience I have, the more I’m willing to say that larger towns and cities need more types of housing that do not require individual maintenance. I don’t know what these might look like outside of townhomes or rental houses that landlords care for completely, but I think there’s room for exploration in this area that allow people to live the independent life they want in a house, but without the maintenance.
We need to find additional ways to keep our housing stock strong and healthy in order to keep our communities strong and healthy. I would just like to urge people looking into buying a home, please carefully consider the amount of time you want, and are willing, to put into the ongoing and regular upkeep that comes with building maintenance. This includes the yard around the building. If it’s simply a task you will come to resent and wish to not put effort into, then please, allow someone else to purchase the property instead and know that in doing so, it contributes to an overall stronger and longer-lived community.
